Sue Townsend set Victoria's sense of humor zinging with her hilarious book
The Queen and I. Somehow, the characters of Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Queen Mother rang completely true when I first read it back in 1992. After they became non-royal in the fictional republic, they seemed quite natural. I completely bought the idea that Liz would turn into an excellent cook with the cheapest cuts of meat and that the Duke of E. would be very upset that Liz wanted to be known as Mrs. Windsor rather than Mrs. Mountbatten from now on.