Prince Philip bluntly sets out the image many have of the 89 year old Queen in 2016:
“.... All they see is a little old lady in a hat.”
She is much more than her image as demonstrated in the book.
Sir Simon is soon back to tell the Queen that Brodsky’s death was neither accidental or suicide. The weight of his body is not upon the knot on the doorknob.
The Queen’s assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, arrives back from her cousin’s wedding in Nigeria to the public and private drama of another murder in the Royal Household.
The Queen is patronized by the head of MI-5, Gavin Humphreys, “a managerial technocrat”, who takes it upon himself to explain to the Queen that she underestimates Vladimir Putin. Humphreys advises her that Maksim, an anti-Putin blogger, was assassinated at her residence to send a message that Putin can attack his enemies anywhere. Humphrey thinks there is a mole, a long time Russian spy, among her hundreds of staff.
The Queen ignores the condescension but doubts his pompous conclusions. She has met and measured Putin. Humphreys is unaware of:
…. an unspoken accord among the ruling classes, among whom he (Putin) was so proud to count himself these days: princes did not tread directly on the patch of other princes. One might spy, certainly, if one could. One might seek to undermine one’s enemies in negotiations or elections. But you did not commit lesè-majesté and cause havoc in their palaces. If you did - who knew? - perhaps one day they might do the same in yours. Even dictators understood this.
She further muses, why would Putin kill “a very junior enemy” with a prized sleeper asset?
She might have responded more forthrightly had she not had a spy, Anthony Blunt, one of the Cambridge Five, previously in her employ and never realized he was a spy.
She subtly sets off on her own investigation by having Rozie arrange for the Queen to be invited to a quiet private tea at the home of her friend, Fiona, Lady Hepburn. It will be so private Sir Simon will not know she is meeting at the tea a British military expert “on suspicious deaths of Russians on British soil”.
Rozie is the Boss’s (Queen’s) personal secret agent following a line of women who have carried out investigations for the Queen who is unprepared to let the men who are certain they know best do what they consider best.
Also at Windsor for the “dine and sleep” was Russian billionaire, Yuri Peyrovskaya, and his much younger gorgeous wife, Masha.
While she muses, the Queen thinks in the third person. How “one” was treated by the staff. What could “one” ask Rozie to do for her? Should “one” visit the room where Maksim died?
In her investigation the Queen is a woman after my heart. She constantly asks “one” why.
Why would a murder be done in a Royal residence where security is all around?
Why would someone commit murder knowing there would be an intense investigation by the best detectives in the realm?
Why was the murder rather amateurish?
The Queen recognizes the importance of awards. Beyond the titles she can bestow she has instituted “the Elizabeth Cross, awarded to the next of kin of members of the armed forces killed in action or in a terrorist attack”.
For a short time the Queen must focus on the celebrations for her 90th birthday. There are great and small gatherings. She is driven around in her queen-mobile (think of the popemobile). She wants just a little fuss which means a banquet for 70. She lights a beacon, the first in over 1,000 in the U.K. The British have a grand style for pageantry.
Amidst the glitter and pomp and circumstance the Queen, a woman of faith, takes time to talk to God. She sits alone in her private chapel praying to the Lord about family and those gone as I do at night.
I sometimes forget that for over 70 years the Queen met with generations of world leaders. Based on the book she had real conversations with them.
As her private agents report the Queen grows apprehensive that conspiracy may be afoot. Her agents remind me of Queen Elizabeth I who used agents and spies to protect herself and the realm.
The danger level rises dramatically as the Queen’s agents are noticed.
At a meeting to discuss the investigation reaching a resolution the Queen expresses her feelings to Humphreys on early mis-steps in the investigation with a quiet remark:
“How unfortunate.”
The title and cover design of The Windsor Knot are brilliant. They are striking and reflective of the Queen and the book’s plot.
Bennett continues to be very clever at showing how shrewd a sleuth is Queen Elizabeth. She is so subtle it is rare anyone realizes she is pulling strings in the background. I was most impressed at how she created a vital, involved, bright 90 year old woman solving complex mysteries.
****
You know, Bill, I don't usually go for crime fiction involving real historical figures. But this series seems to be well-written, and I can imagine Queen Elizabeth as an amateur sleuth. Somehow it just...works. And yes, it's so nice to see sleuths who are older but haven't the least diminishing of their faculties. I've read some of Bennett's work, but not this series. Perhaps I should try it....
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