The Queens (fictional?) Proclamation of 1991
August 28, 2011 3:00 PM Subscribe
Near the end of Jeffrey Archer's First Among Equals, the Queen has dinner with the four lead characters and proposes....something! What she proposes is deliberately left unsaid, but it seems to be some sort of change to UK's political or monarchy system.
At the start of the very next chapter, set in 1991, we are simply told "Her Majesty's proclamation passed through the Lords and Commons without a division." I assume this is referring to some real-world event that happened at that time, and one that may well be obvious to a British citizen. But this poor American has no idea what is going on, and my Google-fu has failed me.
Does anyone know what the Proclamation would have been?
At the start of the very next chapter, set in 1991, we are simply told "Her Majesty's proclamation passed through the Lords and Commons without a division." I assume this is referring to some real-world event that happened at that time, and one that may well be obvious to a British citizen. But this poor American has no idea what is going on, and my Google-fu has failed me.
Does anyone know what the Proclamation would have been?
Response by poster: D'oh! So, not real world. Still don't get what the proclamation was, though. And I don't see any timeline in the Prologue, holgate.
posted by FfejL at 3:22 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by FfejL at 3:22 PM on August 28, 2011
Response by poster: Oh, sorry, holgate. You said Dateline. OK, so 1991 is 60 years from the start of the book.
But that clears up nothing for me. :)
posted by FfejL at 3:30 PM on August 28, 2011
But that clears up nothing for me. :)
posted by FfejL at 3:30 PM on August 28, 2011
Best answer: As it's not really a spoiler: "Prologue Saturday, April 27, 1991. KING CHARLES III made the final decision."
The scenario is that the Queen abdicates on her 65th birthday, and that the election takes place the following Thursday. It's questionable whether Archer got the constitutional specifics of his hypothetical right, but the notion of a royal retirement date was more widely discussed in the mid-80s.
posted by holgate at 3:37 PM on August 28, 2011
The scenario is that the Queen abdicates on her 65th birthday, and that the election takes place the following Thursday. It's questionable whether Archer got the constitutional specifics of his hypothetical right, but the notion of a royal retirement date was more widely discussed in the mid-80s.
posted by holgate at 3:37 PM on August 28, 2011
Response by poster: Thank you thank you thank you! That was bugging the crap out of me.
posted by FfejL at 3:57 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by FfejL at 3:57 PM on August 28, 2011
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Not for a book published in 1984. Go back to the Prologue and check the dateline.
posted by holgate at 3:11 PM on August 28, 2011