Book Seventeen

The Queen's Consort

2027

A photograph of a long polished table in a palace room in low golden light: a large seating plan of pencilled circles drawn and rubbed out many times, blank place cards in silver holders scattered and knocked over, a glass of water on a saucer, a blue notebook with a pen, folded slips of paper, and a grey cardigan over a gilded chair, with water and a city spire beyond the window. Crown on the Potomac The Queen's Consort Book Seventeen 2027

June 2027. Karin Lindholm, a docker's daughter from Gothenburg, has been Prime Minister of Sweden for eight months and has never had to think about the monarchy. This is Sweden's year to hold the Union's presidency, so on Thursday the Queen must open the Joint Session of the five heads of state by speaking its formula. On Tuesday night she loses her voice. She can write, and writes that she can do everything in writing. Nobody is sure whether a silent Queen can open anything.

The Queen's Consort is the Prime Minister's own account of the three days that followed: a Marshal of the Court with a protocol for everything but this, a Speaker who has waited all his life for something constitutional to happen to him, a Crown Prince of fourteen who has already looked it up, a seating plan moved six times, and the King of fourteen realms, who in Sweden is only the Queen's Consort and may import nothing, quietly reading in the library.

Each chapter opens with a short extract from the Universal Register, the encyclopedia of the world the book is set in. The extracts are quoted from the Register as it stands; the chapters show what happened in the rooms it was not in.

Begin reading: Chapter One, The Separation Rule → Characters

Part One: Tuesday (22 June 2027)

  1. 1 The Separation Rule Karin Lindholm. 16 min.

Part Two: Wednesday (23 June 2027)

  1. 2 Notes Karin Lindholm. 13 min.
  2. 3 The Crown Prince Karin Lindholm. 11 min.
  3. 4 Prevented Karin Lindholm. 12 min.

Part Three: Thursday (24 June 2027)

  1. 5 The Seating Plan Karin Lindholm. 13 min.
  2. 6 Article Nine Karin Lindholm. 18 min.
  3. 7 The Herring Table Karin Lindholm. 14 min.

Part Four: Midsummer Eve (25 June 2027)

  1. 8 Midsummer Eve Karin Lindholm. 14 min.