Royal Myopia in Fiction

[Louis Epstein]

Sometimes authors write books that presume to predict the future of
royalty.

Jeffrey Archer's 1982 novel THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER,besides having
1993 funerals for Willy Brandt(died 1992) and Edward Heath(died 2005)
and a 1995 funeral for Valery Giscard d'Estaing(still living in 2018),
posits a coronation of King Charles III "after the 1994 abdication of
Queen Elizabeth II,while Archer's 1984 FIRST AMONG EQUALS has
Charles III new to the throne in 1991 (somehow aged 43 in April
even though his 43rd birthday was in November of that year).

Of course,it is 2018,and Charles,about seven months from seventy,
is still Prince of Wales.


Anyone else recall bad predictions about royalty in fiction set
in now-past futures?

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[Graham]

Post by Louis Epstein
Sometimes authors write books that presume to predict the future of
royalty.
Jeffrey Archer's 1982 novel THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER,besides having
1993 funerals for Willy Brandt(died 1992) and Edward Heath(died 2005)
and a 1995 funeral for Valery Giscard d'Estaing(still living in 2018),
posits a coronation of King Charles III "after the 1994 abdication of
Queen Elizabeth II,while Archer's 1984 FIRST AMONG EQUALS has
Charles III new to the throne in 1991 (somehow aged 43 in April
even though his 43rd birthday was in November of that year).
Of course,it is 2018,and Charles,about seven months from seventy,
is still Prince of Wales.
Anyone else recall bad predictions about royalty in fiction set
in now-past futures?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Wet

[Louis Epstein]

Post by Graham

Post by Louis Epstein
Sometimes authors write books that presume to predict the future of
royalty.
Jeffrey Archer's 1982 novel THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER,besides having
1993 funerals for Willy Brandt(died 1992) and Edward Heath(died 2005)
and a 1995 funeral for Valery Giscard d'Estaing(still living in 2018),
posits a coronation of King Charles III "after the 1994 abdication of
Queen Elizabeth II,while Archer's 1984 FIRST AMONG EQUALS has
Charles III new to the throne in 1991 (somehow aged 43 in April
even though his 43rd birthday was in November of that year).
Of course,it is 2018,and Charles,about seven months from seventy,
is still Prince of Wales.
Anyone else recall bad predictions about royalty in fiction set
in now-past futures?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Wet

Does "A Very British Coup" (set in another fictional reign of
Charles III and published in 1982) have a clear timeframe?
IMDb says the miniseries adaptation is set in the 1990s.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[Louis Epstein]

Post by Louis Epstein

Post by Graham

Post by Louis Epstein
Sometimes authors write books that presume to predict the future of
royalty.
Jeffrey Archer's 1982 novel THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER,besides having
1993 funerals for Willy Brandt(died 1992) and Edward Heath(died 2005)
and a 1995 funeral for Valery Giscard d'Estaing(still living in 2018),
posits a coronation of King Charles III "after the 1994 abdication of
Queen Elizabeth II,while Archer's 1984 FIRST AMONG EQUALS has
Charles III new to the throne in 1991 (somehow aged 43 in April
even though his 43rd birthday was in November of that year).
Of course,it is 2018,and Charles,about seven months from seventy,
is still Prince of Wales.
Anyone else recall bad predictions about royalty in fiction set
in now-past futures?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Wet

Does "A Very British Coup" (set in another fictional reign of
Charles III and published in 1982) have a clear timeframe?
IMDb says the miniseries adaptation is set in the 1990s.

Having finished FIRST AMONG EQUALS,I despair of Lord Archer's attention to detail.
I'm well aware that the American editions are deliberately bleached of British
idiom,but saying High Court Judges sit in the Lords?
Saying the Queen wears "the King Edward III Crown" at State Openings?
(It's not just that she actually wears the Imperial State Crown rather than
St. Edward's,but the latter is named for Edward the Confessor who died
centuries before Edward III's reign,and didn't exist for over a century
after Edward VI's death).

Post by Louis Epstein
-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.