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When thinking of Queen Elizabeth II, it seems likely that the image which first crosses one´s mind is that of a monarch. However, one or the other might have already wondered what she is like when interacting with her family or how she would behave in a certain situation. In recent years, several novels featuring a fictional Queen Elizabeth have been published in Great Britain, depicting her in all kinds of intimate situations. Interestingly, in all of the four novels which I analysed, parallels in the construction(s) of the fictional Queen can be noticed. Therefore, one might wonder why there is a certain image of how the Queen has to be, which is apparently commonly accepted. For the purpose of examining the various constructions of Elizabeth II, the following questions are dealt with in this book: Which part does humour play in the construction of the Queen? What is the purpose of her humorous representation? Is the fictional Queen only represented in her role as sovereign or does she adopt various roles? If so, in which roles in particular is she ridiculed and what is the function of eliciting the reader´s laughter? Might this even imply a criticism of the monarchy?

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Claudia Sein was educated at the Université Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and the University of Vienna, where she graduated with a degree in English and French language and literary studies. She taught German as a Foreign Language at the University of Constanta in Romania and is currently teaching at a high school in Vienna.

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