Freddy, or Frederick as he is more formally called, is the Prince of Wales. Fredericka is his beautiful, young wife. Freddy is a very proper, middle-aged heir-apparent constantly taken round the bend by circumstances beyond his control, until his wife, parents and the country of England believe he is either mad, a buffoon, or both. Not only is his future kingship increasingly improbable, but the monarchy itself is also threatened. In order to determine if Freddy is fit to be king or not, he and Fredericka are sent on a quest. They are to parachute into New Jersey with no supplies or money wearing nothing but rabbit fur and snakeskin underwear and re-conquer the United States.

Freddy, or Frederick as he is more formally called, is the Prince of Wales. Fredericka is his beautiful, young wife. Freddy is a very proper, middle-aged heir-apparent constantly taken round the bend by circumstances beyond his control, until his wife, parents and the country of England believe he is either mad, a buffoon, or both. Not only is his future kingship increasingly improbable, but the monarchy itself is also threatened. In order to determine if Freddy is fit to be king or not, he and Fredericka are sent on a quest. They are to parachute into New Jersey with no supplies or money wearing nothing but rabbit fur and snakeskin underwear and re-conquer the United States.

Fredericka must be an idiot savant of some kind. She is incredibly naďve—downright stupid, even—one moment, and the next moment she pops out the answer to some complicated question. When Freddy asks her how she knows that, she either says she read it somewhere or that it is obvious. Since Freddy has never seen her read anything except She magazine, he often wonders what is going on beneath all that blond hair.

There are, of course, subtle parallels between Freddy and Fredericka and the British royal family. Freddy is a thin, fit, middle-aged man whose eyes are too close and ears are too big for him to be handsome (remind you of anyone?). Fredericka is beautiful, young and blond, and has the press of the world eating out of her hands. She may not be smart, but she does know how to deal with the media—something Freddy is clueless about. Freddy also has a mistress, Lady Phoebe Boylingehott.

If you enjoy satire, if you like the bizarre and if you find the completely ridiculous amusing, you will enjoy Freddy and Fredericka. It’s outrageously ludricous, farcical and just plain funny. A thoroughly enjoyable book.