The King and His Man

Albert is promiscuously gay. He is an atheist. He is the Prince of Wales in this novel set in an alternate Britain. He is an embarrassment to his father, the King. His twin sister is nearly pathologically jealous of the irreversible fact that Albert was born just slightly ahead of her. She hates being second. Albert falls in love with a young mixed-race Scotsman. As the future King, Albert is expected to produce an heir and be head of the Church of England, neither of which he wants to do. Also, there are people who would rather see him dead than monarch.The book imagines a queer Prince of Wales and his effect on this fictionalized and rather dysfunctional British royal family, Albert has to convince the powers that be that he is indeed capable of ruling effectively. His boyfriend is half Scottish, half Jamaican and helps bring out the unstable Albert's better side. Albert becomes king over the behind-the-scenes machinations of his sister Lizzie who, it turns out, would indeed stop at nothing to prevent her despised brother from gaining the throne. There are others equally determined to help her succeed, and many determined to see her fail. The outcome determines not only Albert's fate, but the fate of the monarchy,. and England, as well.