By Royal Command

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By Royal Command  
By Royal Command Cover Art.jpg
Hardback cover
Author(s) Charlie Higson
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series James Bond / Young Bond
Genre(s) Spy fiction
Publisher Puffin Books
Publication date 3 September 2008
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 354 pp (first edition)
ISBN 978-0-141-38451-1
OCLC Number 230989341
Preceded by Hurricane Gold
Followed by Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier

By Royal Command [1] is the fifth novel in the Young Bond series depicting Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond as a teenager in the 1930s. The novel, written by Charlie Higson, takes place in 1934 and see James at the age of fourteen. Locations include The Alps (Kitzbühel), England, France, Lisbon, and Vienna.[2]

By Royal Command was published in hardcover by Puffin Books in the UK on September 3, 2008. Cover art (featuring a black and red Union Jack) was not revealed until the day of publication. The paperback was released on May 28, 2009, and includes an extract from a new Young Bond short story by Charlie Higson, "A Hard Man to Kill".[3][4][5]

By Royal Command was released by Disney-Hyperion in the U.S. on May 18, 2010. Cover artwork is by Owen Richardson.[6]

Contents

[edit] Official summary

Puffin Books plot synopsis[1]

“ Following a treacherous rescue mission high in the freezing Alps, James Bond is preparing for life back at Eton. But James is under surveillance; his every move is being watched. He alone holds the clue to a sinister plot that will bring bloodshed and carnage to his school - and his country.

Forced to flee from Eton to Austria, James must leave behind everything he knows, with only a beautiful - and dangerous - girl by his side.

Soon he is trapped in a deadly war of secrets and lies, as a nightmare reunion with a bitter enemy plunges him once more into the face of death.

Life for James Bond will never be the same again.

 ”


[edit] Plot details

In an interview, Higson stated that By Royal Command will deal with Bond being forced to leave Eton College due to an incident with a maid. The incident was previously mentioned from the point of view of M in Ian Fleming's You Only Live Twice.

It must be admitted that his career at Eton was brief and undistinguished and, after only two halves, as a result, it pains me to record, of some alleged trouble with one of the boys' maids, his aunt was requested to remove him. She managed to obtain his transfer to Fettes, his father's old school.
—Ian Fleming You Only Live Twice, Chapter 21: Obit:[7]

According to Higson, M's comment about the incident was a deliberate attempt to cover up the truth. "Basically, it is decided that things need to be hushed"

The Royal Family and the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) also play a role in By Royal Command. Because of talks of communism, anarchism, and fascism, this book is meant for an older audience than the usual '11 and up' age group. Bond meets Princess Elizabeth and her uncle the Prince of Wales during the course of the book.[8] Even though the book will be partially set in The Alps, it does not offer any revelations about Bond's parents' deaths in an Alpine climbing accident.[2]

At the launch party for Hurricane Gold, Charlie hinted that Amy Goodenough (from Blood Fever) and the villain Babushka (from Double or Die) return in this Young Bond adventure.[9] He also revealed that James Bond falls in love.[10]

[edit] Synopsis

In Lisbon, OGPU Colonel Irina Sedova, also known as 'Babuska' (Russian for 'grandmother'), visits the Russian cell leader in Portugal. However, she soon realizes that he isn't the cell leader. He vainly tries to kill her but Sedova's bulletproof vest protects her. She then manages to kill the imposter. Also, she finds a sheet of paper with a name from the past on it: James Bond.

During this time, James is on his way for a school skiing trip in Austria when he runs afoul of a group of Hitler Youth members who call him a cheater for having won a game of poker. He beats them, gives them back their money, and tells them to play with good grace. Some time later, he arrives in Austria where he realizes that he is being followed. When he arrives at his hotel, he is still being followed. There, he meets with his friend Andrew Carlton and his teacher Mr. Merriot. During a skiing outing, James goes after one of his classmates who is drunk and they get caught in an avalanche. After saving himself and his classmate, James is hospitalized and hears a man crying out about his cousin named Jürgen who is going to be killed. He later finds out this man was the Graf Von Schlick.

A few days later, the boys return to Eton where James meets the new maid, Roan Power. He finds himself falling in love with her and starts to spend time with her. She takes him to meet her friend, an Irishman named Dandy O'Keefe. During this meeting, James accidentally meets the Princesses, Elizabeth and Mary but doesn't recognize them. A few days later, he is invited to a party given by the Prince of Wales where he meets the mysterious Graf Otto von Schlick.

On the 4 of June, King George V comes to Eton and James spots Colonel Sedova among the crowd. Sometime later he is knocked unconscious, bound and gagged by Dandy, who is planning to assassinate the King by blowing up the church of Eton, while framing James for it as part of a plan to start a communist revolution. After preventing the attempt and escaping with a hidden knife, James goes after Dandy, who tries to kill him with his knife. James is saved by the man who followed him in Austria when he shoots Dandy, who takes him to Mr. Merriot. The teacher reveals that he works for MI6 and that they have been keeping an eye on him. He tells James that Dandy and Roan are working for a Communist cell and that they want to know all about the operation. They want James to get Roan to talk.

Back at Eton, Roan tells James that they are working for a Communist agent who they know as 'Amethyst', who works for the Communist cell based in Portugal. This operation is being run by a man known as 'Obsidian'. James informs her that Dandy was captured and, after she begs him not to give her away, they share a kiss. However, unable to betray Roan, James tells her the truth and they run away to Austria together. During their crossing the country, they are pursued not only by MI6 but also by Sedova.

When they arrive in Austria, Roan betrays James to Obsidian who is none other than Dr. Perseus Friend, whom James thought he had killed in Silverfin. It is revealed that Friend had assumed the identity of the Graf since the surgery and had met Bond at the party, and the original Graf had been killed. Also, it is revealed that Friend and Amethyst, a Russian named Vladimir Wrangel, are not working for the Russians but for the Nazis. The plan was to trick Dandy and Roan into killing King George, as they believed that the King's death would inspire the workers of Britain to revolt against the government. The King's death would, thus, have placed Edward on the throne. As he was more sympathetic towards Hitler, and the fact that Dandy and Roan would have claimed to be working for the Communists, the UK would have formed an alliance with Germany, isolating the French and giving Germany an ally in the ensuing war against Communist Russia. Dr. Friend mocks Roan by saying that the British were too conservative to rise up against their monarchy.

James and Roan are locked up and Friend plans to skin James alive as a revenge for having nearly killed him. However, they manage to escape and are pursued around the castle by Wrangel. As he is about to kill them, OGPU agents under the command of Colonel Sedova, who had followed the entire conspiracy since Lisbon, attacked the Germans. Roan kills Wrangel, saving Bond, and Sedova kills Friend. Sedova corners James and Roan just as James had cornered her in London. However, as she is about to take him to Russia as leverage against the British, MI6 arrive and rescue the two. However, Sedova tries to shoot James who is saved by Roan. Bond shoots Sedova, although she might have been protected by her bulletproof vest. Before dying, Roan reveals that she had been married to Dandy, but that she loved Bond.

In the end, Mr. Merriot informs James that, although the King was very grateful that he had saved his life, he would be unable to remain at Eton, so he goes to the Scottish school called Fettes. Also, it is unknown was happened to Sedova who has escaped once again.

[edit] Tie-in game

On August 11, 2008 Puffin Books announced the first Young Bond alternate reality game (ARG), The Shadow War, designed to tie-in with the release of By Royal Command.[11] The online game started on 23 August, when Charlie Higson set the first mission during his appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. In the game, players around the world use a range of media, including the Young Bond books themselves and the World Wide Web, to complete the missions and influence the outcome of the game. Charlie Higson took part in a live online event that concluded the game on October 8, 2008.[12]

[edit] Trivia

  • Working titles for By Royal Command were "The Shadow War"[13], "Diamond Rain", and "Dynamite Kiss".[14] The final title was announced on March 6, 2008[1], the same day author Charlie Higson completed the manuscript.[15]
  • The incident with the maid is foreshadowed in Hurricane Gold when Pritpal Nandra mentions in a letter that the boys have a new Irish maid called Roan who is considered very attractive.
  • Charlie Higson got the idea to give James a Mido Multifort watch from a fan at the CommanderBond.net forums.[16]
  • Charlie Higson said he had to "tone down" some of scenes having to do with the Royal Family because the Fleming family knows the Royal Family. Likewise, Higson rewrote the scene in which Bond meets the Prince of Wales because, as originally written, he showed the Prince as not being very comfortable with children. But Fleming relatives, who knew the Prince, said he was just the opposite and was very good with kids.[17]
  • One of the book's major characters is Hannes Oberhauser, who appears in the short story "Octopussy".

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Young Bond 5 is BY ROYAL COMMAND". The Young Bond Dossier. http://youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2008/3/6_Young_Bond_5_is_BY_ROYAL_COMMAND.html. Retrieved March 6, 2008. 
  2. ^ a b "The Charlie Higson CBn Interview II". CBn/The Young Bond Dossier. http://commanderbond.net/article/4504. Retrieved September 1, 2007. 
  3. ^ "By Royal Command cover will be kept Top Secret". The Young Bond Dossier. http://youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2008/7/31_By_Royal_Command_cover_will_be_kept_Top_Secret.html. Retrieved July 31, 2008. 
  4. ^ "By Royal Command paperback coming in May 2009". The Young Bond Dossier. http://youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2008/9/11_By_Royal_Command_paperback_coming_May_2009.html. Retrieved September 3, 2008. 
  5. ^ "New Young Bond short story preview in By Royal Command paperback". The Young Bond Dossier. http://youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2009/4/20_Short_story_preview_in_By_Royal_Command_paperback.html. Retrieved April 20, 2009. 
  6. ^ "By Royal Command US cover art and artist revealed". The Young Bond Dossier. http://youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2010/2/17_By_Royal_Command_US_cover_art_and_artist_revealed.html. Retrieved February 17, 2010. 
  7. ^ Fleming, Ian (1964). "21". In William Plomer. You Only Live Twice. Jonathan Cape. 
  8. ^ "Charlie talks By Royal Command". The Young Bond Dossier. http://www.youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2008/3/11_Charlie_talks_By_Royal_Command.html. Retrieved March 11, 2008. 
  9. ^ "Report on today's Hurricane Gold launch party". The Young Bond Dossier. http://www.youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2007/9/6_Young_Bond_quiz_winner_2.html. Retrieved September 6, 2007. 
  10. ^ "Charlie drops a Book 5 bombshell". The Young Bond Dossier. http://www.youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2007/10/6_Charlie_drops_a_Book_5_bombshell.html. Retrieved October 7, 2007. 
  11. ^ "The Shadow War press release". The Young Bond Dossier. http://www.youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2008/8/11_The_Shadow_War.html. Retrieved August 11, 2008. 
  12. ^ "The Shadow War is won!". The Young Bond Dossier. http://youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2008/10/8_The_Shadow_War_concludes.html. Retrieved October 8, 2008. 
  13. ^ "Young Bond 5 working title revealed". The Young Bond Dossier. http://youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2007/10/10_Working_title_for_Young_Bond_5_is....html. Retrieved October 11, 2007. 
  14. ^ "Major Young Bond 5 update from Charlie Higson". The Young Bond Dossier. http://www.youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2008/2/24_Major_Young_Bond_5_update_from_Charlie_Higson.html. Retrieved February 25, 2008. 
  15. ^ "'By Royal Command' is a wrap!". http://www.youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Danger_Society_News/Entries/2008/3/6_By_Royal_Command_is_a_wrap.html. Retrieved March 6, 2008. 
  16. ^ "CBn Forum Member Suggestion Makes The Cut In 'By Royal Command'". CommanderBond.net. http://commanderbond.net/article/5470. Retrieved September 7, 2008. 
  17. ^ "Interview: Charlie in Command". The Young Bond Dossier. http://youngbonddossier.com/Young_Bond/Interview.html. Retrieved September 4, 2008. 

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