David Walliams - The Beast of Buckingham Palace

First published in Great Britain by

HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2019 Published in this ebook edition in 2019 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is www.harpercollins.co.ukText copyright © David Walliams 2019 Illustrations copyright © Tony Ross 2019 Cover lettering of author’s name copyright © Quentin Blake 2010 Cover design copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019 David Walliams and Tony Ross assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work respectively. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Apart from famous historical figures, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008262174 Ebook Edition © November 2019 ISBN: 9780008385651 Version: 2019-11-21

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Thank-yous

Britain: The year is 2120

These are the characters in the story …

Map

Prologue

Part One: The Coming of the Beast

Chapter 1: Dark

Chapter 2: Lionheart

Chapter 3: Faceless Fiends

Chapter 4: A Lost Soul

Chapter 5: Unblinking Stare

Chapter 6: Dead of Night

Chapter 7: The Room With No Door

Chapter 8: Prince of Nothing

Chapter 9: Festering

Chapter 10: Metal Menace

Chapter 11: An Ungodly Hour

Chapter 12: Runaway Pram

Chapter 13: Talking toilet

Chapter 14: Eggy-wegg

Chapter 15: Ruins

Chapter 16: Spying Through a Keyhole

Chapter 17: A Beast of Fire

Part Two: Power over Life and Death

Chapter 18: The Mouth of Hell

Chapter 19: Silent Scream

Chapter 20: Porridge & Port

Chapter 21: The Vault

Chapter 22: The King’s Beasts

Chapter 23: The Impossible

Chapter 24: The Secret Passage

Chapter 25: The Shadows

Part Three: A Tower of Traitors

Chapter 26: Black Water

Chapter 27: Traitors’ Gate

Chapter 28: Sickness of the Mind

Chapter 29: Deception

Chapter 30: The Executioner

Chapter 31: Disaster Strikes

Part Four: Revolution

Chapter 32: Some Kind of Monster

Chapter 33: HMS Sceptre

Chapter 34: A Carpet of Rats

Chapter 35: The Opposite of Vertigo

Chapter 36: BONG!

Chapter 37: Hotty Botty

Chapter 38: Life & Death

Chapter 39: Limb from Limb

Chapter 40: Doomed

Chapter 41: Human Torpedo

Chapter 42: A Trap

Chapter 43: Deadly Weapons

Chapter 44: The Secret

Chapter 45: Storming of the Palace

Chapter 46: The Book of Albion

Chapter 47: Super-being

Part Five: The Final Reckoning

Chapter 48: Fireball

Chapter 49: A Final Farewell

Chapter 50: Light

More from the World of David Walliams

Also by David Walliams

About the Publisher

For my brave friend Henry.

David x

These are the characters in the story…

PRINCE ALFRED is a sickly boy of twelve, who has never known life outside Buckingham Palace.

THE KING was once a great ruler and a kind father. Now he is as lost as his kingdom.

THE QUEEN is an impossibly posh lady, who is much loved by her son. She and Alfred have an unbreakable bond.

THE LORD PROTECTOR is a learned man who began his royal career forty years ago in the palace library. He has risen to become the King’s closest adviser, but yearns for more power.

MITE is a homeless orphan from the outside. She is so called because of her small size. Her parents were killed when she was a toddler, and since then she has had to fend for herself.

NANNY is a lady in her eighties who in her job has looked after two generations of royal children. She cared for the King when he was a boy and is now the nanny to Prince Alfred.

THE OLD QUEEN is an elderly lady who was Queen when her husband was King. Now she is deemed to be a traitor, and is living somewhere in exile, though no one knows where. Except her, of course.

LADY AGATHA and LADY ENID are two of the Old Queen’s ladies-in-waiting. As ladies-in-waiting, they performed various duties for the Old Queen, such as tending to her dresses, carrying bouquets of flowers and typing letters. Now they too live in exile with four other ladies-in-waiting: Lady Beatrix, Lady Virginia, Lady Daphne and Lady Judith.