Many of the good things said about this book by other reviewers are true - it is funny (although the jokes are often repetitive), well-observed, and compassionate, and Townsend shows skill and dexterity in exploring some aspects of the disenfranchised Royals' relationships with each other and with 'The common people' which had not previously occurred.
She also demonstrates finesse in making many of the other inhabitants of 'Hell Close', the Royal Family's new neighbours, interesting and often likeable characters rather than the collection of stereotypes they initially appear to be.
I found the book entertaining, and was moderately keen to get back to it each time my reading was interrupted, in order to find out what happened next.
So what's my problem?
The ending.
I'd have quite liked one.
Yes, given the events of the book, it's difficult to see how Townsend *could* have brought things to a conclusion - but that shouldn't have excused her from trying.
Instead she writes herself into a corner and has to resort to one of the oldest authorial cliches known to bring the book to a close.
A really serious disappointment, after so much literary foreplay, to be left completely without a climax.