The Queen announces it’s officially Gin O’Clock

Did the photo fool you? That’s not actually the real Queen of England, it’s an imposter sent by the Queen of Twitter a.k.a @Queen_UK, the fictional monarch who has a predilection for gin. The lookalike was on hand last Monday to deliver a speech to mark the launch of Gin O’Clock, the Twitter Queen’s debut book. (Watch a video of the Queen’s speech below).

Easily one of the funniest fictional Twitter accounts, @Queen_UK has amassed more than 470,000 loyal subjects since she started tweeting – about everything from life in Buckingham Palace (‘Queen fancy dress party in Royal household this evening. Charles has come as Freddie Mercury. Camilla has come as me.’) to international state affairs (‘One has banned Sarah Palin from running for President to save one’s American subjects from international embarrassment.’). Naturally, a book deal was sure to follow. Gin O’Clock is a diary of the events of 2011, delivered in the Queen’s typically dry tone. Obviously major occasions like the Royal Wedding and a visit from the Obama feature, but who knew the Queen was such a fan of the Brit Awards (‘Pencilled in Cee-Lo Green for the Royal Wedding’)? And she loves Eurovision so much she threw a themed party – ‘Beatrice and Eugenie came as Jedward, which was quite convincing, to be fair to them.’

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Helen and I meet 'The Queen' at the Gin O'Clock launch

Gin features heavily in the diary (the contents of Her Maj’s handbag for the Royal Wedding are listed as ‘miniature gin, remote weapons button, reading glasses, iPhone, bag of peanuts) so it made sense that those gin geniuses Bombay Sapphire were enlisted for the book launch. They rustled up a special Gin O’Clock cocktail which Her Majesty heartily endorsed. ‘Any time is the perfect time for a Gin O’Clock cocktail,’ she said. ‘Goodness, it’s gone Gin O’Clock.

Gin O’Clock by The Queen (of Twitter) is available now from all good bookshops and to order from Amazon. RRP £12.99. Visit the Gin O’Clock Facebook page.