A new novel featuring a young James Bond has been announced by Ian Fleming Publications to tie in with The King’s Coronation in May. The book is written Charlie Hinson and is titled ‘On His Majesty’s Secret Service‘, and will bring the 007 agent into the present day.
It will also mark the 70th anniversary of James Bond.
Set just before the historic ceremony in May, Bond will take on the villainous ‘Athelstan of Wessex’ to save the day.
Here’s the synopsis for the new novel:
The King is set to be the focus of a new 007 novel. (Royal Family)
‘It is the 4th of May, two days before the Coronation of King Charles III and the world’s favourite spy has his work cut out for him. Bond is sent at the last minute to thwart an attempt to disrupt the Coronation by the wealthy, eccentric and self-styled Athelstan of Wessex, who is on a deadly mission of his own to teach the United Kingdom a lesson. Can Bond dismantle his shady plans and defeat his privately hired team of mercenaries?’
Writer Charlie Higson said: ‘When Ian Fleming Publications came to me with the idea of writing an adult Bond story a little more than a month ago I was thrilled – until I realised it had to be ready for the coronation in May.
‘Getting it written and turned around in such a short space of time was going to be as tense and heart-pounding as any Bond mission. Although, of course, nobody would actually be shooting at me.’
Higson wrote five novels in the Young Bond series, which are young adult spy novels featuring Bond as a teenage boy who attends school at Eton – where Prince William and Harry were also educated – in the 1930s.
‘But I’ve been thinking about writing an adult Bond adventure ever since working on the Young Bond books, and he came bursting out of me with both fists flying. It was all I could do to keep up with him and get his story down on paper. Fleming famously wrote fast, and I channelled that energy.
‘And now it’s so exciting for me to finally enter the world of grown-up Bond. Everything you want from a Bond story is in there – sex, violence, cars, a colourful villain with a nasty henchman, and of course, Bond himself, so well-known and yet so unknowable.’
A night to remember when Daniel Craig appeared as James Bond to accompany her Majesty The Queen to the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games! pic.twitter.com/C174bSyKkq
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) September 29, 2021
Managing director of Ian Fleming Publications Corinne Turner said: ‘The coronation of King Charles III is a momentous occasion for the country. We asked ourselves how we at Ian Fleming Publications could celebrate it, and the answer seemed obvious.
‘Ian Fleming’s ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ was first published on April 1. 1963. What better way, 60 years on, to mark this new chapter in history than with a brand new story: ‘On His Majesty’s Secret Service’? We shared our thoughts with Charlie, and he was delighted to take on the challenge of writing a Bond adventure in time for publication in May.’
All royalties from sales of the book will support the work of the National Literacy Trust, of which Queen Camilla is patron.
You can pre-order the novel here.
