It postulates an impersonal government, not described in any detail, but apparently content to operate through a figurehead king, who is randomly chosen.

The dreary succession of randomly selected Kings of England is broken up when Auberon Quin, who cares for nothing but a good joke, is chosen.

All are bored by the King's antics except for one earnest young man who takes the cry for regional pride seriously – Adam Wayne, the eponymous Napoleon of Notting Hill.

Michael Collins, who led the fight for Ireland's secession from the United Kingdom, is known to have admired the book.

[1] There has been speculation that the setting of the book prompted the date chosen for the setting of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four;[2] the Japanese translation of the book, the cover of which was illustrated by Hayao Miyazaki, bore the primary title Chesterton's 1984.