A new book sanctioned by the estate of Ian Fleming features James Bond taking on right-wing populism in Europe, and a political ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, as the secret agency races against the clock to thwart an attack on the coronation of King Charles III in a new heavily politicised adaptation of the Bond universe.
On His Majesty’s Secret Service, based on the 1969 film and 1963 novel with a similar name, was released this year and authored by youth-fiction author Charlie Higson with the explicit permission of Ian Fleming Publications, which has the sole authority to authorise Bond adaptations.
A follow-up to Higson’s Young Bond series, the new novel centres around a plot to disrupt King Charles III’s recent coronation, led by a disgruntled right-wing British aristocrat named Athelstan of Wessex. The antagonist’s ideological opposition to right-wing populism and the Fidesz-led government of Hungary is repeatedly described by 007.
Extracts of the novel show Bond ruminating against Orbán’s “anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and crude “‘Make Hungary Great Again’ anti-immigration rhetoric.” Meanwhile, one of the primary femme fatales of the novel is a white nationalist who states her belief in the “Great Replacement Theory.”
The plot centres on a maverick Athelstan who has decamped from Britain to live in Hungary due to his sympathy with the Orbán government’s attempt to destroy King Charles III’s coronation by using South African mercenaries in a bid to install himself as the king of England.
During the novel, Bond laments the rise of so-called strongman politics in Hungary and voices his dissatisfaction with both Le Pen and Trump as well as all forms of political extremism, going as far as to endorse the “horseshoe theory” which equates right-wing with left-wing extremism.
The book’s author Charlie Higson has previously praised modern adaptations of 007 for shedding the sexist veneer, even praising Daniel Craig’s time in the role for giving the world a woke version of the British superspy.
The source novel and movie which Higson’s new adaption is based upon features an attempt by arch-Bond nemesis Blofeld to cripple the UK’s agricultural economy using bioweapons. All profits from this modern adaptation will go to the National Literacy Trust.
The genre-defining Bond series was authored by former spy Ian Fleming and consisted of 12 original novels and two short story collections and were partially based on his wartime experiences in the British intelligence services.
Rarely ever political, Fleming described his conservative opinions in a 1959 column for The Spectator, where he expressed his support for aristocratic titles and his belief that “the welfare state [has] turned the majority of us into petty criminals, liars, and work-dodgers.”
