Summary

Ingmar Qvist is a man from Sweden who holds an unusual obsession with shaking the King of Sweden's hand. When he was a young teen, the monarch stopped his motorcade, tousled Ingmar's hair, and called him a beautiful boy. Now a married man in his thirties, Ingmar has spent considerable money and time trying to put himself in the King's way again, just for a handshake. His wife Henrietta is patient and relatively long-suffering, his colleagues at the Royal Mail Service think he's an idiot, but Ingmar is determined to meet this goal. The beginning of chapter 2 indicates that things are "about to turn topsy-turvy", but three considerable undertakings had to happen first. First, Ingmar goes directly to the palace and is chased off the grounds. Second, he accidentally forces the King's car off the road, causing an accident. Luckily, the King is unharmed...