Where the first two books in the series featured actual royals in, let's say, supporting roles, Heenan is generous enough here to grant Queen Elizabeth a few bits of dialogue. It keeps getting worse when she reveals some really nice qualities that pleasantly surprise Robin, turning out to be quite an agreeable companion actually, therefore he even more can't ruin it… Instead, she does horrible things such as making sounds, having demands, and not allowing him to put her back on a shelf. He also can't figure out why Margaery can't be more like the love of his life, i.e. Due to Robin's superior knowledge (and high level of slappability) when Margaery attempts to learn via trial and error, Robin can't afford a trial, since that's how errors happen. There were no plans for her to be a 'wife,' because that would force him to be a 'husband,' a role that he just KNOWS he can't play adequately. When Margaery proposed to him, thus solving certain problems related to finances and accommodation, he placed her in the 'other people' box in his mind. Robin signed for a marriage of convenience.

Lady, in Waiting begins where most books end: the boy met the girl, the girl sort of proposed, the boy sort of accepted, happy ending…did not follow, because neither of them received a manual on how to happy end correctly.

A lady in waiting book