The Duke of Dunstable has invited himself, plus secretary Rupert Baxter, to stay indefinitely at Blandings Castle. Notorious for laying about the furniture with a poker if thwarted, he demands eggs for throwing at whichever gardener keeps singing or whistling 'The bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond' outside his window. And he tells Lord Emsworth that his pig (twice in succession winner in the Fat Pig class) needs exercise and diet. He says, 'Give her to me. I'll have her slimmed down and you'll be less potty without her.' And Lady Connie insists that the dangerous Duke be given anything he asks - or else.

Lord Emsworth must take steps to save the Empress and decides to rope in Lord Ickenham, his brother Gally's friend, to help him. Lady Connie, thinking that the dangerous Duke is going round the bend, has told Lord Emsworth to go to London and get Sir Roderick Glossop, the loony-doctor, to come and keep the Duke under observation.

There are bustling sub-plots. Lord Ickenham's nephew Pongo owes a vindictive bookmaker £200. He tries to borrow it off Horace Davenport, who is engaged to his sister, Valerie. Horace, unable to go to the Drones Le Touquet golfing weekend, has sent 'Mustard' Pott, private investigator, to tail Valerie up in case she becomes enmeshed in licentious Drones males at golf or casino. Meanwhile Polly, 'Mustard"s pretty daughter, is engaged to Rcky Gilpin, poet, boxer, nephew of the Duke of Dunstable. He needs £500 to buy into an onion soup bar and marry Polly.

Sir Roderick won't come to Blandings. Lord Ickenham seizes his chance and comes as Sir Roderick, and he brings Pongo as his secretary and Polly as his own daughter. The idea is that Polly shall fascinate the Duke so that he will provide the £500 for an onion soup bar and marriage. But Baxter sees through the impersonations. For his pains, he gets orders to steal the Empress for the Duke. He also gets, literally, egg on his face and a Mickey Finn in his drink.

Uncle Fred Ickenham is in his element. He brings the right couples together and a proper redistribution of other people's wealth. A masterly mix-up, suavely sorted out.

This is our first and only close view of George Viscount Bosham, Lord Emsworth's son and heir. He is, triumphantly, the most blithering idiot in the whole rich Wodehouse canon.

Source: Richard Usborne. Plum Sauce. A P G Wodehouse Companion.