Queen Helen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with King Frank. (Discuss)

Queen Helen was the first Queen of Narnia and the wife of King Frank, first appearing in The Magician's Nephew, the sixth published book and first chronologically in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia series.

The Chronicles say little of her history, except that she and Frank were both country folk, and lived in London only from economic necessity. Frank drove a hackney coach while Helen kept house.

Her entry into Narnia was entirely without warning. One fine day, while doing the routine wash, she heard a deep, pure note, which The Magician's Nephew describes as being a call, and the sort of call that one hearing it would not only wish to obey, but would be able to obey instantly. In the next instant, she found herself standing in a calm, peaceful woodland, with her husband and two children (Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer) standing nearby, and a large Lion (Aslan) dominating the scene.

At first she believed that she was dreaming, but only for a moment. Then when she became fully aware of Aslan, she realized soon enough that this was not a Lion who would violently attack her, but one who was indeed a King, and she was in his dominion. She curtsied to him, perhaps as she would have curtsied to Queen Victoria back in England. Then she stood by her husband's side, understandably shy.

When Aslan announced that Frank and she would become the first King and Queen of Narnia, she blushed deeply. Frank did all the talking, and when Aslan convinced him that he was, indeed, qualified to serve as King, she readily accepted her new role. The last we see of her is the scene of her and her husband's coronation--until we see her again in The Last Battle with King Frank in Aslan's Country, after the end of the world.