A Study of Adaptation - On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Since Fleming tried to pretend that The Spy Who Loved Me never happened, the next story in the so-called "SPECTRE Trilogy" is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The eleventh book in the series was published in 1963, and became the sixth entry in the film series in 1969.

After the events of Thunderball, Bond is taking part in Operation Bedlam; the mission to apprehend Ernst Stavro Blofeld. However, years of fruitless searching has convinced him that Blofeld is dead and that Operation Bedlam is a wild goose chase. He even contemplates resigning from the secret service as he visits Vesper Lynd's grave in Royale-les-Eaux (from Casino Royale). This is interrupted by several chance encounters with the suicidal Countess Teresa di Vincenzo. He's soon brought before her father, Marc-Ange Draco, the head of the Corsican mafia, who believes that he should marry "Tracy" and give her a reason to live. As part of the agreement, Bond uses Draco's connections to trace Blofeld to the Swiss Alps under the assumed name of Comte Balthazar de Bleuville, a title he has asked The Royal College of Arms to recognise. Posing as a genealogist named Sir Hillary Bray, Bond discovers that Blofeld has been curing several young women of their allergies, but is secretly brainwashing them to deliver biological warfare agents to Britain's major agricultural areas.

The film keeps this story, but makes several notable changes:

• In the film, Bond meets Tracy in Portugal rather than France. As Casino Royale hadn't been officially adapted, the call-back wouldn't make any sense.
• Bond learns that he is being relieved from Operation Bedlam - as the prime minister believes it to be a wild goose chase - but is convinced that Blofeld is still at large. This is actually more fitting, as he'd already foiled four previous SPECTRE plots.
• Bond actually submits his resignation, but Miss Moneypenny secretly changes his request to one for a two week leave.
• In the book, Bond escapes from Piz Gloria after another British agent named Campbell is captured and interrogated, possibly blowing his cover. In the film, Bond is captured after his cover is blown by a combination of Campbell's confession, mistakes in his research of the Bleauchamp (rather than Bleuville) family history, and his seduction of Blofeld's patients.
• Tracy is captured while trying to help Bond escape. This gives Draco another reason to help Bond raid Blofeld's headquarters, but also gives Tracy a chance to take a more active role by having her lure Blofeld to where he's likely to be killed in the raid and take out one of his brutes.
• Additionally, the raid is necessary so that Bond can identify the "Angels of Death", and destroy the communications centre so that Blofeld can't issue their orders. In the book, the Angels are all detained as Bond escaped with their names.
• In the book, Blofeld's "Angels of Death" are all from Britain and Ireland. In the film, they're from all around the world.
• In the book, the Secret Service deduce Blofeld's scheme by matching the names of his patients and the agricultural outputs of where they're from. In the film, Blofeld contacts them explaining his plan and giving his demands: a pardon for all past crimes and official recognition of his noble title.
• The book also suggests that Blofeld is being financed by the Russians. This element is removed from the film, keeping with SPECTRE's recurring schemes which involve playing the West and East against each other.

This is also the point where Bond was appearing in print and on screen. It's the first story in which Bond is stated to be Scottish, a change which Fleming incorporated after seeing Sean Connery's performance in Dr No. There's even a cameo appearance by Ursula Andress, who played Honey Ryder, as a guest at a ski resort.