The Heir Apparent

Mary works as Lexi’s private secretary, and Lexi settles into royal life. Jack and Lexi resume their phone calls, keeping their friendship alive despite the distance. On Commonwealth Day, Lexi sits beside Eleanor at the celebrations, alongside Richard and his daughters. Richard continues to plant fake, damaging stories about Lexi in the tabloids, stating that she and Louis were Isla’s illegitimate children, that Lexi is using semaglutide to become thinner, and that the palace paid off many malpractice suits levied against Lexi in Australia. Lexi refuses to stoop to Richard’s level and plant stories about him, even as Mary tries to motivate her to. Lexi asks Mary if she took part in leaking any stories about Lexi when she worked for Frederick and Annabelle, and Mary denies it.

Lexi has dinner at Cumberland with Amira and Vikki. Amira hints at knowing Mary but fails to elaborate. Vikki compliments Lexi’s style—the result of Mary’s interventions—and Lexi feels guilty that Amira can’t experiment with fashion without intense public judgment. Lexi also feels guilty about taking Amira’s place in the royal pecking order. Amira asks what Richard said to Lexi at the celebration, during which Lexi and Richard traded verbal barbs and Demelza and Birdie snubbed Amira again. Lexi says that Richard is spending the summer with the family in Scotland, which disappoints Amira and Vikki, who dislike him.

Following the dance at Astley, Lexi and Louis spent the summer holidays in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, and Scotland. Isla drove them from the Aberdeen Airport to the royal estate just to have a moment with them. Lexi hadn’t talked to Louis about seeing him dancing with Kris. Isla dropped the twins off at the estate and hugged them, though she wasn’t allowed inside.

Lexi and Louis spent the next few weeks participating in traditional hunting activities. While stalking a stag, Lexi told Louis that she knew about him and Kris. Louis didn’t speak to her for three days afterward, but when he finally did, Lexi assured him that she still loved him and didn’t see him differently. She also encouraged him to tell Isla, who Lexi knew wouldn’t judge him. Louis wasn’t sure if he was ready to have his secret out, and Lexi promised that she’d support him regardless.

Amira and Lexi ride together to a state banquet for the Bahamian prime minister. Lexi wears a turquoise gown the color of the Bahamian flag, along with a brooch indicating her membership in the royal family. Most royals earn medals through their public service or at the discretion of the queen, but since Lexi has been absent from royal life for a decade, she has none. She also wears Isla’s wedding tiara, even though royal women don’t usually wear their first tiara until they wed or turn 30. Richard insists that Demelza and Birdie also wear tiaras, and Stewart acquiesces to his demand. Amira wears her own wedding tiara.

Amira and Lexi splinter off for small talk, and Lexi easily charms many guests. Colin Bellingham, the Earl of Amherst and heir to a £10-billion fortune, greets her. Colin and Lexi knew each other as children, and Lexi once hit Colin with a croquet mallet when he pulled up her skirt. Colin escorts Lexi into the dinner and mentions seeing her in the tabloids dancing with children at a school. Lexi finds herself surprised by how good she is at public appearances and how much she enjoys doing them.

Lexi sits at Eleanor’s left at dinner, Frederick’s old spot, and talks to the Bahamian prime minister’s wife, Sonia, who used to work as a virologist before her husband became a politician. Sonia discusses Lexi’s future, as Lexi cannot be a doctor and queen. Sonia argues that Lexi can do good in either role, and Lexi wonders what giving up science would mean.

Colin invites Lexi and Amira to an afterparty at Demelza’s cottage, and Demelza insists that they come, though Lexi’s relationship with Demelza and Birdie remains frosty. Demelza’s cottage is a mess but quickly fills with all the young banquet guests. Colin flirts with Lexi and tries to build trust with her, as he was friends with Louis and claims to have kept some of Louis’s secrets. Colin is also friends with Demelza, and Lexi worries that Demelza will leak stories about her to the press. Colin claims most leaks come from courtiers or aides seeking promotions.

As they leave, Amira asks Lexi if she’s going to date Colin, as he’d be an appropriate husband for her one day. Lexi doesn’t want to marry a man she doesn’t love, but Amira says that compatibility is more important than love and that lack of compatibility killed Frederick and Isla’s marriage. Lexi cries and goes home alone because she thinks Amira and Louis blamed Isla for the marriage failing.