The Heir Apparent

Lexi rides in a carriage with Eleanor for Trooping the Color. They discuss Lexi’s future, and Eleanor shares that she wanted to be a professional equestrian before becoming queen. Eleanor also discusses Barbara Villiers, who was a beloved queen even before she began to enjoy ruling. Eleanor says that the people of England want “total devotion” from their queens, viewing them as mother figures. Lexi wonders if it’s suffocating, and Eleanor assures her that it isn’t. Eleanor offers Lexi the chance to host a reception for a charity of her choice, and Lexi accepts.

At the palace, Lexi greets Amira, Demelza, and Birdie and learns that she has texts from Colin, who has been texting Lexi since they reunited. Amira warns Lexi that Colin is a womanizer; he once brought his new girlfriend to a group dinner that included the other woman he’d been sleeping with. However, Amira doesn’t think Colin would act that way with Lexi, as she’s “the big prize” (216). Colin’s text invites Lexi and Amira to his house during the summer. Lexi also has texts from Jack, but she tucks her phone away before the family appears on the balcony to greet their subjects. Lexi cried as a child at her first balcony appearance, and now she tears up again, as the crowd is bigger than ever before, honoring the family in the wake of Louis and Frederick’s loss.

Lexi calls Jack later, and they discuss her future. She asks his advice about which charity to choose, and he suggests a hospital in Kenya that Lexi visited with Isla; it treats women with obstetric fistulas during pregnancy. Lexi invites Jack to come to the charity event in November, and he accepts. They say that they miss each other before hanging up. Lexi considers the difference she can make as a doctor versus a queen.

Lexi swims at the ladies’ pond at Hampstead Heath. An older woman talks to her and says that Isla used to swim there years ago. Lexi thinks of her mother dying in the ocean and panics, leaving the pond abruptly. She returns to Cumberland and gets ready to attend Wimbledon with Amira. Mary tells Lexi that her approval rating is above 50% for the first time.

Amira tells Lexi that Colin will be seated near them, and Lexi remembers the disastrous weekend at his house a few weeks ago, when Lexi, Amira, Demelza, Birdie, and some of Colin’s friends from Eton were visiting Colin’s family’s lavish country estate. Colin flirted with Lexi, who thought about Jack. During a boozy game of Never Have I Ever, Demelza confirmed Lexi’s suspicions that she had slept with Colin. The group later played hide and seek, and Demelza insisted that Colin and Lexi hide. Instead of splitting up, Colin led Lexi to a secluded library. They kissed before Demelza found them, but Lexi spent the rest of the night tending to Birdie, who had injured herself. Lexi later called Jack to invite him to Scotland in August. He immediately accepted, despite the short notice.

Now, Colin approaches Lexi after Wimbledon, telling her to text him back. Lexi leaves and receives a call from Jack, who says a photographer is lurking outside the vineyard asking questions about Lexi. Lexi promises to tell Stewart.

Lexi picked up Louis from the Hobart Airport for a visit weeks before his wedding to Amira. At Jack’s family vineyard, Finn asked Louis for an embarrassing story from Lexi’s childhood. Lexi wondered if Louis would discuss the time Lexi found Annabelle’s cellphone hidden in Frederick’s desk and sent embarrassing texts to everyone in her contact list, or Frederick’s favorite anecdote of Lexi dropping his beloved signet ring beneath a floorboard. Louis instead told the group about the time he stole a crème egg from a grocery store; when Isla confronted him, Lexi lied and said she did it. Lexi realized that Louis had chosen a story that made her look good in front of her friends.

Later in the visit, while camping on a coastal reserve, Lexi and Louis discussed the wedding after Jack and Finn went to bed. Lexi had found out about the engagement from a public announcement featuring Amira posing with Isla’s engagement ring, which was supposed to have gone to Lexi. Lexi only agreed to be a bridesmaid in exchange for a favor from Stewart: Jack had threatened a paparazzo who had harassed Lexi, leading the man to press charges, but Stewart had made it all go away. Georgia, Jack’s ex, had stopped talking to Lexi afterward and left for New York. During his conversation with Lexi, Louis also told Lexi about doing peyote with his friends and hearing Isla scream within a bonfire; he confessed that he wondered if Isla had called out for the twins while dying. Thinking about this, Lexi and Louis cried and held each other.

The group returned to Hobart. At an impromptu party, Jack told Lexi that Louis had the same haunted look that Lexi had when she first moved into the cottage; Lexi explained that being watched their whole lives led them to question what was real. When the party wrapped up, Lexi saw Finn and Louis kissing. While driving Louis to the airport the next day, Lexi asked him about Finn and cautioned him against hooking up with people he didn’t know well. Louis criticized Lexi for trying to tell him what to do after she “left” him with the responsibility of being heir. Lexi in turn confronted him about Isla’s ring, and Louis refused to apologize. They parted on bad terms, and Lexi performed her bridesmaid’s duties without talking to Louis, Amira, or Kris more than necessary. Before she left, Stewart forced her to sign a unilateral NDA, meaning that she couldn’t talk publicly about the royal family, but they could talk about her.

Jack and Finn arrive at the royal estate in Scotland. Lexi greets them enthusiastically, and the porter escorts them to their assigned bedrooms. Lexi chose her mother’s favorite room for Jack, and once the porter and Finn leave them alone, Jack and Lexi finally kiss. When Finn returns, the trio goes for a walk with Chino and Amira. Finn charms Amira, and Lexi and Jack discuss Lexi’s life; Jack confesses that he looked at Lexi’s Wikipedia page to better understand her when she first moved in, and Lexi says that she researched wine to impress him.

Everyone dresses up for a formal dinner, and Jack finds Lexi beautiful in her gown. Lexi reminds them of the etiquette rules before they meet Eleanor, but Eleanor greets them warmly at cocktail hour, and Lexi relaxes. Jenny asks Lexi if Jack is the reason that she’s uncertain about becoming heir. Jenny explains that she ran a background check on Jack and Finn and discovered that Jack was arrested at a protest years prior. The press would use this against Jack if Lexi pursued a relationship with him. Lexi wonders if a relationship is possible, as Amira and others state that love isn’t enough; Jenny says that the right partner will love Lexi for who she truly is. That night, Lexi goes to Jack’s room, and they have sex.