The Heir Apparent

The Heir Apparent is a 2025 contemporary fiction novel by author and journalist Rebecca Armitage. The novel is Armitage’s debut and follows a fictionalized version of the British royal family. The protagonist, Lexi Villiers, works as a resident doctor in Hobart, Tasmania, and lives a relatively normal life until the deaths of her father, Prince Frederick, and her twin brother, Prince Louis—events that place her in the direct line of succession for the crown of England. Lexi returns to England to face an impossible choice between the life she’s built in Australia, including a budding romance with her friend Jack, and her obligation to her family and country. The novel features themes related to Duty Versus Personal Freedom, The Burden of Legacy and Public Expectation, and The Challenges of Identity Formation Under Institutional Constraints. As a journalist, Armitage has covered the royal family, as well as several US elections and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. She lives in Hobart, Tasmania, which features as a significant setting in The Heir Apparent.

This guide is based on the 2025 HarperCollins Publishers Kindle Edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of death, disordered eating, emotional abuse, physical abuse, child abuse, substance use, death by suicide, gender discrimination, racism, child death, sexual harassment, bullying, and anti-gay bias.

Plot Summary

Lexi Villiers, a young resident doctor in Hobart, wakes up camping with her friends Jack and Finn. She and Jack almost kiss before they’re interrupted with news that Lexi’s father, Prince Frederick, and brother, Prince Louis, were caught in an avalanche while skiing in Switzerland and remain in critical condition. Lexi, as third in line for the English throne, must return to London. Lexi goes, and during her journey, she finds out that Frederick and Louis have died, along with Kris, Louis’s brother-in-law and best friend.

When Lexi’s plane lands in London, Lexi meets Jenny Walsh, the British prime minister, who escorts her to the palace to meet with Queen Eleanor. She also sees Amira, Louis’s wife and Kris’s sister. Amira and Lexi were once best friends, as they attended the same secondary school, Astley, and lived together. However, their relationship fell apart after Amira and Louis began dating—a ruse to disguise the fact that Louis was actually in love with Kris. This upset Lexi, who worried about what the press would do to Amira and thought that Amira deserved her own life. However, Amira consented to the fake relationship for status, pushed by her mother, Vikki.

Lexi’s estrangement from Louis was further exacerbated when Louis told Kris Lexi’s secret about the death of their mother. Lexi’s mother, Princess Isla, died when Louis and Lexi were 17, after taking a yacht out in the Mediterranean Sea and falling into the water. Unbeknownst to anyone but Lexi, Louis, and Frederick, Lexi was on the yacht with Isla that night and woke up to find Isla gone. Lexi called Frederick, panicking, and he insisted that she clean up the yacht to pretend that she was never there. Isla’s body was recovered three days later. The trauma of Isla’s death contributed to Lexi’s decision to enroll in a school in Australia, working toward becoming a doctor while leaving her royal life behind.

In the present, Amira and Lexi prepare for the funeral, and Lexi reunites with her uncle Richard, Frederick’s brother. Richard is cruel and power hungry, and he views the funeral as an opportunity to gain influence for himself and his two daughters, Demelza and Birdie. He manipulates Lexi into moving herself and Amira out of the palace and back into Amira and Louis’s apartment. There, Lexi comforts Amira with dinner and drinks, as Lexi worries that Amira is struggling with the same disordered eating habits that Lexi and Isla both wrestled with. Lexi and Amira get drunk and dance, and the next day, Vikki arrives with a tabloid article, leaked by Richard, that claims Amira and Lexi partied all night. Vikki warns Lexi about Richard and the treachery that she’ll face if she accepts the crown.

The funeral goes smoothly, but Amira and Lexi fight after the tense reception, during which Demelza and Birdie snub Amira. Amira calls Lexi a bad sister and friend for leaving her and Louis behind. Lexi reflects on the life that she’s built in Australia, including her friendship with Finn and her almost romance with Jack, whom she and Finn met after James helped them find a place to live. Lexi immediately found Jack attractive, but he had a girlfriend, and by the time they broke up, Lexi was seeing Ben, her boss at the hospital. Ben broke up with Lexi five weeks before Frederick and Louis’s deaths, leaving little time for Lexi and Jack to act on their feelings. Despite the distance, Lexi and Jack keep up their friendship, texting and calling often.

The royal family goes to stay at Watford Palace in Scotland, and Lexi meets with Eleanor, Jenny, and an aide named Stewart to discuss Frederick’s will and her future. Frederick left her nothing, but Lexi is now the heir apparent. She isn’t sure if she wants the role, so Eleanor gives her until the end of the year to decide. Lexi also sees her stepmother, Annabelle, for the first time since their wordless reunion at the funeral. Annabelle and Frederick fell in love before Frederick married Isla, but the palace refused to allow them to marry at the time because Annabelle was divorced and Catholic. They carried on an affair during Frederick’s marriage, which broke Isla’s heart and haunted Lexi’s childhood. Now, Annabelle warns Lexi about accepting the crown and about trusting an aide named Mary. Lexi doesn’t listen and hires Mary as her personal secretary.

Lexi makes up with Amira and settles back into royal life, attending a state banquet where she reunites with Colin, the Earl of Amherst. Colin flirts with Lexi, but she feels guilty because of her connection with Jack. Amira also warns Lexi about Colin, implying a past conflict between them. At the Trooping of the Color, Eleanor reminds Lexi of the history of Barbara Villiers, an ancestor who rose from the king’s mistress to queen regent. Eleanor also offers Lexi the chance to champion a charity of her choice. When the royal family appears on the balcony for the first time since Frederick and Louis’s deaths, Lexi feels overwhelmed by the public’s outpouring of love. She calls Jack afterward, and he helps her choose a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, for her philanthropic cause. He also promises to attend the charity reception in November.

Lexi and Amira attend a party at Colin’s estate, and Colin and Lexi kiss, though Lexi stops talking to Colin afterward. He sees her again at Wimbledon and asks her to text him back, but she doesn’t. Lexi invites Jack and Finn to come to the royal estate in Scotland in the summer, and they accept. While there, she and Jack finally have their first kiss, and Amira and Finn forge a friendship. This surprises Lexi: Louis visited Australia a few weeks before his wedding to Amira, and Louis and Finn hooked up. Lexi and Louis fought about Louis’s carelessness and his use of Isla’s engagement ring, which was supposed to pass to Lexi. This tension lasted through the wedding.

Most of the trip goes well, and Lexi and Jack are intimate. Before Jack and Finn return to Australia, Lexi takes Jack to a cliff that was Isla’s favorite viewpoint. Jack asks Lexi what she plans to do with her future, as they both know that she plans to become the heir apparent. He asks Lexi where he fits into her future, and Lexi isn’t sure. Lexi thinks Jack and his girlfriend broke up because he refused to follow her to New York, but he confesses that they broke up because he’s in love with Lexi. Lexi worries that once he knows who she truly is, including her secret about Isla’s death, he will see her differently. She tells him to leave, saying that their relationship couldn’t work. After Jack and Finn leave, Richard blackmails Lexi with the name of the security guard, Davide Rossi, who was there the night of Isla’s death. Lexi calls James and tells him the truth.

Lexi goes through the motions of royal life despite her heartbreak. James checks in on her regularly and reminds her that Isla’s death wasn’t her fault. Lexi asks Mary to find Davide’s contact information because she thinks she’ll need to pay Davide off. While visiting Annabelle, Lexi tells her the truth, but Annabelle already knew. She tells Lexi that Richard blackmailed Frederick over their affair and over Louis and Kris’s relationship. Annabelle warns Lexi that Richard will always haunt her if she becomes heir. Lexi calls Davide and tells him that Richard can’t afford to pay him off. After returning from Scotland, she visits Colin, who admits that he and Amira had an affair and that he broke her heart after she told him that she wanted to leave Louis.

The day of the charity event arrives. Richard is there, and Lexi tells him that she’s already spoken to Davide, taking Richard’s blackmail power away. Lexi then gives a speech where she goes off script and criticizes the British Empire’s role in harming Kenya. Afterward, Amira encourages Lexi to pursue real love with Jack.

Lexi decides to give up the crown before Christmas, and Eleanor removes the announcement of Lexi becoming heir from her address to the nation. She also reveals that she knew the truth about Isla’s death. She refuses, however, to hear the truth about Richard’s manipulative blackmail schemes. Three days after Christmas, Mary’s brother, Charlie, helps smuggle Lexi out of her apartment to Mary’s house so that she can sign a document renouncing her place in the line of succession. Stewart and Eleanor wanted Lexi to sign a different statement endorsing Richard, but Lexi refuses to do so. Jenny is present and gives Lexi a new passport, helping her leave the country.

Lexi lands in Hong Kong, and Mary tells her that Richard leaked Davide’s name to a journalist. Lexi decides that she, Annabelle, and Amira will speak to reputable journalists from a New York newspaper to tell the truth about Richard. Lexi meets the reporter in an airport hotel room and tells her the truth about Richard in hopes of nudging the crown away from a cruel, selfish man and toward her cousin Demelza.

Lexi lands in Hobart, and James collects her from the airport. He drives her to Jack’s vineyard and encourages her to tell Jack how she feels. Lexi finds Jack among the vines, and he apologizes for the pain she’s endured, assuring her that he doesn’t see her differently knowing the truth of her past. They confess their love for each other and kiss. Lexi worries that the palace will come after them for revealing the truth, but Jack doesn’t care. They continue to wake up together and watch the sunrise every New Year’s Day.