Title: The Heir Apparent
Author: Rebecca Armitage
Publisher: Cardinal
Publication date: December 2, 2025
Length: 409 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

An irresistible modern fairy tale about a British princess who must decide between her duty to her family—or to her own heart.

It’s New Year’s Day in Australia and the life Lexi Villiers has carefully built is working out nicely: she’s in the second year of her medical residency, she lives on a beautiful farm with her two best friends Finn and Jack, and she’s about to finally become more-than-friendly with Jack—when a helicopter abruptly lands.

Out steps her grandmother’s right-hand-man, with the tragic news that her father and older brother have been killed in a skiing accident. Lexi’s grandmother happens to be the Queen of England, and in addition to the shock and grief, Lexi must now accept the reality that she is suddenly next in line for the throne—a role she has publicly disavowed.

Returning to London as the heir apparent Princess Alexandrina, Lexi is greeted by a skeptical public not ready to forgive her defection, a grieving sister-in-law harboring an explosive secret, and a scheming uncle determined to claim the throne himself.

Her recent life—and Jack—grow ever more distant as she feels the tug of tradition, of love for her grandmother, and of obligation. When her grandmother grants her one year to decide, Lexi must choose her own destiny: will it be determined by an accident of birth—or by love?

The Heir Apparent is the newest pick for Reese’s Book Club, and it’s a great choice. Luckily for me, I was browsing my library’s website on the day this was announced, and was able to snag a copy right away.

Let’s start by talking about what this book isn’t, before I get into all the marvelous things it is. If all you’re going by are the cover and the blurb, you might be tempted to slot this book into the romance category, and that would be a mistake. Don’t be fooled by the “modern fairy tale” description — it’s really no such thing. This isn’t a story about a commoner suddenly discovering she’s secretly royal or getting swept away by a romance with a prince. In fact, while there is a love story embedded within the novel, it’s just one thread out of many that weave together to form a compelling whole.

I actually think the Australian cover and synopsis do a much better job of conveying the book’s tone and content:

Lexi Villiers is a 29-year-old Englishwoman doing her medical residency in Hobart, working too hard, worried about her bank balance, and living with friends. It’s a good life, and getting even better, because as the dawn is breaking on New Year’s Day, Lexi is about to kiss the man she loves for the very first time. But by midnight, everything will change. Because Lexi is in fact not an ordinary young woman. She is Princess Alexandrina, third in line to the British throne – albeit estranged from the rest of her family and living in voluntary exile on the other side of the world. Following a terrible accident, Lexi finds herself the heir apparent. Called back to do her duty, she arrives in London to a Palace riven with power plays and media leaks, all the while guarding painful secrets of her own.

Doesn’t that sound very different?

In The Heir Apparent, Lexi is a medical resident in Tasmania, living in a shared cottage on a vineyard with her two closest friends, possibly about to admit the deep feelings she has for one of them. She’s also the granddaughter of Queen Eleanor of England, third in line to the throne after her father and twin (but two-minutes-older) brother Louis.

As the book opens, a helicopter arrives to inform Lexi that her father and brother have been killed in an avalanche while skiing in the Alps. Lexi is whisked back to England to take her place with the family for the elaborate rituals of mourning — and to take up her new position as heir apparent.

Lexi is all too aware of what this means. No more medical career, a life lived fully under the microscope of public (and paparazzi) scrutiny, the never-ending drama of palace intrigue and back-biting and scandalous leaks. And she should know, better than anyone: Her mother was the tragic Princess Isla, living in a loveless marriage while her husband pined (and carried on with) his first true love, eventually divorced, stripped of titles and protection, and the most gossiped about woman in the world. Lexi is still haunted by nightmares related to Isla’s tragic death when Lexi and Louis were teens. How can Lexi embrace a life that destroyed her mother so thoroughly?

At the same time, Lexi loves her grandmother and was raised with duty to the Crown as the highest calling. As Lexi navigates a return to life as a royal, she must weight the responsibilities and privileges hurtling toward her. The Queen gives her a year to make a decision: Accept her place as heir apparent and all that entails, or walk away permanently.

If the general outline of the royal family sounds familiar, but slightly changed, there’s a reason. In the world of The Heir Apparent, royal history veered from our own centuries earlier, when Barbara Villiers — historically, mistress to King Charles II — became Queen. Here, the royal family is of the House Villiers, and Barbara is revered as the strong, intelligent queen who created a dynasty.

And yet, the parallels to the real-life royal family are obvious, from the long-lived Queen Eleanor to the scandals surrounding Lexi’s parents’ marriage and divorce, to her mother’s heroism in visiting war-torn countries and speaking out for children, to the unending speculation surrounding Isla’s death. Lexi is in some ways a stand-in for a certain prince, as she walked away from her role as a working royal years earlier in order to achieve a life of her own far, far away, resulting in estrangement from her father and brother. And of course, the palace leaks and manipulations in the novel are quite as devious and inescapable as we’ve heard described over and over again in real life.

What I loved about The Heir Apparent is the inner look at what this life means to Lexi. It’s not cut and dried; she’s bound by tradition, love for family, and the respect for the Crown that’s been drilled into her since birth. At the same time, she’s seen just how poisonous such a life can be, as the secrets that haunted her closest family members led to pain and suffering, over and over again. Lexi is a complex character who’s fought hard to pursue a life of meaning, choosing service as a medical professional over the much loftier type of service life as a royal entails, and she’s found joy in it. But she can’t walk away, once she becomes the heir apparent, before truly giving this alternate life a chance, weighing whether she can be the future Queen that her grandmother expects, as the world watches to judge whether she succeeds or fails.

The book is structured around the events following the helicopter’s arrival, but interspersed chapters take us back to Lexi’s childhood, teen, and early adult years. Secrets are teased and slowly doled out. We know there’s more than Lexi is sharing about her past; we know she’s haunted by the family estrangement and how she cut ties with her brother over the past several years. But as we see in the chapters set earlier, they were once incredibly close. How their lives split and fell apart is key to understanding who Lexi is now, as are the rest of the secrets that eventually get revealed as the story progresses.

An underlying theme throughout The Heir Apparent, beyond the family drama and palace intrigue, is the overarching question about the role and relevancy of a monarchy in the modern age, as well as the dark side of the monarchy’s history of colonialism and empire. The author does not shy away from these aspects, and this subtext provides yet another layer to Lexi’s struggle to understand her role, what’s expected of her, and what her choices ultimately mean.

For those who enjoy the peek-behind-the-scenes vibe of royal-themed novels and movies, there’s plenty of that here as well, as we see Lexi poked, prodded, smoothed, painted, and shaped into a princess worthy of public display. The inner workings of palace life are revealed, with scenes involving the various aides and assistants and vastly complex protocols that control every inch and second of royal family life.

The Heir Apparent is certain to appeal to fans of The Crown. Those who read and enjoyed Prince Harry’s Spare will find certain emotional resonances here as well in areas where Lexi’s experiences feel achingly familiar. I’ll throw in a more offbeat reference too: The Heir Apparent strongly brought to mind The Goblin Emperor, which is a stellar example of fantasy genre storytelling and world-building. The Goblin Emperor revolves around a character so far down the line of succession that he’s considered worthless — until a freak accident kills off the Emperor and all of the older heirs. In that book as well as this one, the main characters must navigate finding themselves heir to the throne when it was absolutely never even considered a possibility. It’s fascinating to compare the parallels in these very different stories.

Summing it all up…

Well-written, emotional, and utterly gripping, The Heir Apparent tells a great story while also providing food for thought and an emotionally relatable main character. I felt completely invested in Lexi’s choice, battling with myself over what the right decision might be, and unable to put the book down before we finally learn what Lexi’s path will be.

Even for readers who don’t normally take an interest in royalty, the experiences of the main character here make for compelling reading. Highly recommended.

Resources and information:

Blog post via Reese’s Book Club: https://reesesbookclub.com/how-do-you-trust-your-loved-ones-when-every-secret-is-a-weapon/
Author bio: https://rebeccaarmitage.com/about/
NPR review: https://www.npr.org/2025/12/07/nx-s1-5600903/a-royal-romance-novel-with-the-british-throne-at-stake
Publishers Weekly review: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781538776308

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible — Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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