THE HEIR APPARENT

Rebecca Armitage is a journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, who likes to write about royals. She has written stories about the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the coronation of King Charles III, the exile of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan, and the abdication of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe. As digital editor for the ABC’s International news team, she has covered several US elections and travelled to Israel to cover the war in Gaza. She lives in Hobart, Tasmania, with her husband and a poorly behaved German Shorthaired Pointer named Chino. The Heir Apparent is her first novel.

“One of the best books I’ve read all year.” —Natasha Lester, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress

“An absolutely delicious, compulsively readable, stylish novel about a young aristocratic woman, who has to choose between duty and her heart–think The Crown meets Taylor Jenkins Reid. I loved it. I devoured every page of this glorious novel.” —Holly Ringland, author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding

1. Before reading this book, how interested were you in real-life royal families? Did your level of interest (or lack of it) shape how you connected with the story or the characters?

2. Lexi often questions the presence and absence of love in her life. Lexi’s father rarely showed affection, yet he leaves her the wooden board with the witch’s markings and make sure she’s financially secure. What does this say about the different ways people express love or struggle to? How might gender or upbringing relate to Lexi’s access to love within her family?

3. Many characters hide core parts of themselves for duty, image, or safety. Louis cannot publicly love a man, Amira accepts a loveless partnership, and Annabelle remains essentially unseen. What does the novel suggest about the emotional cost of living a life that isn’t fully your own? What can be said about the irony that these sacrifices were made in the name of love?

4. The book nods to Britain and Tasmania’s colonial histories without making it a central storyline. Why do you think Armitage threads these references into a contemporary royal tale? What effect did it have on your reading?

5. What surprised you most about life behind the palace walls? Did anything challenge your assumptions about royalty or celebrity?

6. The Queen believes the royal family exists to provide stability without speaking out – to be seen but not heard. Despite her commitment to the family holding that quiet historic role, do you see this changing with the next generation of monarchs in the book? Or do you see it changing in real life?

7. Lexi gives up her title and part of her name to live more authentically. How do her feelings about that decision evolve over the course of the story? What does the novel suggest about letting go of a “born identity” to create a chosen one? How does the loss of that life impact her differently than it impacted her mother?

8. Armitage is a journalist. Where do you see her background in reporting reflected in the novel’s structure, tone, or detail?

9. In a world where information spreads instantly, Lexi must constantly navigate leaks, rumors, and tabloid narratives, especially as she escapes and speaks out about her uncle. What does the book impart about trust – with family, with the press, and even within oneself?

10. Finn and Jack’s storyline in Tasmania offers a tender, grounding and warm counterpoint to the royal plot. What did you make of Lexi’s imaginings at the end of the book about what she might do? Does it feel believable? Do you sense the possibility of a sequel following their lives once the crown passes to its next heir? (We hope so!)