60 pages • 2 hours read
Katharine McgeeAmerican Royals
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Prologue-Chapter 6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue Summary
The narrator explains the history of the American monarchy by telling how General George Washington was asked to become the first King of America and graciously accepted the role. Although the narrator muses that things might have turned out differently if George Washington had insisted on becoming an elected official, the narrator believes that the audience isn’t interested in “a made-up story” (1). Instead, the narrator promises a salacious tale about the descendants of King George I, “the most famous family in the world” who still sit on the American throne to this day and are embroiled in “secrets and scandals” (2).
Chapter 1 Summary: “Beatrice”
Princess Beatrice Washington, the future Queen of America, meets with her parents, the King and Queen of America, after the last Cabinet meeting of the year. Beatrice is stunned when her parents ask about her personal life and whether she is currently dating anyone. As the Queen’s Ball approaches, the king and queen have decided that Beatrice should start searching for a husband, and they hope to use the Ball as a way for Beatrice to mingle with the eligible men who meet their criteria. Beatrice knows that as the future queen, she can “only marry someone of noble or aristocratic blood” (7), but she is still surprised at how short the list of eligible men is. Beatrice is apprehensive because of her lack of dating experience, but she agrees to meet with each of the potential suitors at the Queen’s Ball the following night. Beatrice worries that the men will “[look] at her and [see] not a person, but a crown” (10), and her mother implies that even if Beatrice cannot bring herself to love any of her suitors, she must choose whoever will be best for America.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Nina”
College freshman Nina Gonzalez listens to her friend Rachel daydream about the Queen’s Ball at Washington Palace. Nina, a long-time friend of the Washingtons, secretly remembers how she first got involved with the royal family. Nina’s mom became the king’s chamberlain, and Nina met Princess Samantha, who was a “storm of kinetic energy” (17) and quickly recruited Nina to be her playmate. The king welcomed Nina, and “just like that, Nina was interwoven into the lives of the royal twins” (18). Samantha and Jeff were always getting into trouble, and Nina tried to keep them in line with little success. Nina’s moms were uncertain about their daughter getting involved with the Washingtons because Nina would never be royalty like them and might develop a warped sense of reality. Nina loves Sam but notes that their friendship has changed over the past six months, ever since the night of the graduation party. As Nina leaves her lecture, Sam picks her up and begs her to attend the Queen’s Ball with her that night. Nina reluctantly agrees, and the car takes her and Sam directly to Washington Palace. Nina becomes nervous at the thought of seeing Jefferson, and although she “hate[s] him for what happened the night of the graduation party,” she also “secretly long[s] to see him” (24).
Chapter 3 Summary: “Daphne”
Daphne Deighton, Prince Jefferson’s ex-girlfriend, returns home and admires the view of Washington Palace from her front door. Daphne is from a noble family, although her family’s title “[falls] a bit low in the hierarchy for Daphne’s taste” (25). Her parents summon her to a family meeting, and her mother chastises Daphne for not going to meet Prince Jefferson’s plane when he arrived back in town from his six-month trip the night before. Daphne’s mother is a social climber who is eager to see their daughter marry the prince and elevate their titles, and Daphne has “known for years that she would marry the prince” (27). As a child, Daphne decided she wanted to be a princess, so she spent years scheming and dating Prince Jefferson until she “[found] him in bed with another girl” (28) on the night of the graduation party six months ago. Jefferson never knew that Daphne saw him with the other girl, but he called and broke up with her the next day. Daphne is determined to win Jefferson back, but she worries about the hordes of girls surrounding him, especially the mystery girl in Jefferson’s bed at the party. Still, Daphne knows she has come too far and done too many underhanded things to give up now.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Samantha”
On the night of the Queen’s Ball, Sam and Nina arrive late to the festivities. As the second-born child, Sam is often seen as the “spare” in case any harm were to come to Beatrice. As she enters the ballroom, she feels the crowd assessing her and looking for things to criticize. The Queen takes Sam to the side and scolds her for not wearing the clothes she chose for her and for running away from her security detail in Thailand. Her mother begs Samantha to behave because this is “a big night for [Beatrice]” (36), although she doesn’t explain why. As the night goes on, Sam meets the charming, handsome Lord Theodore Eaton, or Teddy. They flirt over drinks at the bar, and as the all-important knighting ceremony is about to begin, Sam decides that she’s “[not] done with [Teddy],” and she wants his “warm golden energy to be focused on her for just a moment longer” (42). She leads Teddy to a coat closet instead, and they share their first kiss in secret.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Beatrice”
Behind the scenes at the Queen’s Ball, Beatrice undergoes a quick costume change before mingling with her suitors. Amid the change, Beatrice is overwhelmed by the understanding of what she is expected to do, and she asks for a moment alone. She feels like her life is “slipping through her fingers like sand, and no matter how hard she trie[s] to clutch at it, she [can’t] regain control” (46). Her Guard, Connor, knocks on the door to check on her, and Beatrice is relieved and happy to see him. Beatrice remembers when Connor was assigned to be her personal guard when she was still going to school at Harvard and how the two slowly became friendly with each other despite Connor’s initial disinterest in his assignment. Beatrice learns that Connor has an interest in art, and he explains that he joined the illustrious Revere Guard because “it was as close as [he] could get to being a real-life superhero” (50). Connor helps Beatrice feel less alone, like she has a real friend. She tells him she is supposed to scope out possible husbands tonight, which stuns Connor and makes things awkward between them. As they return to the Ball, Beatrice is reminded that she and Connor are not seen as equals in the eyes of the country and the court, which saddens her.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Daphne”
When Daphne arrives at the Queen’s Ball, she is enchanted by the glitz and glamor of the occasion. Still, she focuses on Jefferson and wastes no time finding him and striking up a conversation. She asks Jefferson to dance with her, “flash[ing] her most beguiling smile, the one Jefferson had never been able to resist” (60), and they fall into easy conversation about old times. Jefferson tries to apologize for how he ended things with Daphne, and Daphne tells Jefferson that she’s missed him. Suddenly, Jefferson leaves abruptly, and the prince’s best friend, Ethan, cuts in and continues the dance with Daphne. Unlike Jefferson, Ethan isn’t noble, but he is good-looking and “always had a particular talent for getting under [Daphne’s] skin” (62). Ethan urges Daphne to give up on Jefferson because all this trouble Daphne is going through to get him back isn’t worth it. He implies that something happened between him and Daphne, but she orders him never to speak of it again: After all, “What happened that night was an awful, terrible mistake” (64). Daphne knows that if anyone were to ever find out about her and Ethan’s secret, she would never be able to convince Jefferson to take her back. Daphne insists that she will get Jefferson back, despite Ethan’s protests.
Prologue-Chapter 6 Analysis
The Prologue introduces the reader to the history of how the great nation of America came to be. At first, the story might sound familiar, especially to readers with any background knowledge about the American Revolution and the nation’s hard-won independence from the British Empire. However, McGee drops a few hints that this is not the same America the reader is familiar with: The narrator mentions figures such as King George I (not to be confused with King George III, the ruler of Great Britain during the American Revolution), Queen Martha, and Washington Palace. Finally, McGee reveals that in this timeline, General George Washington agreed to become the first King of America instead of assuming the title of president. The narrator teases that perhaps things might have been different if he had said no, and this line suggests that this moment created the alternate timeline that will be explored throughout American Royals. The Prologue is intriguing and promises to bring the reader into a strange and unfamiliar world of American monarchy and to speculate on these “what ifs.”
American Royals is told through a third-person limited point of view, but the perspective is shared among the four most important female characters in the novel: Princess Beatrice, Princess Samantha, Nina, and Daphne. By shuffling these points of view throughout the novel, McGee offers a more complete look at the characters’ motivations, pasts, and temperaments. Readers learn, for example, that Beatrice’s parents have decided it is time for her to choose a husband to become America’s first king consort, pressure that foregrounds the theme of Duty Versus Desire. Although she is the golden child who always does as she is told, Beatrice is apprehensive about the decision that lies before her. Beatrice knows that she will be the first Queen of America, and she has big shoes to fill at a very young age, which explains the immense pressure she feels in the novel’s opening chapter. While McGee hints at the possibility that Beatrice and Connor might care for one another beyond what is proper between a princess and a guard, the depth of their love is revealed more slowly than the other relationships in the novel.
Meanwhile, drama swirls around the lives of Samantha, Nina, and Daphne, all of whom find themselves entangled in romantic complications. Samantha and Teddy’s tryst in the coat closet on the night of the Queen’s Ball sets up the tension that will create friction between Sam and her sister throughout the novel. McGee’s characters often fall into situations without malicious intent: Teddy did not know that he was attending the Queen’s Ball as a potential suitor for Beatrice, and Sam didn’t know that Teddy was on Beatrice’s short list. There is a tragic undertone to the situation, rather unlike Daphne’s passages, which show fierce calculation in her quest to ensnare Jefferson.
This section also introduces the theme of Power and Privilege, which is revealed largely through each young woman’s circumstances. Although she does not yet rule, Beatrice’s power and privilege are her birthright. However, her power is constrained by the requirements laid upon her as the heir apparent, giving rise to a conflict between Duty Versus Desire. Sam also has the privilege and power that comes from being a Washington. As the second-born, she will not have the supreme power of the monarch but rather the power and privilege that comes from wealth and title. Born into a noble family, Daphne also has some measure of inherited power and privilege, which could increase based on her ability to attract and entice Prince Jefferson back into a relationship. As a commoner, Nina has no power or privilege, but if she were to begin a relationship with Jefferson, that might change that equation.
In this section, McGee introduces elements of the theme of The Public Versus Private Self. In private, Beatrice has a rapport with the guard Connor even as she knows he would never be deemed an acceptable suitor. In the privacy of a closet, Sam appears to have lit a romantic spark with Teddy, an eligible bachelor who could become a suitor for Beatrice. Nina hints that, six months ago, she had a secret tryst with Jefferson that transcended royal and class distinctions, but her public self has to keep the romance hidden because of their different social statuses. In her not-so-secret pursuit of Jefferson, Daphne must keep hidden a secret of something that happened between her and Ethan. These secrets and others will magnify the distinctions between each girl’s public and private self and drive the plot’s action.
