What happened in Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson - Recaptains

The basics

Title: Her Majesty’s Royal Coven

Author: Juno Dawson

Series: Her Majesty's Royal Coven #1

- Queen B (2024)
- Her Majesty's Royal Coven (2022)
- The Shadow Cabinet (2023)
- Human Rites (2025)

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Goodreads Summary:

Hidden among us is a secret coven of witches. They are Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. They protect crown and country from magical forces and otherworldly evil. But their greatest enemy will come from within.

There are whisperings of a prophecy that will bring the coven to its knees, and five best friends are about to be caught at the centre. Life as a modern witch was never simple … but now it’s about to get apocalyptic.

Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson to help refresh your memory before you read the sequel. If you need help remembering what happened in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven then you’re in the right place.

What happened in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven?

• Prologue: Helena, Niamh, Ciara, Elle, and Leonie are best friends and witches. They’re currently arguing over which boy band member they’re each going to marry, but the real reason they’re bickering is because they’re nervous about the upcoming ritual in which they’ll swear the oath in front of all the elder witches.
• Niamh is now a vet. She is called to see to a horse, who is old and dying. She allows it to go peacefully by reassuring it.
• Helena is the High Priestess of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. She leads the charge to arrest and detain Travis Smythe, one of the rebel warlocks.
• Leonie meets with her brother, Radley, who is a warlock. Radley is upset that Helen arrested Smythe.
• Elle and Niamh meet for lunch. Elle’s daughter, Holly, is showing magical abilities, meaning that Elle will need to tell her about witches. Elle has previously kept all of this a secret from her family. Elle reveals to Niamh that she has been using a glamour when she’s with her husband, Jez.
• Witches are becoming more and more rare, and since Elle married a mundane, there was only a 50/50 chance that her child would turn out to be magical. Her son, Milo, isn’t showing any signs.
• Helena tells Niamh about Smythe, and that he was on his way to see her sister, Ciara.
• Helena asks Niamh to help her with a troubled young boy who has been arrested for blowing up his school. Magically. Helena thinks this boy is The Sullied Child. This kid is prophesised to be the end of witchkind and he will help Leviathan rise. They’ve currently got him detained in the witch prison, Grierlings.
• Niamh agrees to see the boy and is furious to find that they’re keeping him in the cellar. She finds him levitating in a corner of the room, not knowing how to get back down. She coaxes him and reassures him that he’ll be okay.
• Niamh agrees to let the boy stay with her for a little while. He clearly doesn’t know how to control his powers and needs help. Niamh used to coach young witches, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
• Elle tells Holly about being a witch. Holly thinks Elle has lost her mind at first but then realises this whole thing is true, and pretty cool.
• At home, the boy introduces himself as Theo. He won’t speak out loud, but will speak to Niamh in her mind. Niamh assures him he will be fine, and doesn’t mention that Helena wants him killed.
• That night, Niamh has an awful dream about a baby drowning. She realises this is Theo’s dream and runs to wake him. He blows out her window with his abilities, but then heals her scratches, showing that he’s an adept.
• Helena goes to stay with her parents in the village. She teleports her daughter, Snow, in.
• Niamh takes Theo to see Annie, an old oracle witch who lives in a cottage down a hill. Annie is Elle’s grandmother. Niamh wants to know if Theo definitely is the Sullied Child. Annie doesn’t confirm whether Theo is this Child, but she does warn Niamh not to listen so closely to oracles.
• Niamh and Annie show Theo a well in the garden that allows people to jump in and travel to the next village over.
• Niamh will be tutoring both Theo and Holly. Theo and Holly get along immediately. Niamh starts off by telling them the story of Gaia, the mother of all beings.
• Leonie’s girlfriend, Chinara, starts asking about babies. She wants them. Leonie is hesitant.
• Niamh asks Leonie to come to Hebden Bridge to meet Theo. She wants her friend’s opinion on the whole thing.
• Leonie holds a gathering with her own coven, Diaspora.
• Niamh goes with Luke to see The Exorcist at the indie picture house. He has been asking her out for a while and while Niamh likes him, she feels bad about leading him on because she is still grieving her dead fiancé, Conrad. Conrad died in the war several years ago. Luke is super understanding.
• Leonie returns to Hebden Bridge and strolls naked through the forest.
• Leonie, Niamh, Theo, Elle, Holly, and Annie go for a stroll in a National Trust park. They settle near a waterfall. The older witches show the younger ones how they can work with nature. They ask Holly to lift a feather, then a skull, then a rock, with her mind. She gets it after some practice. Theo lifts the feather fine, but then when he tries to lift the skull he actually summons a load of crows and they start attacking him. Leonie has to get into his mind to send the birds away.
• Niamh tells Helena that everything with Theo is fine, he just needs to learn to control his power. Helena has spies everywhere though, and they tell her that something went wrong at the park. Helena tells her daughter, Snow, that she must be tutored by Niamh and report everything back to her.
• Niamh tells Holly and Theo that Snow will be joining them. Holly doesn’t like Snow at all and makes that clear. Niamh says it’s okay not to like a fellow witch, but they should still help each other.
• Theo tells Niamh that he can hear her sister calling out for her. Creepy.
• Eight years earlier, Ciara was part of the rebellion and the witches had to track her down. Ciara created a glamour to trick Helena into thinking she was being attacked by bees (which she’s allergic to). Niamh had to disable Ciara, and she ended up going OTT and wiping her mind. Ciara has been in a coma ever since.
• Leonie goes to see Madame Celestine, who can speak to spirits. It’s all really creepy and one of the spirits starts shouting about how “He” will rise.
• Niamh tells the kids a little about the war. She says Snow’s father was killed in the floods, trying to save mundanes, and Conrad was killed by a sentient.
• Luke interrupts this training session and Theo accidentally uses his powers and almost kills him. Elle has to come over to heal him. It’s all fine in the end.
• At home, Elle thinks Holly is acting weird. She interrogates her daughter, and Holly feels forced to tell her that Theo is a transgender girl. Elle is shocked, and goes to tell Niamh immediately.
• This explains why Theo is so powerful compared to warlocks – she’s actually a witch.
• Unfortunately, Niamh was working at the vet surgery at the time, and Snow was able to overhear by using a glamour to eavesdrop. Snow goes straight to Helena to tell her what’s going on.
• Niamh asks Leonie to put her in touch with a trans-witch from the Diaspora coven. Valentina asks Niamh to read her aura, and Niamh can tell that she has always been a woman at her core. Niamh is reassured.
• Helena organises a girls’ night out to the local pub. Leonie travels up to the village for it. They all go out and get super drunk. Niamh and Elle leave Holly and Theo at the cottage.
• When Elle and Niamh return home, they find Holly to be completely distraught. She said five warlocks showed up and abducted Theo.
• Niamh immediately sobers up. She takes a potion to give her adrenaline, and flies over the village and down the country roads. She blocks the van that has taken Theo. She finds Radley in the front seat. She demands that they give Theo back to her.
• Leaving Theo at Elle’s house, Niamh confronts Helena. Helena admits to asking the warlocks to take Theo because Helena thinks Theo is a boy. She refuses to accept that Theo is a girl. Helena and Niamh argue and it’s pretty traumatic tbh.
• On the way home, a very angry Niamh stops at Luke’s mill and the two of them have sex. Finally! The next morning, Niamh leaves early to go and pick Theo up.
• Helena speaks to Elle, who also thinks Helena shouldn’t control Theo’s gender. Helena gets annoyed. Her mother, Lilian, also says that Helena should learn to take criticism.
• Annie speaks to Elle and is quite cryptic about her visions. She tuts at Elle and tells her that obviously Theo is a girl, and even though she’s blind she could tell immediately.
• Luke brings Niamh some yellow roses because he wants her to know that he values their friendship more than anything.
• Theo shares more memories with Niamh, about her time at primary school when the teachers tried to make her play with the boys and the “masculine” toys, and someone calling him awful names.
• Moira, an older witch in HMRC, asks Helena why she would send Theo off to the cabal if she’s a girl. Helena is angry about being questioned.
• A young oracle shares her vision of all the witches dead and Theo standing over them. She’s the only oracle to see this vision, but Helena latches onto it and decides that she must get rid of Theo to protect everyone.
• Helena goes to see Hale, the leader of the rebellion. He has a very fancy prison cell because his parents are rich. Helena used to sleep with Hale back in the day so they have lots of history. She asks him how to summon a demon, Belial. Hale tells her how to find the information that she needs.
• Helena sends people to raid someone’s somewhat illegal collection of demon books.
• Niamh takes the girls shopping. Holly reads someone’s mind and finds out that her dad is having an affair. Holly is very upset. Niamh wipes Holly’s mind so that Elle and Holly can stay happy.
• During the shopping trip, Niamh speaks to Annie. Annie gives her advice about fighting fire, and says that she has a visitor coming that night.
• Helena does visit Annie, and kills her so she can’t warn the other witches about what Helena has planned.
• Annie’s funeral is held. Elle is super upset, of course. Niamh blames Helena and says it’s weird that they can’t see into Helena’s mind. Leonie tells Niamh to calm down because they’re at a funeral.
• Leonie does acknowledge that it’s weird though. Helena seems to be guarding something.
• Niamh speaks to Helena the next day while they’re getting their nails done. Helena refuses to see sense regarding Theo. Niamh leaves and says their friendship is over.
• That night, between two and three in the morning, Helena performs the ritual and allows herself to become Belial’s vessel.
• At the cottage, Theo can hear a new voice, but can’t tell what it means.
• Helena sends Snow away with her grandparents. She also steals her daughter’s phone. Helena then has the village sealed so no one can enter or leave.
• Helena gathers some witches from HMRC to go with her to Hebden Bridge and take Theo. An oracle, Irina, tells Helena that no other oracle saw the vision about Theo, but Helena doesn’t listen.
• Snow sends Niamh an email saying her mother has stolen her phone and sent her away. She asks Niamh to help her mother.
• Niamh springs into action. She grabs Theo. Luke passes out, as the HMRC witches are knocking out the mundanes.
• Leonie and Chinara return home to find Sandhya in their flat. She has come to warn them. She couldn’t get into Hebden Bridge herself and didn’t know who else to go to. They all set off, along with Kane and Valentina, to go and help Theo. They travel by tornado, which is pretty cool.
• On the way, Leonie sends a mental message to Elle to warn her. Holly overhears and she sets off to help her friends. Jez is wondering what’s going on and Elle is forced to tell him that they’re witches. He takes it fairly well.
• The HMRC witches intercept Niamh’s car and flip it.
• Leonie and that group get through the barrier. Kane is injured but seems mostly okay. They set off to find Niamh and Theo. They come across Elle and Holly, and Niamh’s flipped over car. Luke is seriously injured, and Elle and Theo try to heal him.
• The HMRC witches attack and drive the other witches into the nearby church. Niamh and Theo escape out the back and head to Annie’s well. Elle and Holly fight off the other witches inside while the others handle the ones outside.
• Unfortunately, Helena finds Niamh and Theo. Helena traps Niamh in a ring of fire and tangles Theo up in some branches.
• Niamh sends her energy to Theo through the water to give her strength. Theo’s body transforms into a feminine one.
• Helena starts to strangle Theo. Niamh calls upon the nearby bees and has them sting Helena. Helena passes out, and Belial leaves her body.
• Elle arrives and heals Helena just enough for her to not die.
• Niamh finally confides in Luke and he’s very understanding about it all.
• Hale escapes the prison. Turns out that Belial freed him while Helena thought she was having a power nap.
• Helena is sentenced to death by fire for her crimes.
• Snow, Holly, and Theo go through the ritual. Snow promises to get revenge on Niamh and Theo for what they did to her mother.
• Niamh goes to see Ciara in hospital. She thinks she can hear Ciara calling out in her mind so she holds her hand, and then something sharp pinches her. Ciara switches bodies with Niamh. Belial took a trip to the hospital and gave Ciara the stone to allow this. Niamh is now trapped, while Ciara can roam free.

That’s what happened in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven! Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!