American Royals

Overview

Katharine McGee's "American Royals" imagines a United States that never became a republic. After the Revolutionary War, the country crowned George Washington instead of electing a president, and two and a half centuries later his descendants still occupy the throne. The novel follows the current generation of that dynasty: Princess Beatrice, heir apparent and soon-to-be first queen regnant; her younger sister Samantha, cast permanently as the spare; and their twin brother Jefferson, a prince whose place in the line of succession has shifted with changing inheritance laws.

Each sibling wrestles with a version of the same problem: a life scripted by birth order and public expectation. Beatrice feels the crown closing in just as she's meant to claim it. Samantha, used to being overlooked, drifts toward recklessness and an attachment the family would never approve of. Jefferson, meanwhile, becomes the object of competing affections from two very different young women, his romantic life treated as a matter of national interest.

McGee blends the trappings of tabloid royal-watching with the pacing of a contemporary romance, following these characters through palace routines, public appearances, and private rebellions as they test how much of their lives duty actually owns.

An Alternate History of Power and Celebrity

Part of what distinguishes "American Royals" is its premise: a monarchy grafted onto American identity rather than imported from it. The book uses that conceit to examine inherited privilege and the particular scrutiny faced by women positioned as heirs, spares, and marriageable princes in a media-saturated culture. Beatrice's arc, in particular, engages with what it means for a woman to inherit supreme authority in a system built to expect a king.

The novel sits comfortably alongside the wave of royal-fascination fiction and nonfiction that followed real-world royal weddings and successions, trading on readers' familiarity with tabloid royalty while inventing its own rules of succession, protocol, and scandal. Its popularity launched McGee into a multi-book series, extending the Washington family's story and cementing the book's place as a touchstone of commercial YA romance with a political and historical backdrop.

Why American Royals Has Been Challenged

Most of the pushback against this novel centers on whether its romantic content is suitable for the younger end of the young adult readership and whether it belongs on shelves accessible to middle schoolers. Reviewers and parents raising concerns have pointed to scenes depicting teenage sexual activity, underage drinking, and casual drug use among the young royals and their social circle, arguing that this content is more appropriate for older teen or adult readers than for the general YA audience the book is often shelved alongside. Some objections also note the book's frank treatment of romantic and sexual relationships outside of marriage, which has drawn scrutiny in reviews of school library holdings. These concerns have led to at least one formal challenge recorded in this catalog, spanning one state and one school district.