Literature / Her Majestys Royal Coven

2023 fantasy novel by Juno Dawson.

Years ago, a war was fought among mages. Through years of struggle and after far too many deaths, the forces of darkness were defeated by the good witches of Her Majesty's Royal Coven. Led by their High Priestess, the war Hero Helena, HMRC continue to fight the good fight to protect the rights of witches and mundanes.

Or so the legend goes. Others disagree. Alternate coven Diaspora, founded by Helena's childhood friend Leonie, views HMRC as rigid and exclusionary, only interested in protecting the rights of witches who fit a particular mould. A straight, white, cis, traditionally-feminine mould.

The question of who's right must be put on hold when a young man is found who bears extraordinary power, a young man who may be prophesied to bring about the apocalypse.

Her Majesty's Royal Coven was followed by a sequel, The Shadow Cabinet.

Tropes:

• Author Avatar: Theo is a trans girl, with a similar appearance to Juno Dawson. It's not hard to imagine a certain Wish-Fulfillment in Theo's transformation into a physical female.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Anne Boleyn, and by extension her daughter Elizabeth I, were witches. The latter founded HMRC as a secret branch of the UK government. Niamh notes that modern witches' lives would be easier had Queen Elizabeth had children to inherit the throne, while acknowledging her right to the choice.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Elle is a meek little housewife and healer, considered harmless by HMRC's big hitters. Mess with her daughter Holly, though, and you'll find her healing powers work in both directions.
• Blind Seer: Oracles go blind as a side effect of their prophetic visions.
• The Chessmaster: Dabney Hale is known for manipulating people and getting them to kill for him, rather than doing it himself.
• Cool Old Lady: Elle's grandmother Annie, The Mentor to the main characters since they were children. Her murder is Helena's Moral Event Horizon.
• Dead Person Impersonation:
  • At the end of the first book, Ciara swaps bodies with Niamh, kills her, and takes on her identity.
  • And at the end of the second, we learn the real Milo died as a baby. The boy Elle raised was in fact Lucifer in disguise all along.
• Deadly Euphemism: "Sent to the pipes" is used throughout the book before the ending shows what it means as Helena is burned for her crimes.
• Detrimental Determination: Helena is convinced that Theo is the "Sullied Child" prophesied to bring about the end of the world in collaboration with The Beast, and that "he" is tainting all-female witchness with what she views as trans nonsense. She's determined to put a stop to both. To do so, she uses her daughter as a spy, has Theo kidnapped, and finally becomes the vessel of a being even more dangerous than The Beast, all without ever questioning her convictions for a single moment.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Throughout The Shadow Cabinet, demonic invocation is written very much like drug use. It's addictive, slowly ravages the body and mind, and hosts reach a point where they need demons in order to function on a basic level. Ciara experiences all manner of side effects post-possession, including hallucinations, nausea and extreme restlessness, plus the reason she got into invocation as a teen in the first place was because it seemed cool and rebellious.
• Empathic Environment: The emotions of elementals affect the weather, so when they're sad or stressed, it rains.
• Establishing Character Moment: The opening treehouse scene establishes the women's characters as they wait for their initiation ceremony as children.
  • Helena's Control Freak nature is showcased as she acts as a self-appointed arbiter of games such as "which celebrity will I marry" and "who is which Spice Girl?"
  • Leonie's rebellious nature is established when she declares she doesn't want to be a witch. In fact, it's the version of witchhood she's being offered she doesn't want.
  • Elle seems the most apprehensive, showing that she doesn't want to be a witch.
• Generation Xerox: The ending indicates that Helena's daughter Snow has inherited her militant transphobia and inability to accept fault as she swears revenge against Niamh and "that tranny" Theo.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted, Niamh once gave herself a drama-free Magical Abortion when she was younger.
• Happily Adopted: Theo by Niamh, at least until Ciara ruins everything.
• Healing Hands: Both Niamh and Elle have healing powers that they use in their professions, as a vet and a nurse respectively. Both also use them in the final confrontation, Elle to Agony Beam Holly's attacker and Niamh heals Theo's entire body to match her soul, allowing her to face Helena as her true self.
• Internalized Categorism: Elle pretends to be a normal housewife and nurse, unable to accept her own witchhood. She has a minor crisis when her daughter Holly proves to be a witch as well, clearly hoping the gift would die out with her.
• It's All About Me: Helena views Leonie breaking away to form the Diaspora, an inclusive alternative to HMRC, as a betrayal.
• Mama Bear:
  • Niamh responds to Theo's kidnapping, orchestrated by Helena by going full-on Supergirl and raining pure molten fury on the kidnappers, including Leonie's brother Radley.
  • When Holly is attacked in the final battle, Elle uses her healing powers in reverse, resulting in an Agony Beam.
• Mind Rape: What Niamh did to Ciara after Ciara's actions resulted in her fiancée's death, severing from her own body and leaving her effectively catatonic. At the end, Ciara returns the favour with a "Freaky Friday" Flip.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Niamh is torn up with guilt over leaving Ciara in a coma in revenge for her fiancé Conrad's death.
• Never My Fault: Helena cannot take criticism. When Elle gently points out that Helena's recent actions in kidnapping Theo, endangering Holly in the process were reprehensible, and that her behaviour generally leaves no room for others and that people will only be pushed so far before pushing back, Helena views this as a threat.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Helena is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed witch with a daughter from a marriage that may have been abusive. Hailed as a hero from her actions years ago, she's lived long enough to see herself become the villain because she refuses to take responsibility for her actions, sees criticism as an attack and instantly loses perspective at the mention of trans people. It's not hard to see her as a fictional Expy of J. K. Rowling.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Helena, a virulent TERF who refuses to let trans witches into her coven and constantly misgenders Theo. She also has little respect for ethnic minorities or their customs, which is why Leonie, who's black, left HMRC to form Diaspora.
• Power Limiter: There are a few drugs that dampen magic. One is Sister's Malady, used in Grierlings Prison, another is White Sorbus, which Ciara secretly uses on Theo while pretending to be Niamh to prevent her cover getting blown.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Leonie is a respectful and conscientious coven leader, in contrast to Helena.
• Self-Made Woman: Leonie, who always felt overlooked in HMRC because of her race and sexuality, quit and started rival coven Diaspora.
• Shout-Out: Throughout the book, the Spice Girls references come thick and fast.
• Supernaturally-Validated Trans Person: After coming out as trans, Theo's aura is declared by a psychic to be clearly feminine. At the climax, Niamh uses her healing powers to heal Theo's gender identity, changing her body to match her soul.
• Would Hurt a Child: Helena's goal throughout the book is to destroy Theo, who she believes to be a prophesied harbinger of doom. She treats any investigation of the matter as, "prove it's true" and, when others view things differently, becomes the vessel of an Eldtritch Abomination and starts a full-on battle with the sole intention of killing Theo. Theo is fifteen.