It’s the season of the royals, and after JioHotstar’s Kull, we get a very different take on a fictional Indian royal family. With an ensemble cast featuring heavyweights like Zeenat Aman, Sakshi Tanwar, Ishaan Khatter, and Bhumi Pednekar, director Priyanka Ghose tries to blend the aesthetics of shows like Bridgerton and My Lady Jane, and she mostly gets it right. Set against a backdrop that feels very plausible in today’s India, the makers try to portray the evolving power dynamics between the royals and the modern world.
Spoilers Ahead
What happens in the show?
A CEO of a unicorn, Sophia, meets Aviraaj (the prince of the fictional city of Morpur) while jogging on the beach. Unaware of who he is, she gives him the finger at their first interaction. Later that day, they meet again, this time Sophia complaining about the loudness of Aviraaj and his buddies in a bar. Aviraaj uses his charm to win Sophia over, and they almost hook up before both their phones ring to spoil the party. On the other side of their phones, it’s Sophia’s ex and business partner, Kunal, and Aviraaj’s mother, Queen Padmaja. The duo can’t hit it off after the incident and eventually trash-talk each other to call it a night.
Sophia is planning a project of converting a real Indian palace into a B&B, and she is taking a big risk to pull it off. Her USP is that she will provide her guests with the full royal experience, which includes living with the royal family in the palace. The investor, Zubin, only gives her a six-month timeline to pull this project off, and Sophia takes on the challenge, unaware of the trials that lie ahead.
What’s the status of the Royal Family?
After the death of the King of Morpur, Yuvanath Singh, his will reveals a can of worms none of his family wanted to see. The king has left parts of the palace to his mom, Ma Sahiba, and his wife, Padmaja. The three siblings live completely different lives; the eldest, Aviraaj, is a model living in New York. Digvijay is the responsible brother who takes care of the palace’s upkeep, and he wants to be a chef, a wish he keeps buried underneath the royal name and title. Their sister, and the youngest, is Divyaranjini, who feels ignored by the family, and she churns her way through lovers to maintain the denial. The family faces great trouble when they learn that Yuvanath has left the throne to his eldest son, Aviraaj, and all his financial assets are entrusted to someone named Maurice. To add to the crisis, Aviraaj finds out the family is in great debt due to their extravagant lifestyle. Coincidentally, Digvijay has finalized a deal with Sophia’s company to turn the palace into a B&B, and when Sophia and Aviraaj meet again, the circumstances are very different from those of their first meeting.
How does Sophia win Aviraaj over to finalize the deal?
Aviraaj refuses to hand the palace over to Sophia without making her suffer, so he calls her competitors, the Raghanis, to make a pitch for their palace. Now, Sophia has to win a pitch-off against her rival, and Kunal reassures her that they can get it done. Even though the family is in a great deal of financial trouble, Aviraaj refuses to bow down before hearing from both parties. Sophia uses her wits to gift Padmaja a Ravi Verma portrait, and on a day when most of her paintings had to be returned, Sophia’s move works like a charm. Sophia wins the pitch-off thanks to the Raghanis ruining their chances by saying the family will need to move out if they acquire the palace. Sophia’s proposal makes more sense, and the deal is done. Now, even though Aviraaj has brought her American fling over to the palace, he and Sophia still dance at a party where they flirt like nobody else exists on the planet. Aviraaj was supposed to leave the next day, now that he’s secured the finances for a while, but being with Sophia changes him on some level. He announces that the Maharaja is about to stay, and he’ll do his duties as the King of Morpur.
Why does Aviraaj abandon Sophia?
Sophia tries to get some positive promotion by organizing an event called “Polo with the Prince.” From this moment, we start to learn about Aviraaj’s childhood, how his father gifted him a small pony named Khan, and how his love for polo only grew out of his desire for the validation of his father. So he has a lot of unresolved trauma regarding his father, and he shows up at the polo ground with a bottle of liquor. The test audience is annoyed with the prince’s behavior, and Sophia manages to get Digvijay to come and play too. After seeing his brother taking the field, Aviraaj finds his zeal and scores the winning goal. The shirtless prince hijacked social media, leaving Royal B&B’s advertisement unseen amidst a flood of thirst posts. Sophia then comes up with another event, a Romeo-Juliet-inspired masquerade ball, hoping the royals and commoners would mingle. All was well until Kunal invited the Dhondis, a royal family richer and more influential than the royals of Morpur. Aviraaj once dated the princess of Dhondi, Ayesha, and he asks Sophia to uninvite them. The ball turned out to be pretty magical until Ayesha made a stunning entry, leaving everyone in awe. Aviraaj freaks out at first, but then dances with Ayesha, and then he throws a fit and fights with Sophia for letting it happen. After the ball, Aviraaj disappears from the palace, and now Sophia has to get to him if she wants to fulfill her dreams.
How does Sophia get fired?
Aviraaj is in Alsipur, a kingdom ruled by Nawab Salauddin, aka Salad (played to perfection by Dino Morea), with Ayesha. Ayesha is all over him, and he doesn’t seem to mind it. Sophia visits Alsipur hoping to talk to him, but she’s ignored throughout the day. After a party involving some heavy drinking, Ayesha spills the truth about Queen Padmaja inviting her to the ball, and Aviraaj realizes that Sophia had no fault in all of this. Meanwhile, back in the Dhondi Palace, we see Maharaja Dhondi and Padmaja conspiring to get their kids to marry each other, ensuring the royal bloodline carries on. What’s weird is there’s definitely sexual tension in the air, and it turns out that they have slept with each other twice, which has clearly driven Dhondi nuts over her. After learning the truth, Aviraaj apologizes to a very emotional Sophia, who’s having a meltdown. They finally hook up, and every big, bad thing is behind them for now.
But behind Sophia’s back, Kunal has felt ignored long enough to consider offers from the Raghanis and Zubin to become a CEO himself. As if Sophia wasn’t already facing endless problems, Padmaja decides to host a coronation for Aviraaj on the day of the launch. Sophia turns this into an opportunity to attract people to the B&B and offers to pay for the event. Now the big task is to convince the king himself, and on what was supposed to be a date between the king and the CEO, Sophia manages to wiggle work into the conversation. Aviraaj is hesitant to commit at first; all the dad trauma is still haunting him, but when Sophia fires back with how her parents’ death anniversary is on the same day, Aviraaj chooses his girlfriend’s issues over his. The coronation is finally on the right track, and Digvijay has managed to calm the soon-to-be king down from a massive panic attack. The Dhondi King tries to flirt with Padmaja in public, but she puts him in his place and warns him not to mess with the Queen of Morpur. Aviraaj also dumps Ayesha, and he orders his staff to show the door to both her and her father. Just when everything seems to be going right, a business journalist tells Sophia that Kunal is considering leaving her company. On one hand, a new king is crowned, while on the other hand, Sophia has lost half her kingdom with Kunal betraying her. Zubin, who’s already been cheering for Kunal to take over, makes Sophia resign before she can even prove herself. The day of the launch turns out to be the end of the world for her, and she drops everything and hides out at her grandparents’ house at Madurai.
How does Aviraaj bring Sophia back to Morpur?
Aviraaj is left on read by Sophia, for obvious reasons. When he learns that the palace will now be run by Zubin’s people, he terminates the contract. In the lives of his siblings, Digvijay has secured a spot at the finals of a popular cooking competition, while Divya is missing Niki, one of the members of Sophia’s team she kissed before the mess. Learning that Aviraaj has terminated the contract, Digvijay pulls him into a fight at the stable, amidst piles of horse poop. After a ridiculous sibling fight, they decide to travel to Mumbai to fix things. Divya gets to know about Sophia’s whereabouts through Niki, and Aviraaj immediately flies to Madurai to bring his girl back. We see Sophia’s grandparents being the absolute sweetest, and Aviraaj confesses his love to her, and that was the only thing that could pick her up. But bad news wasn’t far away, and Zubin’s men raided the palace to take the valuables and evacuate the rest of the royals.
Who is Maurice?
Now the big reveal: Aviraaj comes across a letter from his father, King Yuvanath, revealing that he and Padmaja had chosen to marry in name alone, bound more by friendship than by love. Their relationship was always open, and Yuvanath found Maurice to be his one true love in the later stages of his life. Now Padmaja visits Maurice, aka Adi Mehta, who’s writing a memoir on Yuvanath. Padmaja warns him to not put any details of her children in the book, but Maurice is reluctant to give her any word on it. In a flashback of him and Yuvanath, there’s an indication that Yuvanath didn’t birth his heir but adopted him.
Who leaked the news to the press?
Sophia uses force majeure to ask for a 45-day extension from the bank to save the palace. With no money in their accounts, Sophia proposes a royal fashion fundraiser to raise money for the B&B. Despite Zubin trying to interfere with the event, the fashion show is a huge success. Even though Divya backs out in panic, Sophia takes her place on the ramp, and with Aviraaj on her side, they’re now on top of the world. Seeing the event, Maurice and Zubin are impressed, and Maurice gives Padmaja his word that he won’t mention the children or her in his book. After the fundraiser, money doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore. Sophia and Aviraaj receive a letter from Maurice, and he’s touched by the way Aviraaj saved his father’s legacy. He returns all the money back to the estate, and Morpur Palace is finally free of all the financial problems.
In The Royals’ ending, the family is together, and the kids ignore their mother, who seems to have something important to tell them. Aviraaj and Sophia attend a press conference to discuss their future ventures together, but suddenly a barrage of notification tones interrupts the conference. Maurice’s book has been published, and it has revealed two big things. First, the revelation that the late king was gay, and second, the shocking truth that Aviraaj is adopted. Absolute chaos ensues in the palace, and Maurice swears that he hasn’t written anything that might indicate this. Padmaja receives a call from Maharaja Dhondi, who has finally taken revenge for the humiliation.
What will happen in season 2?
The end of the first season of The Royals definitely leaves us with a giant cliffhanger. There are many things that are left unanswered. After learning the truth about his adoption, Aviraaj, who already had a very difficult relationship with his father, is bound to be shattered. The revelation also raises the question of the legitimacy of his position as the king, and even though Yuvanath himself named Aviraaj his successor, you might wonder if he even wants the crown now. Padmaja, who was finally breaking free of the shackles and starting to indulge in exploring relationship options, now is left with a huge problem on her hands. Digvijay is London-bound for the finals of the cooking competition, whereas Divya is plotting with Ayesha to get a substantial amount of money. The palace that was entrusted to her by Yuvanath turned out to be a ruin, and she can only receive her financial inheritance once she marries into a respectable family. Now you can’t expect the daughter of the family to act right, especially if her rights—or lack thereof—echo those of women in Downton Abbey or Pride and Prejudice. So Ayesha suggests that she should sue her brothers for more money, and it’s up to Divya to choose her next course of action. All in all, the second season will have a lot of new stories to uncover, and if the world is still standing, we’ll be back binging it.
