The Rules of Royalty Summary, Characters and Themes
The Rules of Royalty by Cale Dietrich is a contemporary queer romantic drama set against the opulent backdrop of European monarchies. At its core, it’s a coming-of-age story that follows Jamie, an ordinary teenager who discovers he’s the son of a king, and Erik, a crown prince bound by duty.
Their unexpected romance blossoms in the confines of tradition and public scrutiny, navigating themes of love, identity, and agency. Dietrich’s narrative skillfully explores the tension between personal freedom and institutional expectation, delivering a story that is as much about defying inherited roles as it is about discovering one’s worth and fighting for love. It’s charming, heartfelt, and ultimately triumphant.
Summary
Jamie, a seventeen-year-old from America, has recently discovered that his biological father is King Alexander of Mitanor, a revelation that catapults him into the orbit of royal life. As he adapts to his new reality in the palace, he’s paired with Erik, the charming and polished prince of neighboring Sunstad, who becomes his etiquette tutor.
Their relationship starts formally, but quickly turns into a meaningful friendship — and soon, romantic tension builds between them. Both boys, isolated in their own ways by the constraints of royalty, find connection and solace in each other.
Erik, however, is entangled in expectations imposed by his royal family. His grandmother, Queen Astrid, is particularly controlling, and the family has already orchestrated a strategic courtship for him with Sebastian Kragh, a public figure poised to help solidify the monarchy’s modern image.
Though this relationship is purely performative, Erik agrees to it out of duty, even as he begins to fall for Jamie. Jamie, meanwhile, wrestles with imposter syndrome, identity, and the intense pressure of living up to royal expectations after years of growing up outside the palace.
Their romance deepens despite the risks. They bond over video games, secret conversations, and late-night cuddles.
They kiss in moonlit gardens and share their insecurities. Jamie confesses that Erik was his first kiss, and Erik admits he’s never met anyone like Jamie — someone who sees him as more than a role.
As Jamie begins using his social platform to champion Hope House, a queer youth shelter, Erik becomes increasingly inspired by his courage and compassion. Their romance becomes more than personal; it’s a symbol of resistance against an institution that prioritizes image over truth.
Still, secrecy is a heavy burden. When Erik’s relationship with Jamie is discovered, Queen Astrid forbids it.
Heartbroken but obedient, Erik ends things, devastating Jamie. Jamie spirals into isolation, struggling with the breakup and the injustice of a system that denies love in favor of control.
Despite his sadness, he resolves to stay in Mitanor after graduation, committing to his new identity and responsibilities. His mother and stepfather support the decision, and he begins to rebuild emotionally.
On Erik’s side, the loss is just as profound. Though publicly paired with Sebastian, Erik is emotionally vacant.
Support comes unexpectedly from his older brother Stefan and Stefan’s fiancée, Elise, who reveal that even their love faced disapproval from the queen. They urge Erik to fight for Jamie.
Encouraged, Erik confronts his grandmother in a bold, emotionally charged meeting. He asks for the right to love Jamie freely.
After much resistance, she grants her blessing — but on one condition: Erik must wait until after Stefan’s wedding to avoid overshadowing the royal event.
The wedding day arrives, and both Jamie and Erik are in attendance. Jamie, overwhelmed with emotion, nearly flees the reception, but Erik arranges for them to meet in the Blue Room.
A miscommunication delays them — each thinks the other has left — until a last-minute message brings them face to face. Their reunion is intimate and earnest.
Erik tells Jamie everything: he fought, he won, and they can now be together publicly. Jamie reciprocates, and their kiss, witnessed by the guests as they re-enter the ballroom hand-in-hand, marks the beginning of a new chapter.
The epilogue fast-forwards to Jamie’s eighteenth birthday. Surrounded by family and friends, including his American best friends Max, Ren, Amara, and Spencer, Jamie feels the full embrace of his two worlds.
Erik surprises him with thoughtful gifts and the news that he’s been accepted into Oakwood — the same college Jamie will be attending. The couple is thrilled by the prospect of no longer having to maintain a long-distance relationship.
As the story closes, Jamie stands on the palace balcony with Erik, reflecting on how much his life has changed in just one year. From Cinnabon employee to beloved royal, from closeted teenager to openly loved prince, Jamie has found his place — not just within a family or a crown, but in himself and in love.
The ending is celebratory, signaling a future where the rules of royalty are rewritten by those brave enough to demand their own happiness.
Characters
Jamie Johnson
Jamie is the emotional heart of The Rules of Royalty, a character whose arc centers on identity, vulnerability, and the assertion of self in the face of monarchical traditions. Initially thrust into the glare of royal life, Jamie begins as a teenager reeling from the discovery of his true parentage and rapidly transforms into someone both emotionally resilient and publicly poised.
At the start, he is filled with hope, naivety, and a longing for love—especially through his relationship with Erik. When that connection is severed due to royal restrictions, Jamie’s devastation is palpable.
He doesn’t merely mourn a breakup; he spirals into an existential grief that reveals how deeply he had staked his emotional future on Erik.
Jamie’s pain is magnified by his profound empathy; he feels not only his own heartbreak but the injustice of Erik’s lack of freedom. This is a defining trait—his desire to fix, to protect, and to champion justice.
Even in moments of despair, Jamie retains a sense of moral clarity, as seen in his commitment to Hope House and his sensitivity to the needs of others. The way he navigates his evolving familial relationships—especially with his adoptive parents, biological father Alexander, and Maria—demonstrates a rare blend of grace and honesty.
Jamie’s arc is not just a romance but a coming-of-age: he grows from a boy blindsided by revelations to a confident young royal who chooses his path, grounded in love, compassion, and purpose. His final emergence—confident, supported, and celebrated—is a triumph of personal authenticity.
Erik
Erik is portrayed as a young man torn between two worlds: the rigid, performative expectations of royalty and the personal longing for a real, vulnerable connection. In The Rules of Royalty, his internal conflict is the narrative’s anchor for themes of duty versus desire.
From the beginning, Erik is weighed down by the constraints of royal obligation, particularly the need to appear in a politically advantageous relationship with Sebastian. This imposed relationship serves as a prison, starkly contrasting with the tender, authentic connection he begins to build with Jamie.
Erik’s character arc is defined by the slow but determined reclamation of personal agency.
What makes Erik compelling is the quiet strength he cultivates. While initially passive—accepting his family’s control with stoic resignation—he gradually learns to defy expectations.
His decision to confront his formidable grandmother and plead for the right to love Jamie is a pivotal moment of courage, signaling a transformation from obedient prince to assertive man. Erik’s emotional depth is equally striking; his longing, guilt, and eventual joy are richly rendered.
He doesn’t chase Jamie out of rebellion but because Jamie represents truth, warmth, and freedom. In the end, Erik’s victory is not just in winning back his love, but in asserting his right to live honestly and on his terms, a journey that deeply humanizes the archetype of the polished, restrained royal.
Max
Max is Jamie’s fiercely loyal best friend, a grounding presence whose arc subtly explores the complexities of friendship, fear of abandonment, and reconciliation. Initially, Max is hurt by Jamie’s decision to share private footage without her consent, and their fallout highlights how even the strongest friendships can buckle under stress and evolving identities.
Yet her loyalty never truly wavers. When Jamie is heartbroken, Max is the first to offer unconditional support, setting aside their past conflict.
This act of empathy underscores Max’s strength—her capacity to forgive and to prioritize love over ego.
Max’s own narrative has quiet but significant growth. She pursues her music career with passion and determination, eventually securing representation with a major agency.
She is ambitious but never arrogant, driven yet always emotionally accessible. Her relationship with Jamie is one of mutual growth and emotional transparency.
Max helps Jamie remember who he is beyond royalty and heartbreak. In doing so, she reinforces a key message of the story: that love, whether romantic or platonic, requires effort, forgiveness, and unwavering presence.
Max is the embodiment of chosen family, and her resilience makes her one of the most emotionally intelligent characters in the book.
Stefan
Stefan, Erik’s older brother and future king, represents the ideal of royalty tempered by hard-earned wisdom. Though he exists largely in the background for much of The Rules of Royalty, his significance comes to the fore when he shares with Erik that he, too, once faced familial disapproval in matters of the heart.
This revelation not only humanizes him but casts him as a mirror and mentor for Erik. Stefan is calm, diplomatic, and protective, but more than anything, he is quietly radical in his own right.
He has already undergone the transformation that Erik is only beginning, and through his support and encouragement, he models a new kind of leadership—one rooted in compassion rather than conformity.
Stefan’s relationship with Elise further reveals his capacity for genuine love. Their wedding, infused with joy and emotional openness, is a celebration not just of romance but of Stefan’s triumph over tradition.
He is also deeply generous, offering both logistical and emotional support to Erik. His willingness to break royal protocols—like driving Erik to see their grandmother unannounced—speaks volumes about his character.
Stefan is a figure of grace and quiet rebellion, using his power to carve a more empathetic path for those who follow.
Queen (Gran)
The Queen, Erik’s grandmother, is the main enforcer of tradition and represents the institutional power that threatens individual freedom throughout the novel. Initially, she seems immovable, the cold embodiment of royal protocol.
Her refusal to allow Erik to date Jamie casts her as the principal antagonist of their love story. Yet she is far from one-dimensional.
Her rigidity stems not from cruelty but from a deep belief in the stability of the monarchy. In her eyes, Erik’s relationship with Jamie is not merely a personal matter but a potential threat to dynastic order.
However, the Queen’s complexity emerges in the scene where Erik finally confronts her. Her concession—reluctantly giving her blessing for the relationship after seeing Erik’s resolve—marks a subtle but important shift.
She is not easily swayed, but she is not incapable of recognizing sincerity and strength. Her challenge to Erik—“Do you love him?
”—reveals that even within her hardened façade lies an awareness of what truly matters. She is a formidable figure, but not without nuance.
In the end, her grudging support underscores a major theme of the novel: even entrenched systems can evolve, if only slightly, when faced with undeniable truth.
Sebastian
Sebastian is both a foil and a tragicomic figure—a young man perfectly polished for the stage of royal performance, yet emotionally distant and disenchanted with the charade he inhabits. Introduced as Erik’s arranged partner, Sebastian quickly makes it clear that he views their “relationship” as strategic.
His emotional detachment and sharp tongue are tools of survival, not cruelty. Sebastian isn’t heartless; he is simply pragmatic.
He knows the rules of royalty better than most, and his cynicism is both armor and wisdom.
Despite being an apparent obstacle to Jamie and Erik’s relationship, Sebastian never emerges as a villain. On the contrary, his self-awareness and eventual support of Erik’s decision to pursue Jamie paint him as surprisingly gracious.
His line—playfully eyeing the prince of England as a potential new conquest—offers a bittersweet glimpse into his own search for something real, even if he masks it behind flippancy. Sebastian is a byproduct of the system, navigating it with poise, wit, and carefully managed detachment.
He serves as a cautionary figure, revealing what Erik might become if he chose duty over love.
King Alexander and Maria
Alexander, Jamie’s biological father, and Maria, his stepmother, serve as foundational figures of support and stability. Alexander is perhaps the most emotionally open adult royal in the novel.
His willingness to embrace Jamie immediately, his pride in Jamie’s accomplishments, and his tender, fatherly love all establish him as a counterpoint to the emotionally distant Queen. Maria complements him with elegance and warmth.
She helps guide Jamie through royal life, not with cold instruction but with nurturing confidence.
Both Alexander and Maria are emblematic of what modern royalty could be—compassionate, responsive, and grounded. They welcome Jamie not as a pawn or political figure but as a son.
Their generosity, from gifting him a palace apartment to funding his charitable initiatives, isn’t just about material support; it’s about building a future where Jamie can thrive on his own terms. Together, they form the emotional bedrock upon which Jamie builds his identity.
They are parental figures who don’t demand perfection but encourage authenticity, making them quietly radical in a world governed by appearances.
Themes
Love versus Obligation
In The Rules of Royalty, love emerges not just as a personal feeling but as a battleground where societal duty, tradition, and familial expectations collide with the authenticity of human connection. Jamie and Erik’s relationship becomes the most charged manifestation of this conflict.
Erik, having grown up under the suffocating rules of royal decorum, initially subjugates his feelings for Jamie to preserve his status and family’s wishes. His choice to break up with Jamie, not because he lacks affection but because of royal mandates, underscores how deeply the monarchy’s structure demands self-denial.
Jamie’s heartbreak, compounded by the knowledge that Erik still wants to be with him, highlights the cruelty of a system that forces emotional sacrifice in the name of legacy and optics. Meanwhile, the performative romance between Erik and Sebastian, maintained for political advantage, serves as a foil—polished, public, and hollow.
What ultimately changes the course of this love story is Erik’s decision to reject passivity. His confrontation with his grandmother isn’t just about asking permission; it’s a radical act of asserting his emotional truth against institutional expectations.
The resolution of this theme—when Erik and Jamie reunite, free to publicly acknowledge their love—feels hard-won because it arises not from compromise but conviction. Their love story affirms that personal happiness must not be treated as collateral damage in the machinery of heritage and public image.
Instead, it suggests that the heart, when defended with sincerity and courage, can rewrite even the most inflexible rules of royalty.
Identity and Self-Definition
The question of identity—how it’s constructed, challenged, and ultimately reclaimed—drives the emotional engine of The Rules of Royalty. Jamie begins as an ordinary teenager, only to have his life upended by the revelation that he is, in fact, royalty.
This disclosure does not simply hand him a new title—it forces him to reconcile two identities: who he was before and who he is expected to become. Throughout the novel, Jamie struggles to assert control over this narrative, making active decisions like choosing to remain in Mitanor, committing to college, and using his status to support meaningful causes like Hope House.
His transformation is not passive; he does not let royal identity erase his former self. Instead, he integrates both worlds, crafting a hybrid identity rooted in agency and emotional clarity.
In contrast, Erik’s arc is shaped by a slow unlearning of what identity means within royalty. While Jamie moves from the outside in, Erik must break free from internalized expectations.
He starts off believing that who he is must align with what royalty demands: restraint, obligation, and carefully curated public image. Over time, and especially through his relationship with Jamie, Erik realizes that true selfhood cannot flourish under such confines.
His ultimate decision to fight for Jamie is also a fight for his own self-definition—one that rejects the performative identity his family constructed for him. In both characters, the novel portrays identity not as a fixed role, but as something malleable, fiercely personal, and shaped by choice.
Resistance Against Systems of Power
Power in The Rules of Royalty is not merely structural—it is deeply personal, embedded in the ways families, traditions, and institutions mold and limit individual desires. Erik’s life is a constant negotiation with this power.
From being pressured into a strategic relationship with Sebastian to being relegated to a symbolic role in his brother’s wedding, Erik is seen more as an asset than a person. Even well-meaning family members often perpetuate these systems by reinforcing the narrative that royalty means sacrifice.
Jamie’s outsider status allows him to see the absurdity of these rules, yet he too becomes entangled in their implications. The rupture between him and Erik illustrates just how pervasive and painful this power can be when it invades private emotion.
What makes this theme powerful is its insistence on rebellion as an act of healing. Erik’s decision to challenge his grandmother is not framed as disrespect, but as necessary resistance.
Even his brother Stefan, who initially seemed emblematic of tradition, reveals he once fought the same fight for love. This lineage of rebellion suggests that real power does not lie in compliance, but in the courage to defy a broken system.
Jamie also exercises resistance, not with confrontation but through presence and integrity—by choosing to stay in Mitanor, to contribute to Hope House, and to make royal life fit him rather than the other way around. In doing so, both boys show that change doesn’t only happen at the level of policy; it happens in the quiet, painful, and deeply human acts of choosing selfhood over submission.
Healing and Emotional Vulnerability
The emotional landscape of The Rules of Royalty is shaped by deep wounds—heartbreak, abandonment, identity upheaval—and what makes the story resonate is how it treats vulnerability not as weakness, but as the bedrock of healing. Jamie’s grief after his breakup with Erik is raw, unfiltered, and honest.
He does not rebound quickly; instead, he retreats into solitude, cycles through despair, and slowly leans on his support system. His mother, Mike, and eventually Max become gentle guides back toward stability.
This emphasis on emotional processing is crucial—it validates sadness as a necessary part of growth rather than something to bypass. Erik, too, undergoes a quiet unraveling.
His unhappiness during his faux relationship with Sebastian is never dramatized but is instead shown in the quiet moments—his distracted thoughts, his sleepless nights, his yearning for a connection that feels real. These interior struggles set the stage for Erik’s eventual transformation.
The scene where Stefan and Elise reveal their own past rebellion serves not only as exposition but also as emotional modeling: love is worth fighting for, and pain, when shared, becomes actionable. The final reunion between Erik and Jamie, then, isn’t just romantic; it’s redemptive.
It confirms that vulnerability, when met with mutual care and authenticity, leads to real, lasting connection. Their ability to say “I love you,” to cry, to be afraid and still show up—these are the moments where healing takes place.
By grounding its romantic plotline in emotional realism, the novel affirms that love doesn’t erase pain but transforms it.
Belonging and Found Family
While the royal setting in The Rules of Royalty might imply exclusivity and lineage-based community, the emotional core of the book challenges this, offering instead a reimagining of belonging as something chosen, not inherited. Jamie’s entry into royal life is not seamless.
The palace, with its grandeur and protocol, is awe-inspiring but alien. He feels like an imposter until the people around him—Maria, Alexander, and eventually Erik—invite him into their lives with warmth rather than obligation.
Alexander calling Jamie “my son” early on serves as the first crack in the wall of skepticism Jamie carries, allowing love to seep in. His bond with Maria, his connection to his maternal grandparents, and his reunion with Tomas all reinforce that family can be made, not just revealed by blood.
Even more striking is the role Jamie’s chosen family plays. Max, Ren, Spencer, and Amara are constant sources of grounding, joy, and love.
When they surprise him on his birthday, it’s not just a sweet gesture—it’s a declaration of enduring connection, proof that Jamie doesn’t have to choose between worlds. Erik’s trajectory mirrors this.
While his family is biological, his sense of alienation within it is profound. Only when Stefan and Elise offer emotional transparency and real support does Erik feel a sense of familial safety.
Together, Jamie and Erik create a pocket of chosen belonging—where being seen and accepted doesn’t require performance. The novel proposes that real family is about those who lift you, believe in you, and fight for you—not just those who share your bloodline or crown.