Her Majesty's Royal Coven
In Juno Dawson's contemporary dark fantasy, witches are real, and in Britain they answer to Her Majesty's Royal Coven — a secret government department that has quietly protected the realm for centuries. Once, five girls swore a childhood oath of sisterhood inside the coven. Now grown and scattered by old wounds and diverging beliefs, they include Helena, HMRC's steely High Priestess; Niamh, a rural witch who walked away to live quietly; Leonie, who left to found her own coven for witches of colour; and Elle, who buried her powers to pass as an ordinary suburban mother.
Their fragile peace shatters when a prophecy resurfaces and a frightened, extraordinarily powerful young witch is brought in from the cold. What to do about this child forces each woman to confront where her loyalties truly lie — to the institution, to the friends of her youth, or to her own conscience — and threatens to split the coven, and their friendship, along its deepest fault lines.
Sharp, angry, and warm by turns, Her Majesty's Royal Coven opens the HMRC trilogy with a story about power, prejudice, chosen family, and who gets to decide what counts as monstrous. It blends modern British satire with genuine magic and high emotional stakes.
A powerful witch who left the coven for a quiet rural life, drawn back in by the prophecy.
HMRC's uncompromising High Priestess, determined to protect the coven at any cost.
A witch who broke away to found her own coven for witches of colour.
A member of the old circle who hides her magic to live as an ordinary suburban mother.
A frightened, immensely powerful young trans witch initially mistaken for a warlock, at the center of the coven's crisis.
It's the first book in Juno Dawson's HMRC trilogy, followed by The Shadow Cabinet (2023) and Human Rites (2025).
Yes. A central plot thread follows Theo, a young trans witch initially mistaken for a warlock, and the coven's reaction to her exposes deep rifts among the four friends over gender and tradition.