How Castles and Competition Inspired My Novel
There’s something about a castle. Cinderella’s Castle, Hogwarts, Minas Tirith, Neuschwanstein Castle, the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg, Windsor Castle…to name a few. No other setting holds as much enchantment or intrigue.
(One Piece of Advice From MG and YA Authors in 2024.)
We are fascinated by these fortresses found in pages of history, fantasy, and fairytales. If something is set in a castle, its cool factor goes up 100 percent. It’s the vibes. Would we all have been as obsessed with a school for wizards and witches if it had been in a red brick building with a playground and a flag out front? Not a chance.
Give us dungeons, secret passageways, spiraling turrets, flanking walls, covered parapets, statues, and tapestries. Now millions and millions of kids are obsessed with the idea of going to school in a castle. I was—I still am.
So when my editor came to me with the idea of using a real-life boarding school in a castle as inspiration for a novel? I said the only thing I could say: I’m in.
The real-life setting inspiration for Royal Heirs Academy is a castle beyond compare—the place that Vanity Fair dubbed a “Hippie Hogwarts.”
UWC Atlantic sits off the Welsh Coast in a medieval castle that dates back to the Iron Age. It holds 350 students from around the globe, and was the first school to spearhead the United World College global education movement—a movement founded on the idea that if children from different cultural backgrounds were educated together they would build empathy that could then foster world peace.
This educational philosophy was a response to World War II. By the early 1960s, educational pioneer Kurt Hahn made this vision a reality when he purchased St. Donat’s Castle from American millionaire William Randolph Hearst. St. Donat’s is the longest continually inhabited castle in Wales, once built and ruled by Celtic Kings escaping the Romans, and now…young royals and child prodigies walk its halls.
But let’s be clear. These students—like Princess Sofia of Spain who enrolled at UWC Atlantic in 2023—they’re still teenagers. They’re roaming these castle corridors playing Fortnight. They’re dating, maybe making out in towers with spiral staircases. They’re gossiping in the great hall, attending balls in the bailey, and filming TikToks in the gardens.
No matter where teenagers are found, the high school experience never fails to deliver BFFs, crushes, rivals, nerds, jocks, and so much more delicious drama. From the High School Musical franchise to Gossip Girl, Descendants, and the much-loved Wicked—every flavor of school drama is irresistible. The more exclusive the setting, the higher the stakes.
Show tunes notwithstanding, Royal Hiers Academy has all the trappings of these stories: backstabbing betrayals, heartfelt friendships, terrible secrets, and embarrassing crushes. But the stakes are much, much higher. Like at UWC Atlantic, the students of Almus Terra Academy are selected from countries all over the world, chosen to achieve great things. They take classes beyond average grade requirements (ie Biology, Algebra, or Literature).
Think of more impactful, transformative studies such as Philanthropy, Advocacy Studies, Energy Conservation, International Econ 101, Ancient Political Rhetoric, Democratic Republic Studies, Intro to Foreign Policy, Cyber Security, Food Science, and much more. Rather than ACT or SAT scores, these students study for international academic competitions, participate in United Nations-sanctioned conventions, and work with businesses and nonprofits to gain real-world experience.
All of this is training to shape the world’s future. Because that’s what they are. The future. What UWC Atlantic students learn, the relationships they harbor, the paths they forge, could all create ripple effects in ways they don’t yet understand. International trade agreements, the rise and fall of business empires, and political alliances that have the potential to change the course of history. So yes, they might be high school students, but they are far from average.
And that’s precisely how I dreamt up Royal Heirs Academy, where four teens compete to inherit their country’s crown at a boarding school for the global elite. Alaric, Emmeline, Titus, and Sadie hail from a fictional country, Ashland, and are pinned against each other by their king with the victor to be made heir apparent. Three of them are true heirs to the throne, while one is an outsider on scholarship, a deliberate addition to challenge unbridled nepotism.
Although I created the country of Ashland from scratch, much of the content in this book is rooted in current events. Characters also face societal concerns such as mental health issues, emotional abuse, and disability representation. I wanted this book to be riveting in its character-driven plot, but I also wanted it to feel grounded and emotionally real. Readers may not be able to connect to royal lineage, or living in a castle, but they can understand the feeling of not being enough, of anxiety, loneliness, and loss.
The juxtaposition of contemporary characters with relatable problems against a dazzling, prestigious setting is a combination that you won’t be able to resist. Especially in a high school. And we all know there’s always something brewing in a castle.
Check out Lindsey Duga’s Royal Heirs Academy here:
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