'The Royals' Season 2, Episode 8 Recap: Prince Liam And Princess Helena Find Out Who Killed Domino

This week’s episode of “The Royals” Season 2 starts with accusations flying left and right. Queen Helena (Elizabeth Hurley) finds herself dodging accusations of murder both from King Cyrus (Jake Maskall) and her children.

After Violet’s disappearance in last week’s episode of “The Royals” Season 2, Cyrus is convinced that Helena has done something to her. He thinks that the Queen is threatened by his girlfriend, knowing that Helena will do anything to protect her place on the throne.

After he attacks Helena with the Great Sword of State, the Grand Duchess Alexandra (Joan Collins) knocks him unconscious. He tells his head of security, Ted Pryce, to look into the incident, and to find Violet. Unfortunately, Ted tells him that her car has been found, with some blood in it. There has been evidence of foul play but there is no body. Cyrus is convinced more than ever, that Helena has killed his girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Jasper Frost (Tom Austen) returns the earrings that Mandy stole from Princess Eleanor (Alexandra Park). The gesture doesn’t get him any closer to a reconciliation, but at least his conscience is clear that he has stolen nothing. Prince Liam (William Mosely) tells his sister about Domino, and how he thinks their mother murdered her.

Eleanor shows Helena the photo of the young King Simon (Vincent Regan) and Domino, that Liam dug up in the previous episode. When Helena pretends not to know who Domino is, Eleanor is also convinced that the Queen might have killed their father’s ex-girlfriend.

Ted reinforces the theory when he tells Liam what he's found out about Dominique Stewart and her connection with his Domino necklace. He tells Liam to ask his mother about it, and the kids are even more convinced that Helena has started the chain reaction that led to their brother and King Simon’s death.

Liam and Eleanor finally confront Helena, and bombard her with accusations. The Grand Duchess walks in and says that it was her, and not Helena, who drugged Domino’s horse, and caused her to be thrown off and killed. She tells them that everything she did was to get Helena on the throne and her kids should be grateful for the wealth and stature that her actions have afforded them.

The kids are disgusted, and they contemplate what to do about their mother and their grandmother. Incidentally, Cyrus walks in on Liam and the two men find themselves bonding over the unusual situation. Cyrus tells Liam about Violet’s disappearance, and his suspicion that Helena and her mother are behind it.

Liam is completely appaled at the realization that someone might have been killed yet again, to keep his mother on the throne. He tells Helena to deal with her homicidal mother and warns her that they won’t cover up for the Grand Duchess if there is ever an investigation. Helena subsequently strips her mother of all her Royal titles and warns her to stop meddling in her affairs.

With all the revelations that have come to light, Eleanor has a change of heart and approaches Helena. She says that her mother has sacrificed the most and lost the most out of all of them. She expresses her sympathy and the two women have a rare moment of genuine affection between them.

Meanwhile, Liam is also determined to divulge the truth. He meets up with Domino’s niece, who is also named Dominique. He opens up to her and tells her about himself and his family, in the hopes of showing her that while some member of his family have done evil things, some of them are genuinely good people like his father.

He does this to try to help her family move on from their hatred against his. She records him as he speaks about himself and his family. She hopes to show her father and the public, the side of Liam and the royal family that no one is really able to see.

The final bombshell of the episode comes when King Cyrus figures out that the Grand Duchess poisoned Violet. He knows that she did it, to stop him from marrying her and making her Queen. He surprises everyone when he reveals that it wasn’t Violet that he was planning to marry all along. Instead, he reveals that he plans to marry Prudence, the maid who is pregnant with his child. She became pregnant after he sexually assaulted and blackmailed her in the previous season.

The scandal, violence and intrigue continues on “The Royals” Season 2 next week. The show airs every Sunday at 10:00 p.m. ET on E!.