The Royals began as a loose adaptation of the 2011 Michelle Ray novel Falling for Hamlet, and was originally described by E! as a contemporary family ensemble framed by Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The series was E!'s first scripted primetime drama, and it was picked up for a pilot alongside another prospective series called Songbyrd, marking E!'s first scripted pilots.

Haley Lu Richardson originally played Ophelia in the pilot, but was replaced by Merritt Patterson when the series was picked up and season one shooting began in London.

For season 2, the role of Princess Maribel was recast from Hatty Preston to Jerry-Jane Pears, with the show explaining the actresses' differing appearance in-story as the result of plastic surgery.

Joan Collins joined the cast as the Grand Duchess of Oxford, playing Queen Helena's mother, and her reunion scenes with Elizabeth Hurley were later singled out by critics as a highlight of the series.

Elizabeth Hurley's real-life son, Damian Hurley, was cast in a guest-star role on the show in July 2016.

The production used Blenheim Palace as its fictional royal palace, while season two also filmed at Allington Castle and Boughton Monchelsea Place in Kent.

For season four, episode 4, the crew filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent, using locations including the Tarred Yarn Store, HMS Cavalier, the Commissioner's House garden, and the Ropery Tunnels, while Chapel Place in Tunbridge Wells doubled for a royal wedding location.

Elizabeth Hurley said her character Queen Helena was partly inspired by Princess Diana, but also drew from Cruella de Vil, and she personally suggested adding fur touches to Helena's wardrobe to reflect the character's 'cruelty'.

Creator Mark Schwahn was suspended from the show after season four finished filming in November 2017 following sexual harassment allegations from cast and crew of both The Royals and his previous series One Tree Hill, and he was fired in December 2017.

After E! canceled the series in August 2018, Lionsgate Television attempted to shop it to other networks, including discussions with sister network Pop, but by September 2018 no new home was found and the series was officially ended.

To promote the series in March 2015, a viral video of a naked man climbing out of a Buckingham Palace window on a bedsheet during the changing of the guard—widely reported as a possible hoax—was revealed to be a publicity stunt tied to the show's fictional in-universe tabloid, D-Throned.