Royale is originally from a small Pennsylvania town in the US. Her passion for the ocean led her to pursue her undergraduate degree at the University of New England, Biddeford ME. While there, she spent most of her spare time volunteering at the Marine Animal Rehabilitation and Conservation Center on campus, where she worked with sick and injured seals and sea turtles for three years. A semester abroad spent in Tanzania got her interested in whale shark aggregations and eventually led her to KAUST.

In 2014 Royale joined the Reef Ecology Lab at KAUST, where she completed her MSc in 2015 and her PhD in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Michael Berumen. ​Her broad research interests focused on whale shark connectivity and ecology, particularly within the Red Sea. Her MSc investigated the genetic connectivity of whale sharks from the Mafia Island, Tanzania and Al Lith, Saudi Arabia aggregation sites. During her PhD she used photo-identification to examine whale shark movements within the Red Sea and further investigated the genetic connectivity of whale sharks from the aggregation site in Al Lith with the global population.

Following her PhD, Royale accepted a position at Red Sea Global where she worked as the Protected Species Science Manager within the Department of Environmental Protection and Regeneration until early 2023. There her monitoring efforts, focused on collecting essential baseline data for the Al Wajh lagoon and AMAALA area, covering a variety of megafauna including sea turtles, marine mammals, sharks, and rays. While there she developed rescue and stranding response protocols for turtles and marine mammals within The Red Sea Project area. Alongside local stakeholders, she facilitated the successful rehabilitation of 6 critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles.

Royale returned to the Reef Ecology Lab as a research scientist in 2024. Her research interests are broadly megafauna in the Red Sea, particularly connectivity, ecology, and conservation of sharks and rays. However, her interests continue to extend to turtles and marine mammals, as well. Her current work includes further investigation of genetic connectivity of sharks and rays around the Arabian Peninsula. Royale is passionate about outreach and communicating research at an accessible level. She is an avid baker ensuring cakes are present at most lab celebrations.