Young Royals- despite the tropey premise, carries weight and heart!
Privileged people at a posh elite school, where sex, drugs and rock and roll.. lol no, but parties, entitlement, bullying and intake of illicit substances are everyday things. We’ve heard and seen this all before and Young Royals has almost the same set up as the teenage/high school shows that have come before it. The notable difference is (apart from it being Swedish of course) that it’s about Prince Wilhelm — the black sheep of the Swedish Royal family who so far has been able to live a somewhat normal life, shielded from the court and all its responsibilities by his older brother, the Crown Prince Erik.
Instead Wilhelm parties and drinks alcohol and oh gets into fights and sullies the great royal name. The set up? Well as some sort of punishment for misbehaving he is sent to the infamous Boarding School called Hillerska where he is supposed to learn some discipline and become a prince the family can be proud of. That is ironic in and of itself of course, as boarding schools are always just massively toxic (did we learn nothing from Ondskan?), where the biggest bullies thrive by putting people around them down and the rich get away with whatever they want, even murder as the upper class even brags about at one point in this show, a perfect example of what entitlement does to you.
The somewhat insecure and introverted Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) is thus thrusted into a new world, governed by outdated hierarchies, coming face to face with the main bully and antagonist August, a close relative to the royal family, who takes every opportunity he can to make Wilhelm’s life more difficult. And so Wille is notably drowning in it all-to make his family proud while all he wishes for is a normal life. Edvin Ryding plays Wilhelm straight to the audiences’ hearts, shy, nervous and prone to anxiety, he’s perfectly matched to Simon (Omar Rudberg), the small town boy with a heart of gold that manages to break through to Wilhelm’s heart by singing (of course he does) and a forbidden romance between the two soon start to take shape. Obviously it’s complicated because when is it not? Wilhelm is burdened by it all, somewhat in denial of his feelings to begin with, the mounting pressure of the crown and the fact that he can’t afford another scandal. Yet even he can’t resist the pull of romance and experience the chance at happiness, even when the other guy is ‘from the wrong side of town’ with a socio-economic status that Wilhelm won’t ever grasp (because he’s a prince duh). The pull is too strong for him to resist, even when he pushes Simon away, he can’t seem to stay away from him for too long.
Their chemistry carries the show on its shoulders, when together they orbit each other with a quiet intensity unmatched by any couple I’ve seen in a long time. They are drawn to one another, Wilhelm to Simon’s ‘realness’ as he expresses it, strong opinions, where he feels Simon’s the only person he can really talk to in a world where everything and everyone is fake, Simon is not. In return, Wille notices Simon in a way not many do, he values his thoughts and perspectives on things, he cares about him and he listens. Simon feels very much like a character that hasn’t been allowed to mourn and grieve his losses, rather he puts the other foot forward, moves on and cares about everyone else rather than himself, the fixer of the family so to say. When he’s with Wille all that is stripped away and Simon is allowed to be the one cared about. This set up is lovely to watch, the twists and turns can be seen from miles away though, but it doesn’t matter much when this young, teenage romance in all its glory plays out before your eyes, all bumbling and awkward with acneed covered faces as they fall more in love.
The show strays away from the most overused trope in cinema and tv history- lack of communication! I think we have all just wanted to shout at our screens ever so often when character A doesn’t tell character B about something and drama ensues. These two feel very much like two characters that want to spend time with each other, that enjoys getting to know the other which is later reflected in all the sad and tension filled moments where between them, the show could have entered cliché like plot points and sent the two main characters into somewhat pointless arguments. That never happens, instead their conversations are rooted in deep understanding and empathy for one another. When it all finally breaks for the both of them, Simon’s parting words to Wille, while extremely sad, ring true. On some level, even in his grief, Wille understands and respects that too.
The show isn’t perfect by a long shot, but I don’t expect it to be. Noteworthy is the fact that this is Sweden’s first major young adult production where a queer romance is the focus, it feels, well a little late in time honestly… Another storyline, which is the medicine and ADHD plot point feels trivialising and somewhat exploitative. It’s drama made to cause drama and speaks to the bigger picture of outdated substance this show contains to some extent. I hope they do better with this going forward, particularly with the inclusion of neuroatypical characters, which yes is nice, but they shouldn’t be there just for representation without weight, then it just feels empty. Rather inclusion of storylines that are as weighty as the rest of the characters are also important.
Going forward (I’m rooting for Simon and Wille) I’m hoping for some deeper deconstruction of the royal family and the frankly outdated institution it does represent, how homophobia in a country like Sweden is often masked behind fake progressiveness is dissected properly and some happiness for our two mains. They deserve as much!
At the end of the day, they are just two boys who want to love each other… but the questions the show pose remains — freedom or family? Tradition vs individuality. Duty or love?
We part with the show on a close up of Wille, the tones of Elias’ Revolution playing like an anthem in the background. “Let’s start a revolution, how beautiful it is.”
And then he looks at the camera, what it means is up to use to interpret. I’d like to think he’s coming for the monarchy, to burn it to the ground.
Only season 2 shall tell us what it means.
