Young Royals: Navigating adolescence and an ode to first loves
By Rosemarie O’Byrne
Young Royals has been described as a cross between Heartstopper and The Crown because of its LGBT+ relationship and ‘prince and pauper’ storyline. However, I was surprised to realise that this series is so much more than that. From realistic characters to phenomenal representation, this emotional series is layered with meaningful nuances. To deal with matters of adolescent love and the issues of being a young person in the modern world is tricky to master in television. It can be difficult for a team of adult writers to connect with what it really feels like to be a teenager, especially since it is an ever changing concept with social media and the digital age. Young Royals is the first series I have watched that has offered me characters who reminded me of what it is like to be a teenager navigating the world, and it did not disappoint.
The naturalistic style of acting in the show is insanely refreshing and this is only supported further by having the roles played by actual young people whose real skin texture is visible and no filters used to gloss over the actors and make them conform to conventional beauty standards. The first step to making things such as acne and body diversity normalised in real life is by making it normalised on TV screens. Skin texture was a non issue in the plot and just something which every character had, therefore why wouldn’t it be normal? The representation in the show is in terms of giving nuanced and interesting stories to otherwise marginalised characters is wonderful.
So often in Young Adult media the script writing succumbs to tokenism and while a series may feature a storyline involving people of colour or LGBT+ people, they will be the token best friend of the main character. Young Royals offers the stage to Wilhelm and Simon’s original, pure and tender romance that steers clear from clichés. Rather than teasing gay characters or queerbaiting, the show decidedly plunges its audience into the world of queer main characters, unapologetically, if you will. The boys encounter real life struggles like questioning one’s identity in adolescence and navigating social relationships in school, along with the negative effects of social media and online cyberbullying. Each time that I found myself holding my breath in particularly tense or stressful scenes, I was once again comforted by the dynamic between Wilhelm and Simon as their connection meant they could get through whatever else was thrown their way, and therefore I, as the anxious viewer, could put my trust in them to some extent.
The complexity and depth to each character is a delight to watch due to the tremendous amount of well developed characters in the series. Each character makes you care about them deeply as you are brought into awareness of how vulnerable and emotional each of them are beneath their masking. It’s possible you’ll feel a parental instinct to guide them in the right direction but realise it’s better to let them make their own mistakes for themselves.
As well, this is a foreign language series as it is a Swedish production. Though there is the option to follow it along with the dubbed version, the amount to be gained from watching the actors perform in the original language is simply bountiful. Therefore, choosing the subtitled version is a more enriching experience to avoid missing context or sentences diluted in translation. Every sigh, breath and tut is important to catch.
This series is raw, fresh and real, and it is so exciting to see upcoming actors with a passion for diversity in the media. The show deals with important themes while focusing on love, and the type of love that is outcasted by others for being different which makes it all the more emotional and empowering to watch. There are great efforts made by the production crew to make the show inclusive with neurodiversity visibility and one character taking medication for ADHD. The series feels truthful, including the realities of grieving the death of loved ones and the layers of mental health, especially as a young person launched into the adult world suddenly responsible for one’s life choices. Class, race and privilege are not only acknowledged in the series but dealt with wonderfully to make well developed characters finding their footing in the world. The gripping acting makes it a binge worthy series but I savoured each episode with care. The charm and charisma of Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg is a pleasure to watch and the story of their characters feels as though it could be a true one. Season 2 of the series has only recently been released on Netflix so there’s plenty of time to dive into the cruel and beautiful world of teenage romance.