Duh, spoilers below for Young Royals. If you haven’t seen it, do so on Netflix.
What I initially liked most about the series is that it’s not a story about the struggle for identity or coming out that consumes most gay-teen dramas. Simon was out and proud from the start and with Wilhelm there were only a few very brief moments of denial. After Simon first kissed him, he tried a couple of times to say “I’m not like that” however he couldn’t even convince himself enough to complete the sentence. Two days later he did finally build up the nerve to say it, only to “take it back” a day later when he discovered he had a chance to spend the weekend with the cute boy with the angelic voice. When Felice kisses him he shuts it down immediately. It never occurs to him to have a go at hetero- sparing us this over-done subplot. Yes, it is a story about the closet, but it’s imposed upon him by society, not internal angst or self-denial. Once he’s committed to the relationship, Wilhelm wants to come out- is almost desperate to come out. It’s his family and an obligation to a dynasty that is preventing him from doing so.
Furthermore, his mother as a personal matter doesn’t have a problem with his being gay. One gets the impression that if she weren’t the queen, or if Erik the first Crown Prince hadn’t of died, she would be fine with his relationship with Simon. It’s not his sexuality that is the sticking point, but the threat to the Crown.
Wilhelm’s decision to deny it was he in the video was understandable. Even Simon, in perhaps the most adult break-up scene I’ve seen in any movie or tv-show, understood while making it clear that he “will not be anyone’s secret”.
However, upon further reflection, I believe there is one character struggling with his identity and that’s August- a character so loathsome he almost makes me hate my birth-month. While I normally despise the trope where the gay-tormenter is secretly gay, in this case I think it’s ok as the motivation of August isn’t self-hatred, but jealousy. From the moment that Wilhelm arrived on campus, August was all over him to the extent that Gay Guys react described him as a “bad rash” on their YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEcDjOiwdr04NdCLYMrxQ0A. Other YouTubers have done entire videos of August interrupting Wilhelm. Wilhelm would undoubtedly agree with that characterization, expressing the annoyance we all felt towards the character to his brother and hiding with Simon rather than be forced to interact with him- again.
Of course, August doesn’t see himself as a rash that won’t go away, or even as a needless third wheel. He looks upon himself as the one that Wilhelm should desire, but that Wilhelm is too thick to get it. In the first episode, August insisted on Wilhelm sitting with the lower classmen, not wanting to give the Freshmen Prince preferential treatment. Which was fine for the evening meal, when his conversations with his other wealthy freshmen were awkward. But then the next day Wilhelm sat across from Simon and observed him, for the first time since arriving at the school, enjoying a conversation. He wanted Wilhelm to have an enjoyable conversation, but with him! So, he invited him to the “grown-ups” table “rescuing” from his having to converse with the young proletariat “treating” Wilhelm instead to an interminable conversation with people he doesn’t even like. At the end of the episode, Wilhelm prefers to hide in a ditch with the cute Prol rather than repeat that experience.
That was August’s one brief triumph, as after that, he was the “victim” of continuous rejection by Wilhelm. When August wishes that Wilhelm attend rowing practice and Simon asks him to attend a friend’s Football (soccer) game, he goes to the football game. From that point on it’s one slight after the other. In every opportunity where Wilhelm has a choice to sit with him or Simon- he chooses Simon. At a parental luncheon August has a friend sitting next to him move to leave a space for Wilhelm so that Wilhelm may meet his mother, only to watch Wilhelm walk in, briefly consider sitting next to August, and then decide to sit next to Simon so that he could meet Simon’s mother. This slight was so apparent that it prompted the man next to him to ask the humiliating question, “I thought he was supposed to sit next to you?”
When Felice is interested in Wilhelm, I suspect he’s angry not because she might be interested in him, but because he might be interested in her. When he is having sex with Felice, he stops, angrily accusing her of thinking of Wilhelm. While the phrase “whoever smelt it dealt it” usually just applies to farts- I think it fits here as well, in both motivation and odiousness. Even when Eric died, Wilhelm chooses Felice and ultimately Simon as the one who would comfort him despite his insistence to Felice that this was his “job”.
Then there’s the ultimate betrayal. Wilhelm chooses to share a bed with the cute Prol. Not having sex in meaningless hook-ups like the ones he did with Felice and Sarah but making love. August’s view of himself as a jilted would-be lover makes his following actions make sense. First, he tries to break the two up, leaving Wilhelm with only August. He lies, painting Simon as a “dealer” expressing mock indignation over Simon’s not telling him of the activities he pressured Simon to undertake. Later when his plan fails, and the two lovers not only survive this ordeal, but wind up closer than before, August does the ultimate dick-move of releasing the video. If he can’t have him- no one can.
Before he does so, we get to see the rest of his photos- revealing most of his photos are of Wilhelm and some are of Felice. The juxtaposition of these photos reveals August’s worldview. Neither set has August framed with the other- showing that he never was able to connect with either. However the photos of Wilhelm shows his ultimate desire to connect as we see Wilhelm as the center of the universe, with August in rotation trying to enter his orbit. The photos of Felice represent his inner desire to disconnect framing Felice off to the side, almost as an intruder with August in the center. Ultimately giving the impression that Felice’s inclusion in the photos is due to her “forcing” her way in there, not from August’s desire to have her there. The one photo in which she dominates, still has her uncentered, with August being pushed to the opposite poll an expression of surprise at her temerity in trying to enter his orbits- magnets on opposite ends ultimately repulsed.
While the release of the video did force Wilhelm into the closet, the ending gives the impression that the knowledge that August did this will ultimately drive him out of the closet as well. When Wilhelm calls his mother to inform him of August’s crime, her revelation that she’s known this for days enrages Wilhelm, causing him to hang up on her before she could treat him to another “It’s not a punishment but a privilege” speech. If this “privilege” lets August escape his extremely deserved punishment, then thanks, but no thanks. The next day, in front of virtually the entire school, in clear defiance of his mother, he treats Simon to an embrace that could not possibly be mistaken for a bro-hug. It’s a full on can’t-be-denied lovers embrace- with the song “Revolution” playing in the background. His staring directly at the camera with the repeating refrain of “Revolution” makes it clear- either Sweden will have to accept a gay king, or this Dynasty is coming to an end.
There better be a season 2!