YOUNG ROYALS SERIES 1 (Netflix)
This diverting adolescent gay-angst drama from Sweden comes with the novel twist that the young man discovering his sexuality at boarding school is the Crown Prince, which makes everything terribly complicated.
He gets up to mischief like the other kids – skipping classes, copying homework, drink, drugs, vomit – but things take a turn when he frolics with a mate in the dorm, and things get very heated. One of the seniors captures it through the window on his phone and anonymously posts it to social media.
Though the identity of the other student is obscured, Prince Wilhelm is clearly identified and suddenly the royal family is in crisis. Wille’s parents instruct him to deny being gay and to publicly say it’s not him in the video.
Though it is.
It rattles along well using all the tropes of young love with the added dimensions of (1) how teenage lives are upended by the discovery of sex; (2) how boys deal with the joys and fears that come with fucking each other; and (3) how the political stability of a country can be threatened when one of the boys is a royal.
We can only hope it’s based on real life. One wonders about the reaction of the real Swedish royal family. Did King Carl XVI and Queen Silvia ever have to deal with such a thing?
Edvin Ryding is the prince, Omar Rugberg is his boyfriend Simon. Leading Swedish actress Pernilla August is excellent as Wille’s mum, Queen Kristina. Her first English-speaking part was the continuing role of Shmi Skywalker, Annakin’s mum in the Stars Wars films.
Series 2 coming next July. (MA15+ strong sex scenes, 6 eps)