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Spoiler warning: This review contains spoilers for the third and final season of Netflix’s ‘Young Royals’.

Simone Margett

After three seasons and plenty of tears, Netflix’s Swedish teen drama Young Royals (2024) has come to an end.

In a departure from the previous two seasons, which primarily focused on the tension between love and royal duty, the final season of Young Royals explores new themes, including sexuality, relationships, mental health, guilt, eating disorders, race, bullying, institutional pressure, socialism, and the monarchy’s importance in contemporary society. 

“The third season of Young Royals is the most emotionally intense and dramatic to date.”

This LGBTQ+ series, which is often likened to Netflix’s Heartstopper (2023), continues the love story between Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) and choir boy Simon Eriksson (Omar Rudberg). They are teens in love who are being pulled apart by societal pressures. With plenty of drama, controversy, and surprising turns, the third and final season of Young Royals offers a heartfelt farewell. It’s a welcome shift for a queer show to end on its own terms, with no abrupt cancellation or hurried conclusion. 

https://twitter.com/awheartstopper/status/1777672514627649985

The third season of Young Royals is the most emotionally intense and dramatic to date. It covers a lot, including important discussions about the place of monarchies in contemporary society. In terms of plot, it picks up quickly after the end of season two as Prince Wilhelm must deal with the consequences of his statement, as he revealed his relationship with Simon in the previous season’s conclusion.

The Story So Far

The first season focused on Wilhelm’s whirlwind romance with Simon, his self-discovery and rise to the role of Crown Prince, alongside his adolescent anguish and sorrow for his brother. The second season picked up speed, focusing on Wille’s mental health. With its fast pace and melancholy undertone, season three is almost like a hybrid of the first two, with greater emphasis on the fallout from Wilhelm’s confession.

“From the playful lip-biting to the gut-wrenching screams, every decision is deliberate.”

This royal love story, with joyful highs and heartbreaking lows, has mesmerised viewers of this Swedish teen coming-of-age drama for the past few years. August (Malte Gårdinger) published intimate footage of Wilhelm and Simon, tightening the Crown’s hold on the prince. As graduation draws near, Wilhelm and Simon, the beloved couple on the show, experience mixed emotions. Though they can now be affectionate in public, they still deal with legal issues.

Meanwhile, August is still attached to the royal family, and Gårdinger does an exceptional job portraying the show’s most repulsive character.

Edvin Ryding has proven himself masterful at portraying characters with mental health concerns throughout the last three seasons. The way Wilhelm expresses his fear reveals a lot about his inner conflict. From the playful lip-biting to the gut-wrenching screams, every decision is deliberate. In season two, he finally began to understand how his mental state is influenced by the antiquated customs he must follow. 

Exploring New Themes

The focus of the final season undergoes a significant shift towards exploring the concept of sovereignty, thereby adding greater depth and perspective to the overall narrative.

In this season, Wilhelm and Simon must simultaneously cope with the aftermath of the season one video leak and manage their now-public relationship. Even though our favourite couple occasionally shares happy and lighthearted moments, there is still drama and tension throughout – after all, it wouldn’t be Young Royals without it. As journalists snoop on the young couple in an attempt to get a story, Simon must deal with a lot of homophobia and online hate. As Wilhelm questions if he wants to be a prince at all, Simon encourages Wilhelm to use his status to advocate for LGBTQ+ issues.

“The underlying appeal of Wilhelm and Simon is that they’re imperfect”

Simon has difficulty adjusting to all the rules and restrictions that come with being in the public eye and dating the Crown Prince. In addition to feeling both politically and economically out of place at the royal court, he receives advice to ignore the deluge of homophobic comments and harassment he encounters online. How much of himself is Simon willing to sacrifice to be with Wilhelm?

A True Love Story

The question posed by the show’s third season is whether Wilhelm and Simon’s intense love can withstand the difficulties posed by their radically different upbringings.

Born and raised as a royalist, Wilhelm values the monarchy as an institution that promotes peace and stability. On the other hand, Simon opposes the monarchy because it is undemocratically elected. Wilhelm queries Simon’s ability to love him while holding on to these ideals, to which Simon responds that he can and that they are not incompatible. This small exchange of words masterfully conveys their paradoxical love story. The underlying appeal of Wilhelm and Simon is that they’re imperfect, and Young Royals deserves credit for establishing this uncertainty, which gives the show depth and a sense of authenticity.

A Happy Ending?

Edvin and Omar’s chemistry has grown from strength to strength throughout their three seasons together. Whether engaging in passionate kisses over the piano or steamy nights in the dormitories, the pair invests wholeheartedly in the swells of teenage love. Wilhelm declares to Simon, “All I want is to be with you,” whilst painfully aware that desire may not be enough to keep them together. During the emotional fifth episode, the camera focuses on their faces as they break up just before the credits roll and cue our tears.

After all that ‘Wilmon’ has been through, they deserve a royally good ending. This is captured with the perfect shot – Wilhelm looks into the camera to conclude every season, and it’s usually a stare of pure determination. For the final season, we see a relaxed Wilhelm, fingers interlocked with Simon’s as the breeze flows through his hair. Wilhelm breaks the fourth wall one last time, a small smile on his lips, as he commits his ultimate act of regal rebellion – being true to himself.

We can all sigh with relief that Wilhelm and Simon got their much-deserved happy ending. Let’s hope that there’s another opportunity to see what our favourite characters are up to in the future. I’m not ready to say goodbye just yet.

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Featured image courtesy of freestocks on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image licence found here.

a deaf writer who fangirls over BTS & Jonas Brothers in her spare time.

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