The Wilmon debate: why both sides are valid in their fight for individual acknowledgment in their relationship
So much of season 2 of Young Royals is a rollercoaster ride of pain as we watch Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) fight for the life he wants to live, both as a member of the royal family, and as a human being. This includes the fight for his relationship with Simon (Omar Rudberg), which as the season opens, is shrouded in doom and gloom. Wilmon are not okay and they spend a good chunk of season 2 fighting each other about their individual places (and needs) in their crumbling relationship.
Wilmon spends a lot of time in this season at odds (and desperately wishing they weren’t) as they both fight for validation and understanding from the other about their individual situations. Wilhelm is completely overwhelmed by the rigidity of the Crown that is being forced on him, and Simon doesn’t trust the institution to which Wilhelm belongs. He is clutching desperately to the fact that he deserves better than what Wilhelm has given him so far, but his feelings for the Prince have him tied up in knots.
Here’s the thing: this is not a question of who is more right than the other, because when it comes to Wilmon and the situation they find themselves in, both are in the right. It’s impossible to sympathize with one of these characters more than the other because they both do things wrong, they both hurt each other (and themselves) and their arguments about what they need from each other are both valid.
Although he wasn’t supposed to be, Wilhelm is the Crown Prince and now has this huge duty bestowed upon his shoulders. His life changes irrevocably overnight and suddenly there are all these expectations and duties coming at him from every direction. The person that he is suddenly supposed to be doesn’t necessarily line up with what he wants for himself and the kid is on struggle street.
He wants to be able to make his own choices and have some ownership over the direction of his life, and he wants desperately for that to include Simon. Unfortunately, the Crown has other ideas. While Wilhelm has no issues with his queerness, the Crown does and they are struggling to deal with the fallout of his sex scandal with Simon. Caught between duty, family, and honor, and all that mess, in season 1 Wilhelm definitely throws Simon under the bus when he tells the world that it’s not, in fact, him in the sex video.
And this forms the crux of many of the issues that Wilmon struggles with in season 2. Simon feels hurt and betrayed, and he is valid for feeling this way. Objectively, Wilhelm essentially let Simon take the fall over the video and Wilhelm was able to just brush it off. Or at least, that’s how it all appears on the surface. The reality is though, that Wilhelm isn’t able to just say it wasn’t him and move on with his life. He is very much stuck in love with Simon and not being with him is destroying Wilhelm.
From a human perspective, Simon’s pain over this incident is really easy to empathize with. The person he loves quite literally denied him in front of everyone on national television and then showed up at his house asking if they could be boyfriends in secret. That doesn’t feel good at all. The power dynamics at play here are wildly off balance and Simon seems to understand that he will never be equal in that relationship if he agrees to those terms. So, he cuts Wilhelm loose and tells him he has to walk that path alone. No more Wilmon for Simon.
But this doesn’t work for him because, like Wilhelm, Simon is stuck in hell because he too is deeply in love with Wilhelm.
The coded messaging involved in Wilhelm’s request that they be together in secret is highly oppressive. Despite the fact that Wilmon agrees that there is nothing wrong with their love, that their queerness is not the issue here, asking one part of that queer coupling if they can be a secret sends a very direct message that they are doing something wrong, that there is something wrong with them. And for Simon, who is confident in his sexuality and no longer in the closet, living like this would be a betrayal of self. Wilhelm doesn’t seem to understand that this is exactly what he is requesting of Simon when he asks this though.
Wilhelm desperately wishes that Simon could just understand that loving him comes with royal baggage that neither of them asked for. Wilhelm wishes they could navigate it together but he continually does things that only further inflame Simon’s fears about holding onto himself and his place in the relationship amongst all the royal garbage. Wilhelm withholding the information about August’s (Malte Gardinger) involvement in the release of the sex video only serves to affirm everything that Simon fears. Wilhelm should have included Simon in that decision but he didn’t. How is Simon ever supposed to feel like Wilhelm’s equal under those conditions?
Simon is clear in his words and actions that Wilhelm hurt him and that he feels like he can’t trust him. Anyone else would have launched a campaign to demonstrate that the object of their love can trust them and repair the hurt, but Wilhelm doesn’t really do this. He is so caught up in his own mess as he tries to navigate all these really huge expectations that now come with his new title, that he doesn’t seem to know how. And this is the heartbreaking aspect of Wilhelm’s journey in season 2: he’s so lost and he’s caught up in the idea of honoring his brother and fulfilling his duty, but he doesn’t seem to know how to do that and be true to himself and to Simon.
Unfortunately, the impasse between Wilmon here is that if Simon can’t reconcile his feelings about the Crown with himself, there is no chance that he and Wilhelm can have any kind of future together. Wilhelm is only sixteen. Just how much does Simon expect him to be able to change about a long-standing archaic institution that he was born into? Simon’s staunch rejection of the monarchy really only presents one option for Wilhelm: abdication. Simon loves Wilhelm, that much is clear, but he is so afraid of letting the royal institution into his life that he pushes Wilhelm far, far away.
Whether Simon realizes or not that this is the result of his actions, it’s undeniable that it is what he spends season 2 doing. And Wilhelm knows it too.
When Wilhelm tells Simon that he could walk away from the Crown if he has August as a backup, he also tells Simon that he feels a sense of duty to his family (understandable) and he wants to honor his brother’s legacy (also understandable). Erik (Ivar Forsling) was really the only person in Wilhelm’s whole life that he trusted until Simon came along. When Wilhelm shares his thoughts on this with Simon, Simon finally seems to understand that Wilhelm is fighting an institution that is far more powerful than one person can battle on their own.
In this scene, Ayub’s (Inti Zamora Sobrado) jaw is on the floor and his flabbergasted question “did he just say he would renounce his throne for you?” is absolutely everything in episode 5! It highlights the weight of their impasse and the choices that both of them now potentially face.
Up until this point, it’s pretty clear that Simon’s own messed up feelings were clouding his ability to really see Wilhelm’s struggle with the Crown. The entire situation is all far more complex than Simon gave him credit for. However, the really unfortunate and painful part of this whole situation is that they are both valid in their positions here. Someone has to compromise, and whoever it ends up being, undoubtedly loses something. If Wilhelm walks away from the Crown and his family, he loses them and his ability to carry out his brother’s legacy. If Simon gives in to Wilhelm’s desires for secrecy, he loses his agency and his equal standing in their relationship (and probably himself in the process).
Neither option is a good one.
The way the writers of Young Royals handled this was incredible. In a manner of speaking, they both end up conceding. After seeing things from Wilhelm’s perspective, Simon finally agrees to keep their relationship a secret, and then Wilhelm turns around and validates Simon on national television at the jubilee by telling everyone that he was the second person in the video. While it’s unclear what the consequences of the Crown will be for Wilhelm now, Simon was able to hold onto his agency, and Wilhelm was able to speak his truth. The power balance between the two of them was restored, and whatever does come at them after this point, they will now be able to deal with it together – equally.
So while season 2 felt a lot like kneeling on uncooked rice, Wilmon would never have been able to reach this place together if each of them individually hadn’t fought for what they needed from each other. Ultimately, Wilhelm doesn’t want to walk away from the Crown, despite the fact that he clearly doesn’t agree with a lot of what it stands for, and Simon doesn’t want to lose himself to a relationship that he feels he has no control over, or to an institution whose ideologies he disagrees with.
Their battle for validation from each other was completely and absolutely necessary if viewers want to see a happy, healthy relationship play out between them in the future. Both characters grew so much in this season, but both of them also emerged on the other side of season 2 more mature and ready for the realities of each other, and the world around them. This is something that season 1 Wilmon was definitely not capable of. Bravo Young Royals season 2. This season is an incredibly moving queer story and we are positively obsessed.
Young Royals Season 2 is available to stream on Netflix globally now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
