Red, White, & Royal Blue: a thoughtful tribute to Alex and Henry’s history-making love story

The film adaptation of Red, White, & Royal Blue is finally here! After years and years of waiting and thanks to Prime Video, Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Henry’s (Nicholas Galitzine) epic and history-making love story is finally coming to our screens. And while we can’t be sure what y’all will think of it once you’ve streamed it, we hope that many of you will love it as much as we do.

With a running time of almost 2 hours, this adaptation, written (along with Ted Malawer) and directed by Matthew Lopez, delivers what it promises and offers us a romantic comedy that is not only funny and full of clichés that will make you squirm and squeal with joy. But it also allows its main couple to have moments of great vulnerability that can rarely be explored in films of this genre, let alone queer films.

And while the adaptation does have significant changes that fans of Casey McQuiston’s book are sure to notice and point out as soon as the movie’s first scene starts playing before their eyes, in our opinion, the central love story doesn’t suffer from them. The heart and soul of Alex and Henry’s love story is right there, present in every scene and frame of this movie.

But let’s talk about it in more detail, shall we?

Alex and Henry’s movie

Whether you’re new to the story or know by heart the source material this adaptation is based on, know that Red, White, & Royal Blue is Alex and Henry’s movie. Period. Of the 118 minutes that the film lasts, 110 are dedicated to them; so it is to be expected that other characters, arcs, and stories do not have the same weight, undergo changes, or disappear completely in order to make the main plot move forward.

In film adaptations there is always a lot to tell and very little time to do it. It is difficult – if not virtually impossible – to create a product that pleases and makes everyone happy. But we think it is to Red, White, & Royal Blue’s credit that by focusing solely on Alex and Henry’s story, they managed to craft a film that is not only true to McQuiston’s beautifully penned words but also feels original enough so that people with no prior knowledge of it can still enjoy it.

Red, White, & Royal Blue revolves around the unexpected love story between Alex Claremont-Diaz, the First Son of the United States, and Prince Henry, the spare to the British Crown. The film opens with the wedding of Henry’s older brother, Prince Phillip (Thomas Flynn), to which Alex and Nora (Rachel Hilson) – granddaughter of the Vice President of the United States – are invited. With a short and colorful montage, the film quickly establishes what audiences need to know: Alex and Henry don’t like each other. Why? It is not known yet, but there is an enmity there that only grows with the constant comparisons that the press makes between them. Alex is the American equivalent of Prince Henry, and vice versa.

As the reception continues in all its British and Royal pomposity, we see Alex getting progressively drunk, which at some point leads him to confront Henry. The bickering between them quickly escalates, and before anyone can stop it, the two end up on the floor covered in cake in front of all the cream of the British Monarchy.

To fix the situation, the Crown and the White House issue a joint statement clarifying that what happened at the Royal wedding was just a mishap and that, despite not being able to see each other that much, Alex and Henry have been close friends for a long time.

But for the story to be believable, it has to be sold as such. And that is how Alex and Henry are forced to pretend they’re the best of friends in front of the entire world. What they don’t count on, however, is that between photo ops and staged charity events, the two will end up getting to know each other better; and the flame that once fueled that enmity between them will transform into something so powerful and so strong that it will change the course of their lives forever.

A love story for the ages

We gotta admit that the enemies-to-lovers transformation unfolds swiftly and seamlessly in this film adaptation. Slightly revved up, Alex and Henry’s long-distance and strictly virtual flirtation culminates – as in the book – in a kiss at a New Year’s Eve party at the White House, which later leads to a torrid yet secret relationship between the two. However, both Alex and Henry have responsibilities and expectations to shoulder, and sooner rather than later, these come and take center stage.

We won’t spoil what goes on between them or how they resolve all the issues their relationship faces in order to emerge victorious at the other end of the rainbow, but we think there’s a passage in the book that perfectly describes the second half of the movie. 

“When Alex was a kid, before anyone knew his name, he dreamed of love like it was a fairy tale, as if it would come sweeping into his life on the back of a dragon one day. When he got older, he learned about love as a strange thing that could fall apart no matter how badly you wanted it, a choice you make anyway. He never imagined it’d turn out he was right both times.” (Red, White & Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston, 2019)

So if you know what transpires between them, then you know. If not, get ready because these two will break and then patch up your heart in ways you weren’t expecting. What both Zakhay Perez and Galitzine achieve with their characters is outstanding. They effortlessly embody everything that makes Alex and Henry so unique, and we’ll be endlessly grateful to them for putting so much of themselves into the making of these beloved characters. 

Arguably, the most important part of portraying a believable romance is the natural chemistry between the two lead characters, and well… Red, White, & Royal Blue has chemistry to spare. 

Seriously, if at some point you ever doubted that these two actors could make you feel what the book made you feel, then you’re in for a treat. They are EXCEPTIONAL. Yes, in capital letters. And thanks to them it is shown again – but now on the big screen – that Alex and Henry’s love story is truly one for the ages.

With amazing performances from the entire cast (special shout-out to Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, and Aneesh Sheth for their terrific performances), a thoughtful script that stays as true to its source material as possible, and a love story that will make you swoon Red, White, & Royal Blue is without a doubt the rom-com of the summer. 

And while we would have loved for this book to be adapted into a mini-series so that some plot lines and characters were part of the story as well, we’re still very pleased with what we got. Can we get a sequel? We need more time with Alex and Henry. 

PS: Pay attention to the people who work for President Claremont (Uma Thurman), you may see a familiar face in some of the final scenes.

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Red, White, & Royal Blue is streaming exclusively on Prime Video. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!