Red White & Royal Blue: All about that collector’s edition bonus chapter
Earlier this week, Casey McQuiston’s long-awaited collector’s edition of her smash hit queer novel Red, White & Royal Blue was released to the world. The new release sported a new cover that was blanketed in blue this time, instead of its traditional pink, it also included incredible illustrations in both the front and back covers that were not included in the original release, and it featured a 26-page bonus chapter written from Henry’s perspective as he and Alex settle into their lives together in Brooklyn as an out, legitimate gay couple.
If you are still waiting for your book to arrive in the mail, or you haven’t read Red, White & Royal Blue yet, stop right here and come back when you have, because y’all, we can’t keep quiet anymore – we are DYING to talk about this new bonus chapter.
Spoilers are about to ensue, in masses, so abort now if that isn’t your thing. Everyone else, buckle up! The Q+ Magazine staffers have some strong opinions about the unspoken messages and open-ended storylines presented in the Red, White & Royal Blue collector’s edition bonus chapter!
The bonus chapter 4-1-1
The bonus chapter does not have a linear timeline but picks up in Brooklyn several years after the end of Red, White & Royal Blue. It jumps around a lot, darting five years into the future, but also flashes back to moments not too long after Ellen Claremont was re-elected as President.
It surprised us to learn that Henry and Alex didn’t move in together right away upon Henry buying the brownstone in Brooklyn.
It’s practical, they agreed, to live in the same neighborhood before they live at the same address. They’ve scarcely gotten a chance to date in the normal way yet – if it can be called “normal” when their combined security teams are headquartered in an empty apartment down the street. Still, Henry wants this to last.”
(Red, White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston, 2022)
They do move in together after some time, but it’s still swoon-worthy to know that they went about curating their relationship together in Brooklyn in a safe way that they thought would protect what they have at all costs. Soulmates? We think so.
In terms of plot, readers are treated to an organic snapshot into the life Henry and Alex build together, but at the same time, the drama and doomsday urgency that exists in the original text is absent from the bonus chapter. And thank god for that.
Henry attempts to learn how to cook, Pez mostly relocates to New York City, Alex continues his education and then begins his career working in a law firm, they order DoorDash, host Christmas, eventually move in together, and then they get engaged.
It’s 2024, and nobody knows they’re engaged.
(Red, White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston, 2022)
Granted, they’ve only been engaged for about three hours, but Henry is curious to see how long they can go. It feels nice to keep a secret that doesn’t have to be a secret. It’s more that they’re keeping it like a pet, or something especially beautiful from the garden that they’ve coaxed into a jar.”
The whole thing is utterly domestic, and it’s everything they deserve. At the end of Red, White & Royal Blue all we wanted was to see them happy together and have a shot at functioning as a normal couple. Casey McQuiston gave us everything we could have asked for in this bonus chapter.
Things that made us go ‘WHAT’
One of the biggest surprises of the bonus chapter was learning that Henry walks away from the Crown. Despite our initial shock and very verbal response to this news, after giving it some thought, his decision to do this makes perfect sense to us.
Henry was miserable living within the confines and restrictions of the monarchy, so why would he want to stay when there was a world free of said restrictions to explore with Alex by his side?
Readers see his mother in Brooklyn, and his sister comes and goes, as well, so it’s not like the decision to abandon his royal obligations created any kind of rift within his family. It’s not clear how the Queen responded to the news, but honestly, who cares anyway?
The house feels full to bursting, and not just because of the Christmas crackers. There are all three of Alex’s parents, Henry’s mum, June and Nora, Bea and Pez, Shaan and Zara on the speakerphone, occasionally an awkward Philip and Martha via FaceTime, and because he had nowhere else to go for the holidays, Angus.”
(Red White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston, 2022)
The second thing that had us audibly asking WHAT THE… was a cryptic moment that occurs between June and Nora. They find themselves underneath the mistletoe during Henry and Alex’s Christmas celebration and they share a sweet kiss. Alex remarks that he can’t believe that it’s taken the two girls this long to kiss. Everyone around Alex acts like Alex is the stupidest fool on earth, and the suggestion here is that June and Nora have been, or are, kissing on a regular basis … and we have ALL THE QUESTIONS.
Our minds jumped back to a scene in the original text during the time the gang went out in West Hollywood in Los Angeles and engaged in many drunken shenanigans. Remember when everyone emerged from their hotel rooms in the morning and June, Nora, and Pez came out of the same room and June had lipstick on her neck? We brushed past that so fast because there was so much happening with Alex and Henry, but now we are looking very respectfully, but exceptionally curiously at this scene again. 👀 👀
Are June and Nora a thing, or are we invoking the gayification of June where there is no gay to gayify? Inquiring minds want to know!
Is there a future for this story?
A couple of things happened with the bonus chapter and the official release event that have the Q+ Magazine folks wondering if maybe this is not the end of the road for Alex and Henry’s story. Is there a sequel in the works? We don’t know, however, we do think that McQuiston wrote this bonus chapter in such a way that definitely lends itself to this idea.
The big flashing signal for us was the move to Texas. Alex is miserable in big law in New York City and is not enjoying the grind of corporate law like he thought he would. Henry sees this and suggests that they move their life to a farm in Texas where they can slow down and build a private life together.
And while the words read as if they are stepping away from public life and settling into domesticity (Henry even imagines Alex as a dad at one point in the bonus chapter), we couldn’t help but wonder if Henry had some ulterior motive that he wasn’t sharing with Alex at that time.
“But we could have a good life somewhere else too.”
(Red, White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston, 2022)
Alex frowns. “Like where?”
“Somewhere … farther from everywhere, maybe? Somewhere we could slow down, and things could be quieter, and you could do the work you want to do. I think I could use some time away from it all, honestly. Maybe I wouldn’t even have to have a body double anymore.”
Alex considers this for a long moment. They both know where Henry means, even if he doesn’t say it.”
Before their public outing and their scandal, Alex wanted to be a politician. There is no insight into how he feels about that now, but everyone knows that if Alex Claremont-Diaz was ever going to run for office, it would be in his home state of Texas. Corporate law is making the man unhappy, so maybe the shift to politics is exactly what Henry thinks Alex needs. So even though Henry uses the guise of them settling into a quiet, private farm life together, was he really suggesting they move to Texas so that when Alex becomes ready, he could run for office?
A queer political saga documenting the struggles of a queer family trying to run for office in one of the most conservative states in the United States?
We don’t know about you, but we would totally read hundreds of pages that narrate this particular story.
The other thing that has us wondering if this collector’s edition isn’t the end for Alex and Henry occurred at the official release event of the collector’s edition featuring the bonus chapter.
The Red, White & Royal Blue updates account live-tweeted the event and confirmed that although Alex and Henry proposed to each other at the same time (because of course they did), Casey wasn’t willing to confirm which of them got the words out a few seconds faster than the other in case “they might want to write it someday.”
Was Casey McQuiston dropping breadcrumbs about something else in this world that she is working on, or was she just sharing her casual musings at the time? We don’t have the answer to this question, but it certainly feels like the former. If they were done producing content about these characters, why not share those details with fans?
There are many possibilities for more storylines to be explored in this world, and honestly, we’re here for everything and anything that we’re treated to.
Red, White & Royal Blue the collector’s edition is available at all good booksellers now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
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