Young Royals Season 1 Review: Crazy rich, powerful, and oh so gay!

Young Royals is a very short, coming-of-age Swedish show on Netflix about a young Prince born into the Swedish royal family. Set in one of the richest, most exclusive private boarding schools in Sweden, Young Royals follows Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) as he begins his life at the new school. 

You see, Wilhelm was at another school up until recently, but the young lad kept getting himself into all kinds of trouble and tarnishing the good royal family name. His mother, the Queen, decided it was time for Wilhelm to step up into his place in the family and shipped him off to the new school. 

It’s here that Wilhelm meets Simon (Omar Rudberg). Simon is not from royalty, nor is he part of the rich and famous lifestyle of the other boarders at the school. In fact, he doesn’t even live on campus. From what we’ve deduced he is able to attend the school through some kind of scholarship or grant. 

As their two worlds collide, Wilhelm finds himself in the midst of more “problems” than he could ever have imagined. But maybe, just maybe, Wilhelm – the future king of Sweden, decides that it’s all worth it, that Simon is all worth it. Here are our thoughts on Young Royals.

Young Royals Season 1 overview

Although he isn’t walking around shooting rainbows and unicorns everywhere he goes, Simon does seem rather aware of his sexuality and is not surprised by the feelings that he develops for Wilhelm. The fact that it’s THE prince, rather than a boy, seems to take Simon by surprise more than anything else. 

But Simon takes Wilhelm by complete surprise. The two are drawn to each other immediately and it seems like this might be Wilhelm’s big gay awakening. There are only six episodes in season one, so things get moving between these two rather quickly. Before we know it, Simon is kissing Wilhelm. Afterward, Wilhelm tells Simon that he isn’t gay and that they should forget that the kiss ever happened. Young Royals, fam. We don’t know what else to say about that.

Except that Wilhelm can’t seem to let it go. Because of who he is, he understands what this means. Royalty can’t be gay – it’s a big no-no. But Wilhelm can’t get Simon out of his mind. 

Wilhelm goes to a secret society party with some of the other super rich and powerful kids one evening and drinks way too much booze and takes some kind of party drug. He wanders off on his own and winds up on the astroturf on the school grounds pining for Simon. He calls Simon, who can tell that something is definitely not right with Wilhelm. Simon comes to the field and takes Wilhelm back to his room, but not before Wilhelm is confessing all his feelings for Simon.

Simon stays with Wilhelm in his room overnight to make sure he is okay, and when they wake up the next day, things escalate quickly. Wilhelm tells Simon again how he feels and then clothes are coming off and they’re kissing and … we don’t think we need to finish that sentence. 

However, August (Malte Gårdinger) just happens to be hanging around the outside of the dorm rooms while Simon and Wilhelm are doing the dance with no pants. August is Wilhelm’s cousin and a total snake. He is one of those no-good, self-centered, green-with-envy kind of douchebags that you just want to push off a cliff. August does exactly what we came to expect of him at this moment. Instead of affording the boys the privacy they clearly deserve, he whips out his phone and films them in the act. 

A royal sex scandal

In this first season of Young Royals Simon and Wilhelm get almost no time to enjoy each other after their confession. August releases the video – which very clearly depicts Simon’s face – and all hell breaks loose. Everyone at the school knows that the other person in the video is Wilhelm because of the room they’re in, but it’s not totally obvious in the video that the person with Simon is actually Wilhelm. 

The Queen is pissed with a capital P and comes to the school to collect Wilhelm. She tells him in no uncertain terms to stay away from Simon and she demands that he release a statement saying that it isn’t him in the video. 

Wilhelm tells Simon about the Queen’s plans, and naturally, Simon begs Wilhelm not to throw him to the wolves like that. Simon is struggling with the fact that everyone saw what they did and his privacy was invaded as such. And although he doesn’t say it, Simon makes it pretty clear that it would hurt him deeply if Wilhelm publicly denied him like that. 

Wilhelm agrees that they’re in this together, and he won’t honor the Queen’s request.

But he does it anyway. Wilhelm gives an interview to a journalist of the Queen’s choosing and tells her that he wasn’t the one in the video. Simon gets super pissed (understandably) and tells Wilhelm that they can’t be together until Wilhelm works his mess out – on his own. 

Wilhelm struggles greatly with this, as he clearly feels really deeply for Simon. But he made his bed and now he has to lie in it. The season ends with Wilhelm walking up to Simon in a public, crowded gathering, wrapping him in an embrace and telling him that he loves him. He pulls away from the young man, gets in a car, and that’s where it ends. 

The chemistry between these two young men is incredible. We are completely and totally invested in their story. We are absolutely dying to know what the future holds for them! *coughs* abdicate Wilhelm *coughs*

Fortunately, we already know that Young Royals is definitely getting a second season so we’ll be able to see where their story goes.

All the other stuff

So much happens in these short six episodes and we know we didn’t even touch on any of the other characters in this piece. Surrounding Simon and Wilhelm is a whole cast of incredibly interesting and complex characters that we also have very strong feelings for. We’re going to run a secondary piece about these folks soon but for now, here are our thoughts in a snapshot. 

Sara (Frida Argento) is Simon’s sister. She is great with horses, has Asperger’s syndrome, and isn’t too great with people. We were initially really intrigued by her character and invested ourselves in her storyline, but all we have to say now is WTF Sara! We hope your brother finds out about your involvement in his scandal!

We’d like to apologize to Felice (Nikita Uggla) for judging you too harshly and prematurely. While we didn’t love everything you did throughout this season, we think we understand your situation. You did the right thing in the end and we’re kind of hoping that you and Wilhelm become besties in season 2. 

Out of respect we also know we need to mention Erik (Ivar Forsling). Erik is Wilhelm’s older brother and was the direct descendent of the crown before he died in a car accident. Wilhelm was wildly distressed about his passing and didn’t love the position it placed him in with regard to his family responsibilities. Everything now falls on Wilhelm’s shoulders, and he ain’t sure he wants any of it. 

And August? Well, we hate that dude. We hope he chokes on a rock or something. 

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Young Royals is a must-watch and is available to stream on Netflix now. Season 2 is slated for release in November 2022. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!