Oh, the Special Relationship. Has it always had this much homoerotic tension, or have I only just noticed? Blair and Bush gazing at one another. That feisty break-up speech delivered by prime minister Hugh Grant in Love Actually. Now there’s Red, White & Royal Blue, a film adaptation of the bestselling BookTok novel by American author Casey McQuiston. Doubling down on the intercontinental combo of flirty banter and negging by having an angsty British royal fall in love with the son of the American president, it starts off so well – all wry self-awareness and closely-observed wit. But it falls apart when it marries itself to another well-trodden genre: the royal soap opera.
Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) is the arrogant, stuffy royal. Alex (Taylor Sakhar Perez) is the charming, idealistic next generation of a political dynasty. They first met at the Melbourne Climate Conference – classic – and have had a weird, tense rivalry ever since. It’s a clash of cultures, a war between a benefactor of inherited privilege and a nepo baby, and your classic “enemies to lovers” trope beloved by BookTok fans. “Did your parents send you to snobbery school,” Alex drunkenly snarls at Henry at a swanky royal wedding, “or does looking down on people come naturally to you?” Next thing you know, the pair are having a fight that leads to the destruction of a £75k cake, which soon becomes headline news and ignites fears of a diplomatic incident.
