Prince Wilhelm
wanted a normal teenage life.
But after a pub fight with subsequent scandalous headlines, he is forced by the queen mother (Pernilla August) into the fold: he must follow in the family's footsteps at the elite boarding school Hillerska.
Nothing can go wrong there?
Hillerska turns out to be a classic Ondskan land: straight backs and "good morning Miss Ådahl".
The school is divided between the often noble young children who live in the boarding school, and "external" - that is, those who can not afford to live in the school and consequently are called "suckers".
Among the latter is Simon (Omar Rudberg), a small-town boy with a heart of gold and a God-fearing singing voice.
An impossible
love story between the shy prince and the sous from the wrong side of town begins, and is put on its head when William unexpectedly ends up at the top of the throne.
Is it possible to be gay and king at the same time?
The best in
Young Royals is the depiction of the youthful Sturm und Drang: it is furious and picky and nervous at the same time.
The love scenes between the excellent Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg capture both the star-eyed tenderness and the silly bubbling happiness of love.
Jealousy and pettiness get a wonderfully abominable face in the story's antagonist: the penalistic August, passionately and intensely played by Malte Gårdinger.
As
in Netflix's first Swedish original production Biggest of All (2019), one of the leading roles is played by an actor debutant from the pop group FO&O.
Then it was Felix Sandman, now Omar Rudberg.
Where Sandman turned out to be a force of nature, Rudberg certainly hits exactly in the tender register but is less confident in the explosions.
The fact that he has been set to sing solo at least once per episode is distracting, as it leads the mind away from the drama and towards his career as a pop singer.
It arouses
a not-so-quiet desire for Swedish drama producers to stop the increasingly common behavior of letting celebrities without experience take on leading roles.
Take responsibility and cultivate the talent of professional actors instead.
Craftsmanship before hype, even if it costs.
Young Royals
is a series that is serious.
At the heart of the story is the dilemma of modern man: my liberation or tradition?
In the world's most individualistic country, the question feels a bit ... unimportant.
Despite hints of inherited honor culture among the one percent.
Otherwise, a fine craft by the lead author Lisa Ambjörn and the director Rojda Sekersöz, both promising creators at the beginning of their careers and well worth keeping an eye on.