There’s been talk over the last year or so about the screen adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s insanely popular novel Red, White & Royal Blue, and I just couldn’t remember for the life of me if I read this or not. The premise sounded familiar, but with the now promise of a film hitting Amazon Prime in mid-August I decided now was the best time to find out if I had.
Answer: I had. But, as I soon rediscovered, it was worth returning to! We’re told of this whirlwind romance from the perspective of fake first son, Alex. His mom is the first female president, and Alex himself has lofty political aspirations once he graduates from college. He holds onto those dreams even when his life takes a sharp turn after meeting the Prince of England, Henry. Alex has harbored a dislike for Henry since they met at the Olympics several years prior, and their relationship only worsens when they get a royal wedding cake knocked onto themselves. The White House and the Palace agree that damage control is necessary, and I really can’t thank them enough for it.
If you’ve been living under a rock you don’t know what happens next, but I’m going to assume you live above the rock. Their disdain for each other soon turns to friendship after many late night calls and some fundraising, and then finally at a party Prince Henry kisses first son Alex and Alex can’t stop thinking about it. I love how quickly Alex is all in and I love that he’s willing to do quite literally whatever it takes for them to be together. Secretly of course, because even in this more liberal and likeable fictional world, that would still be quite the scandal. They do pretty well for themselves and manage to spend lots of quality time together but still maintaining the façade of friendship. Which, technically they are still friends with just a lot more benefits.
Of course, life is messy and the press sucks, so their secret gets exposed to the world just as the presidential election is about to take place. There’s even more scandal and corruption, plus some good ole disowning from the royal’s camp, but Alex and Henry ultimately get the happy ending everyone should be hoping for. I say all this as if there’s not an extremely likeable supporting cast helping these two lovebirds’ dreams come true, and I can only hope they are all accounted for on the big screen. I have my suspicions that Alex’s sister June is not going to be a part of the cast which I think is kind of insane because she definitely serves a larger role than his best friend Nora. Who knows, maybe my research is doing me dirty and everything will be just fine. But I have my guard up for that small disappointment.
With all that being said, based on the trailer, I am seriously looking forward to this film. It appears that they’ve cast Alex perfectly, and they showed a lot of scenes that matched up word for word from the novel. I shall report back next month with the results.