#abuse young royals

[raincitygirl76]

For anyone getting excited over Hillerska being shut down by the school inspectorate, hold your glee. Lundsberg Skola is the Swedish boarding school Hillerska seems to based on. After years and years of warnings and fines re bullying and hazing, Lundsbergs was shut down by the school inspectorate on August 28, 2013.

It was supposed to stay shut down for a minimum of 6 months. Instead the school hired expensive lawyers, appealed, and were allowed to reopen on September 6, 2013. So it only took 9 days before they found a loophole. One can assume Hillerska will do likewise and everybody (except the third years) will be back in class in the second half of August when the new school year starts.

At Lundsbergs, the headmaster was fired and the entire board of governors resigned after the shut down. But they soon regrouped, hired a new headmaster, appointed new alumni and parents to the board, and debuted a shiny new anti-bullying policy. Whether it actually worked is unlikely. But the parents are mostly alumni themselves. They would’ve gone through the same brutal hazings and wouldn’t think they’d be such a big deal.

Here’s the Wikipedia page, scroll down to the Controversy section for the details on the abuse and bullying that the school was turning a blind eye to. The final investigation, the one that triggered the (temporary) shutdown, was when the younger boys were burned with hot irons by older boys at an initiation. One boy was burned so badly he needed to be hospitalized. The hospital called the local police, who called the school inspectorate. Note: that boy’s parents were not the ones to notify either the police or the school inspectorate.

Also scroll down to the Alumni section for a look at all the rich, influential and famous people (including multiple Swedish royals across many generations) who went there.

[thatsmybook]

Just rewatching the documentary and just before 4 mins in, Lisa is explaining to Omar her thought process for what will be the main dilemma/ crux of the show, and it made me realise what exactly Simon was saying when he broke up with Wille at the end of Episode 5. He was saying: I've seen what the monarchy does to you and how it hurts you, I've experienced it myself, so I have additional empathy for how that must feel for you. Also, I, too, am being hurt by it (see all of season 3 when he's not smiling with Wille). I thought I could try it out for your sake to see if I could handle it because you're worth it.

But after spending the birthday day with Prince Wilhelm and the Royal Court, he sees that it will continue to hurt both of them, and there will be no respite, things will only get worse. He has seen Wille get worse right in front of him on that day. It is poisoning Wille, and he is becoming someone he doesn't recognise. Simon decides that he does not want that to happen to either of them. The only thing he can do is leave the system so it can stop hurting him. Unfortunately, because Wille is entwined with Prince Wilhelm, it means he has to leave Wille too.

To me, by staying with Wille, Simon is condoning bad behaviour or the status quo by just going along with everything the Royal Court says while they both slowly deteriorate. So though he leaves Wille to save himself, he is also saving Wille because he is showing Wille that this is not alright, boundaries have to be put in place somewhere and Wille needs to start setting some boundaries for himself too. If Wille thought that Simon would stick around to support him and occasionally be someone he could lash out to, then he may not have felt the need to save himself from the monarchy. Because Simon is around to hold him up.

So for King Wilhelm truthers, Simon is required to know his place as an aid to the King, whilst suppressing his own pain and never putting pressure on the King by asking for help with his own issues. There is never a time when they would be equal in their relationship, even in private, because everything about Simon's values, ambitions, and passions would have to be deleted. King Wilhelm's needs would come first. This is what class does. It sets up hierarchies of certain humans' needs being more important than others and even that certain humans are superior/supreme to others. Therefore, to function, it needs lackeys who know their place to serve those on top. Hillerska, as an institution, is a mirror of Simon's relationship as a partner for the next king. Hillerska being closed is the equivalent of Lisa abolishing the monarchy. (By the way, there's a real-life incident of the 16 year old Prince of Denmark having to be removed from his elite school when issues of sexual abuse and other scandals came to light. This happened in 2022).

On a side note, this made me think about the Duke's role as consort and imagine that that would be Simon's role to model himself on. If we want Wille to remain as a Crown Prince and have his boyfriend, do we want Simon to become as bland and ineffective as the Duke is, where all of his focus is solely on the Queen's needs. Smoothing over any rough patches with innane conversation and totally neglecting and not 'seeing' his child. Simon deserves to be himself, as does Wille.

[dusty-daydreams]

I can’t help but wonder if what happened at the end of episode 5 triggered Simon’s trauma with his dad.

It seemed like they were trying to tone down Micke this season - make him a disappointing alcoholic rather than the abusive drug addict they implied he was in season 1 - but the fact of the matter was Micke didn’t blink an eye at slamming his son against walls and grabbing his face violently. Suggesting that Micke had been violent with Simon before.

Then we have Wille who bottles everything up until he bursts into a violent rage. He bottles up his pain at his parents until he is yelling at them and smashing presents in front of his shell shocked boyfriend. He escalated to the point he threatened someone with a gun. Frankly it makes me wonder if the nightclub fight that started everything was the result of Wille bottling his stress until someone harassing him at a club made him explode.

In some ways both Simon and Sara have partnered up with people like their father.

Sara has found herself with an addict.

Simon has found himself with someone who explodes violently.

I hope it gets resolved it just makes me sad

[bluedalahorse]

Scattered thoughts about the YR faves as we approach season 3

It’s been a busy week, and then the week before that was busy too, so I’ve been reading but not fully weighing in on many of the season 3 questions that have been starting to bubble up on my dash. So I’m posting the thoughts swirling around in my mind about my two favorite characters (Sara and August) just so that my thoughts can exist somewhere other than my own head.

People are starting to discuss the question of Sara and Simon reconciling again, and I think I might have to address that in another post of its own. I spent an entire semester of grad school looking at how characters reconcile in fiction, and obviously I think a lot of it is going down to Simon’s needs and priorities and decisions, so obviously I have Thoughts. (I also have minimal patience for fans who want Sara to crawl over a football field’s worth of broken glass for Simon if that is what Simon doesn’t want himself.)

I feel like one of the questions surrounding August’s character arc are whether there is hope for him to own his actions and change one day, or whether he’s only going to get worse, and never be able to break his cycles of awfulness. Some folks argue that season 2 put that question to rest and that he’s unchangeable. I argue that the question is still in play. The more complex reasons are in my restorative justice post, but I also argue that it would be incredibly strange writing to take one of your show’s most dynamic characters and have his character arc stagnate and go nowhere new in season 3. Now, he could choose to turn over a new leaf in season 3, or he could triple down on his harmful decisions. The point is I think it would have to be another choice, and if he makes the decision to embrace harming others and himself, it would have to be a tragic choice, and not something we can be smug about because we Already Knew He Was Evil. I dunno, there’s this like… sometimes there’s this tendency in other fandoms to gloat and be like “I, Unlike The Other Girls, was not distracted by this broody brunette man’s hotness, and I realized he was bad all along. One hundred points to me for not clamoring for a redemption arc.” And like, yes, it’s fun to laugh at Dude Watchin’ With the Brontës once in a while (I laugh at it!) but I think we also have to acknowledge that fiction is about people growing and changing and we as media enjoyers sometimes become invested in character arcs. It just feels weird to me that fans would gloat about like… the supposed moral superiority of not being invested in a character arc that the show clearly wants us to be invested in.

If August is always going to cause harm and he is unable to change his ways, then he may continue to target Simon with the drugs and the blackmail. But he may also choose to target Sara, especially if he finds out she called the police on him. He has pictures and information he can use against her now, and I feel like that is probably, very likely what the show would do to show us that he is Too Far Gone. Frankly I find that terrifying. What I find even more terrifying is that I know there will be fans (probably those who use anonymous messages on the more public facing blogs) who will say that Sara “deserves it” because she “knew he was bad when she had sex with him.” Like. Can we agree not to do that as a fandom, and call it out when we see it? Because I’m pretty sure that Lisa would not write a storyline like that while cackling and going “haha that bitch Sara got what’s coming to her.” I’m pretty sure if Lisa writes something like that she’ll want us to feel sympathy for Sara too. And I mean, you don’t have to feel sympathy, but using the cloak of anonymity to express open misogynistic malice would be… yikes.

I also think that if the show is making the decision to say that August is always going to cause harm, that he’s never going to escape a cycle of harming himself and others and fall in to patterns of abuse, then we should want to see Sara reconnect with others in season three and find some sort of healing or connection. I guess that doesn’t have to be her finding connections with Simon. It could be! It could also be Felice, or Linda, or Maddie, or anyone. (I’m really hoping Sara will get to connect with Wilhelm.) But there’s good in wanting her to find connections, and for wanting her to know that there is a path forward in life that isn’t total isolation or like, packing herself off to the convent to atone forever. Especially if the message about August is that he’s somehow unable to change and is just that awful. If your view of August is that he’s so monstrous or unforgivable, so caught in dangerous patterns that it was wrong for Sara to get close to him at all, then we need to view Sara’s relationship with him as something that put her in danger, even when she chose a relationship with him at first. And one of the ways you stay out of danger is by having strong connections to other loved ones. Abuse works because the abuser uses isolation as a weapon. Also, presuming the show reaches the verdict that August is an abuser who can’t change—even if August and Sara never talk to one another again, Sara being friendless in other ways just sweeps the path clear for the next abuser to swoop down on her. I hope people would recognize that as a tragedy too.

If, however, the show goes in the direction of like… August takes his first steps toward making better decisions, and gets some therapy or rehab or whatever else, then ultimately his past relationship with Sara might play an indirect role in that, and in helping August see alternatives to his current way of being. I’m not saying the simple act of falling in love redeems someone for wrongs done. It doesn’t! (Young Royals actually does a lot to subvert that as a narrative, which is something I address when I talk about Wilhelm, again in my restorative justice post.) I’m saying Sara was the only damn person on the show in season 2 who told August it would be good for his soul to confess and attempted to support him in that, however imperfectly. Every other teenager who knew what August did (Wilhelm, Felice, Alexander) took it for granted that he wouldn’t confess—and, you know, fair on Wille and Felice’s part, but also Alexander couldn’t have gone to an adult, huh? Every single adult that August talked to about the video (Kristina, Rickard) insisted he keep quiet about it, scared him into it even. It takes more than one person in a community to hold someone accountable for wrongs done, and Hillerska as a community has repeatedly failed that test. I don’t know, I keep looking at that promo picture of August alone in his room and wonder if he’s practicing the breathing exercises Sara taught him. They don’t have to be together again for that to be the case. Maybe the memory of her will be helpful to him in some way.

Ultimately I don’t—at the moment—really care about whether August goes to jail or not. People will interpret this as me saying “I don’t think August should go to jail” and that’s not actually what I’m saying. It’s just that I find the question of whether he’s capable of change or not infinitely more interesting, and the role the system/Hillerska plays in encouraging that change (or not) infinitely more interesting than the question of what the specifics of August’s “punishment” or “consequences” might be. “Consequences” can be him living with the crushing knowledge of how deeply he hurt Wilhelm and Simon and Sara and Felice for the rest of his life, and trying to move forward in a different way from now on knowing he can never undo the past. “Punishment” can be August becoming king but being completely unable to change his ways and connect with other humans and feel any sense of agency in his life. There are multiple ways to address his arc—whether he’s awful or whether he’s willing to atone—that don’t rely on the legal system providing narrative catharsis all by itself, and frankly I’d prefer that it didn’t. (There’s a longer reason why but I feel like I keep linking my restorative justice post.)

To sum up… if these characters’ arcs go in a really tragic direction, I hope people don’t gloat and go “I knew they were terrible all along, unlike those other fans.” And if they go in a more positive directions, I hope we don’t hear the chorus of “they didn’t deserve it!” even if that arc is beautifully, complexly, and compellingly written. (Here are my thoughts on the way fandoms use the word deserve, by the way. It seems I have written about this before and am just becoming a parody of myself at this point.)

[theredandwhitequeen]

So I’m thinking about what we’ve learned about August so far

His dad committed suicide at some point before his first year

His dad was an addict

His mother remarried a lawyer who doesn’t have a title and isn’t the nicest

Called him a piss person quite a few times

His mom feels neglectful to him

Not paying his school fees, could have done it with step dad’s money, chose not to

August was traumatized in the Initiation his first year. Was made to watch porn video

Swore to Nils they would change how things were done in initiations when they were 3rd years and did to some extent

Has an eating disorder

Exercises to much

Panic disorder it felt like

Drug issues

Erik was the problem his first year but Erik told Wille he could trust him, because it feels like Erik broke August down to fit the mold

We heard the letter August wrote to himself during his first year and it’s really sad

He likes Sara, because of the way she is

He filmed Wille and Simon and released the tape when he was angry at both of them

Is very depressed and traumatized but he is also a jerk who knows how to hurt Wille

I get August and how all of the things he’s done and had done to him made him who he is now.

Wille hates him, the queen is indifferent to him

He has friends but who knows how close they really are

Sara to him is a way out because she is different

I want to see what happens in Episode 6 to see how they finish with his character but I’m pretty impressed with how they’ve given him so much to work with.

You start first year at 16, so his dad dying so early for him fucked him up, like Erik dying fucked with Wille’s head as well.

[fan-of-young-royals]

What I think is interesting about Simon getting angry at August in season 1 and shoving him + kinda beating him up is how there are several different factors that lead to that breaking point.

1. His family not having the money to pay for the tutoring is obviously a big part. He messed up, his mom and Sara both found out at the same time and now it’s on him to fix his mistakes. (Also, did he ever fully pay off the tutoring fee? I haven’t been counting it specifically but I don’t think August ever gave him enough money enough to cover the tutoring payment as well as the booze).

2. Whether it be bigotry or being a crappy person in general August had been an asshole to Simon for so long and the incident with him earlier that day had been his final straw. There’s one part of that scene, before Simon shoves August, where we get a close up of his face and see just how angry he is. It actually reminds me of the close up of him during Parents Day when he’s angry for, once again, being treated badly because he’s not a resident.

3. The final piece here is Micke. I think a large part of why Simon is so upset is because he’s in debt to Micke. We hear this when he says something like “now I owe both the school and my dad”. The extent of Mickes abuse is never fully shown, though we can make inferences, but I can only imagine how it must feel to know he owes Micke something. He’s in a vulnerable situation there and he’s trying to get out of it.

Anyways, these are just my thoughts and if you have anything else to add please do!! I’m interested in hearing what other people think!

[putnamcapital]

Deep dive wondering about Sara's backstory (CW: drug / alcohol abuse) (Part 2)

CW Drug & Alcohol abuse by a parent

This is part 2 of a post about trying to figure out Sara's motivations and actions and how they are influenced by being raised in a home with a drug/alcohol dependent parent. Feedback / thoughts very much welcome.

Watching: Frida Argento is an incredible actor, and people often talk about how expressive she is with her eyes. This is partly her, and partly her character: Sara sees EVERYTHING. There are numerous points in the story line where it is literally only us, the viewer, and Sara, who know everything. She sees August upload the video, she sees Stella’s crush on Fredrika, she sees Wille hold Simon’s little finger in the movie theatre, she sees through Simon’s smile the morning after when they’re waiting for class to start. The only thing she doesn’t know in the gun scene at the end of S2 is that Simon gave August the drugs to sell. I could go on. She is -literally- the eyes on this world. And she says almost nothing, until she decides to confront someone (i.e. asking Stella about her crush / asking Simon why he didn’t sleep at home). This is a kind of vigilance you learn when your home is unstable and unpredictable. You learn to watch everyone for clues as to What Is Really Going On Here, so that you might have some hope of anticipating when all hell will break loose. People with drug and alcohol problems are sober a lot of the time, and they might even have various modes of being drunk or high. You learn to put a lot of store in feeling you might be able to predict when the mood will change. If you’re a kid, trying to read these signs gives you a feeling of power in a situation where you are utterly powerless. Everything - the way someone’s lips narrow, a clench of the jaw, the music they’re playing, anything - it becomes a possible sign of the atmosphere being about the change for the worse. Vigilance becomes a way of trying to experience safety. And for Sara, the fact that she does see so much ends up giving her a trump card - the ability to turn August in - in other words, the power she never had at home to finally do something about the bad actor.

Attachment: Sara was bullied at Marieberg. She knows she’s different, and she believes people don’t like her. When Felice does allow her into this secret garden called friendship, she is elated, but also insecure. For example, she gets worried when Felice and Wille become closer in S2, and asks Felice to reassure her about whether they are ‘besties’ still, and Felice says, oh you silly goose, a person can have more than one bestie. But for Sara, the love she shares with others feels intrinsically insecure and conditional: as in, people love her because of a certain tacit deal they’ve struck. This is why she is not just angry when Felice condones selling Rousseau - she is far deeply hurt, it is a betrayal of the highest order, she says she doesn’t even know who Felice is really. It all suggests a world where Sara didn’t experience love as unconditional - instead it was transactional. It’s the kind of backwards-emotional-math that kids can do to try to explain a situation that hurts but is the only thing you know — Dad is drunk again today, it must be something I did wrong; Dad is not drunk today, it must be something I did right; if Dad is drunk he’s not really him and he can’t love me as a parent; ergo, my behavior is the token that gets exchanged back and forth between us that can turn love on or off. Love is never there all the time, it can be withheld based on conduct, and people can be so radically not themselves that it makes the love they profess fake.

Her relationship with August: I think Sara unconsciously falls for August because he is a copy of her father, and she is using him to work out the trauma and disempowerment of growing up with Micke. August is a better version of Micke and, even better, one Sara believes she can control and help. As an additional extra-credit, it turns out he really loves her - in his fucked up way - which is more than Sara believes about her own father. Like Micke, August is drug-dependent. But unlike Micke, he seems to be successful and, until she gets to know him, he seems to have his shit together. It seems like he is powerful: after all, he gets her what she wants - a place at Manor House. Sara is initially uncomfortable about the pills - she confronts August about it. But then August assures her that it’s “only when he needs to perform” and that’s probably all she dreamt of hearing from her father when she was a child. August is the fairy tale prince: an addict who in fact has it under control, an addict who can actually love her. And unlike her father, he is an addict she can help (overcoming a lifetime of powerlessness for her). In fact, the thing that actually kickstarts their relationship is her getting off (literally) on the high of being able to help August when he was having a panic attack. Then, when everything goes overboard, she explains her actions in the way she learned at home: she says she was in love, and she didn’t really know what she was doing, she was not in her right mind … she was, in other words, … drunk / high … but on love. And this explanation is somehow a mitigation for her actions. She can’t be blamed for something she can’t control - which most addicts believe at some point.

[shimmerluna]

i'm really not mad about how they ended it with wilmon tbh

[malinthebodyguard]

August Quotes the Godfather (again): Performing Power

So, a few weeks ago I made this post, going off on a rant about August’ quoting of The Godfather in the first episode of season one. I’d basically concluded that the quote was both indicating to us the kind of figure August linked himself to (powerful, violent, mafia boss) as well as providing

I was oh-so excited when I saw August quoting The Godfather again in Season 2 Quoting the Godfather once? Understandable, most of the films one-liners have become expressions onto themselves. Quoting The Godfather twice?? That’s some 1970s Pacino fanboy behavior.

Now, my initial reaction was to be slightly horrified at this quote. Why the fuck would you say that quote  to Sara who loves horses more than anything in the world??  For context, in the first Godfather film, mafia boss Vito Corleone says this line to his godson Frank Sinatra Johnny Fontane. Fontane is a famous singer looking to enter the film industry. A big shot producer had rejected him. When the producer refuses the offer Vito makes, the mobster retaliates by killing and decapitating the producer’s expensive horse, and placing the head inside his bed while he slept. 

(no the horse wasn’t killed for the movie)

Was the phrase an iconic film line? Yes, certainly. Was it a good line to tell the girl you’re in love with you’ve bought her a horse? Umm… probably not.  

However, I don’t think this is really a connection August is making in this moment. He’s certainly not looking to upset Sara in this scene. I think that, as with the previous quote, a comparison to the films themselves can help us understand August’s headspace. Similar to the quote in S1, August is trying to convey something about himself and how he wishes to be seen. 

‘I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse’ isn’t just a quote from the scene with Johnny. It’s arguably the most important phrase of the film. The line implies that the speaker is someone incredibly powerful, with enough money and manpower to coerce anyone into anything. For the characters of the films, this implies being above the law, and above justice. The line is also used throughout films to show us how different characters transition into the role of Godfather.

The first time we hear it, is from Michael Corleone himself. He’s telling a story about his father to Kay, his WASPy girlfriend, so she can better understand who exactly his father is.

At this point of the story, Michael is the wayward son of the Corleone family. He has distanced himself from them and the business. He tells this story to Kay almost to reassure Kay – and the audience--  her that he isn’t like that.

But Michael is destined to be the heir of the Corleone family, a destiny that he’s frankly struggling to accept. That is his journey through the film : Michael embraces his family’s legacy, with all that it carries. The power and the wealth, but also the violence and loss. The movie shows this transformation wonderfully. But it’s not until the moment when Michael has finally accepted the role as his father’s successor that we hear him say this: 

We see this again in the second film. In the flashbacks to Vito’s youth, the moment right before he becomes the Godfather, he says:

It’s not difficult to see why August finds this relatable . From August’s perspective, he is in a similar situation. August believes that, like Michael, he’s destined to inherit the family legacy. Just because he’s the second in line doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Michael, after all, was the youngest brother.  In both families the “perfect” heir (Sonny/Erik) died, and the “spare” was the one least capable of handling the family responsibilities (Fredo/Wille). And just like Michael, August has all the requirements for the role: the intelligence, wit, and an abundance of hair gel. He’s certain that he’ll eventually become King just as Michael became the Godfather.

But there’s a few of cracks in August’s idea. We know, and he knows, that his role has nothing to do with  his talent or skills. Quite the contrary, no one cares much about his input (see Jan-Olof’s face)

His role as ‘backup’ depends entirely on his ability to not become a problem for the monarchy.

By episode 2x06, he  has started to see the cracks in his Godfather-like fantasy. But we already know that, for August, appearances always come first. The quote is meant to convey that, like Michael in the first film, he’s transitioned into a new role, one with unlimited power and wealth.  

But, unlike the first time he quoted the Godfather, August is speaking only to Sara. This performance is for her to see, his way of trying to get her back. The subliminal message being that August can make offers that can’t be refused for her. This is his plea for forgiveness, how he asks her to stay. Not, I love you or I’ll make this right, but I will give you anything you want. I read  this as an indicator of just how intertwined power (and being perceived as powerful) is with his sense of self. To the point that, when his significant other is leaving him, showcasing that power is the only thing he can think of to get her to stay. 

This time, the part August probably forgot about the Godfather is that it is very much not a love story. That the power he craves and the love he wants are incompatible with each other. And that  by choosing power, he’s pushing the woman he loves away:

[raincitygirl76]

Good article from Teen Vogue with a Q&A with Lisa Ambjorn. Spoilers galore for YR S3.

[thingsarentgood]

Not saying this is necessarily true of Wilmon but its so scary watching how fast a relationship like theirs could become abusive.

Simon was raised to endure. He was parentified since he was young, having to take care of Sara's feelings, his mother's expectations of being the good son, and his father's addiction. He's used to putting up with the behavior of the people he loves because thats what was always expected of him. That's why its sad when he makes himself small for Wille. Hes constantly underatanding and accepting of Wille's increasingly destructive behavior and he takes it with a smile because he had been conditioned to. I understand Wille is a scared kid with a million problems of his own (and also its a tv show that will hopefully end with them reconciling), but its sad how common it is for poc to become white people's emotional punching bag with no expectation for better.

[korgosse-moved]

ep 5 spoilers & abuse mention under the cut!

to me this is still the face of someone who's reliving past trauma in that moment. Wille's anger in that scene must bring back the memories of how it used to be with Micke when he had a "bad episode" (especially if we think about that scene in one of the s1 episodes with Micke shoving Simon against the wall & the same/similar look of fear in his eyes). I think it hits him so hard not just bc it was unexpected, but also bc Simon was already very vulnerable on that day (as you’d always be when you’re meeting your partner’s parents & especially if those parents are the queen & consort).

& yes, it might’ve been a shitty move to break up with Wille on his birthday, but also I think it’s still very mature? like Simon has seen that before & it triggers those memories & so he needs to remove himself from that for his own sake.

[bluedalahorse]

Young Royals, parenthood, and reproductive autonomy (a meta I guess)

Especially with season 3 approaching, people talk a lot about whether or not Wilhelm will accept or reject the throne. This is often framed in terms of Wilhelm’s love for Simon, as well as his ability to own and express his queer (albeit as of yet unlabeled) identity. We also discuss this in terms of what sort of symbolic leader Wilhelm could be for Sweden.

There’s one question I want to add to the mix, when we consider Wilhelm’s future: to what extent is Wilhelm willing or eager to become a parent someday?

To build upon that a little further: to what extent is parenthood a choice for Wilhelm in a system where he is expected and required to father an heir, and probably a spare as well? What does his reproductive agency look like in that situation?

Now, I don’t want to turn this into a discussion of the reproductive mechanics of the line of succession. I know a lot of folks have speculated ways that can or can’t be addressed, and have talked about issues like surrogacy laws and adoption and whatever else. I also know there’s the possibility of the throne going to some relative or another. I’m not interested in that right now! Instead, I want to focus on the practical and emotional aspects of what it means for Wilhelm to contemplate future parenthood.

So let’s ask some more questions: does Wilhelm actually want children? If so, at roughly what age does he want kids? About how many kids does Wilhelm want? If he wants more than one kid, about how spaced apart does he want to have them? What are his views on how to parent? These are all questions that Wilhelm should have a choice to contemplate on his own, but likely won’t as long as he remains crown prince. The social norms of the monarchy likely dictate that becoming a parent happens at a certain time and pace, in a particular manner. Moreover there’s a certain prescribed way it has to all be presented to the public. Finally, Wilhelm knows that by having a kid while in the role as monarch, he would set that kid up for some of the same things he went through as a child, unless he takes extra care to break and dismantle toxic cycles. His child would be an heir to the throne and certain things would be expected of that child, the way they were of him.

The upshot of all of this is that YR raises questions about Wilhelm’s reproductive autonomy and future in a way we don’t usually get to see for cisgender male characters in teen dramas. (I would also say we get an intimations of this with August and Erik, as well—we’ve seen the way the royal court has exerted their influence over both when it comes to relationships and sexuality.) These kinds of conflicts and dilemmas usually only come up when they involve characters with uteruses. So it’s interesting to see the way that YR plays with this idea of reproductive autonomy, and extends the discussion.

Possibly a take that will bug some of my fellow fans, but I’m going to say it anyway: this is why I think Sara having a potential pregnancy or pregnancy scare could be on theme for season 3. I’m not saying it’s definitely gonna happen. What I am saying is that if it did happen, it would fit in with the show’s themes and dramatic questions as already established and would be more than just “drama.” (Drama in a program classified by its genre as a drama? You don’t say!) Sara would have to contemplate some of the same questions that Wilhelm contemplates about parenthood and parenting, and you could parallel their two arcs quite effectively. 

Now, obviously they would also be in very different situations with different things at stake. Wilhelm’s class situation and reproductive organs are naturally different than Sara’s, so they’re naturally going to experience this parenthood differently. Sara would also have to engage with this question on a bodily level, as she’d be the one carrying a pregnancy to term, and that is a nine month process that takes a lot out on the body even in “healthy” pregnancies. (Pregnancy tends to be tougher for people with autism, too.) Finally, Sara will have to think about her own parents a lot, and what she absorbed from them. What does it mean for Sara to contemplate parenthood when she herself is the child of an abusive relationship?

Now, I want to point out that we’ve also seen YR use this strategy of parallels between characters for exploring other issues. Felice and August both struggle with perfectionism and body image, but that plays out differently for them due to differences in gender, race, and family structure. Simon and Sara grapple with similar questions about relationships and being in love and season 2, but experience that differently due to gender, sexual orientation, and neurotype. Simon and August both struggle with trauma around fathers with drug addiction, that causes them to engage with drugs in unsafe ways (August mostly by using, Simon mostly by dealing), but we know they’ll be seen differently by others because of their class. And so on. Part of what YR does so well is the way it shows how human beings can hold experiences in common, but still be divided in how they experience them based on systems that reinforce a social hierarchy. Paralleling Wilhelm and Sara around dramatic questions of future parenthood and reproductive autonomy could be really illuminating.

While I firmly believe that, if Sara has a pregnancy situation/pregnancy scare, Sara herself should be centered in that particular plotline, we also know such a plotline would likely involve August as the person who donated half the DNA of the fetus in question. Which then throws August’s arc into a suddenly very real and frightening place: he’s in a position where he could perhaps in the most basic sense fulfill the “destiny” ordered of him by the Society and by the machinations of the royal court members who want him as Wilhelm’s backup. (We know what that phone conversation he has with Jan-Olof is really about, and again I remain grossed out.) 

And yes, we also know that August has exercised his capacity to seriously harm others multiple times throughout seasons 1 and 2, and that he is about to be in serious legal trouble for leaking the video. Even without that, what would it mean for him to have to think about these questions of parenthood when he hasn’t fully processed the trauma and grief of losing his own father, or had a chance to heal his fractured relationship with his mother? Whether you come at the horror of August fathering a child from the angle of August as someone who has relentlessly hurt others, or from the angle of August as someone with deep, parent-related pain of his own and minimal support to navigate that pain, I think ultimately what we’re being shown here is the ruthlessness of monarchy as it relies on reproduction to keep itself going. Does it matter that an heir to the throne is loved and celebrated for who they are and given therapy for their trauma, as long as the heir exists, reaches adulthood, and one day produces another heir?

Which then opens up another question that I think once again applies to Wilhelm, and maybe Sara as well. If having children is a way to maintain and preserve status for the upper classes, what does that mean for Wilhelm? Can Wilhelm believe his mother loves him, if having children is more a mandate for someone in her position than a choice? This may be a question Wilhelm has to sit with, and it’s possibly something Kristina needs to sit with too. Has Kristina ever considered Wilhelm a loving choice she’s making, rather than a destiny? I think this would be a great opportunity to explore Kristina as a person, and not just as a royal or a mother.

Meanwhile, having children is expensive and consumes time and energy, and someone who is working class and autistic like Sara is going to have fewer resources to deal with this situation. Luckily, as someone who lives in Sweden, she has safe and reliable access to abortion (glaring at my own horrendous country here) which I imagine will be the option she would end up choosing in that kind of plotline. But that doesn’t mean she won’t have to stress over her situation or face gossip or even negative press attention because of it. Not to mention the way Sara’s own conscience may weigh on her, if she’s pregnant with the child of someone who harmed her brother, her (ex?) best friend, and other people so dramatically? Is there a part of her that would kind of want the child anyway, perhaps in another circumstance? What would it mean, to want that child? This sounds like something Sara and Linda could discuss, and maybe come to understand one another on.

Lisa once said one of the dramatic questions of Young Royals was whether or not people become their parents. If we are going to engage with that question, one way to raise the stakes around it is to make the question of parenthood and reproductive autonomy more real and urgent. Again, I’m not saying this will happen. This is not a season 3 prediction post. But I do think if it did happen, it would be in line with what we’ve seen from the series and its exploration of families and privilege.

[lesbianpegbar]

NOT SOMEBODY COMPARING ELIZABETHS DEATH TO DIANAS TO SAY WE’RE “BEING DISRESPECTFUL AND HAVENT LEARNED OUR LESSON” ASLDKFLLFKF DUDE WHAT

[fan-of-young-royals]

I’m not sure how much American country music you hear in Sweden but Sara and Felice would like the song Goodbye Earl

[putnamcapital]

Deep dive wondering about Sara's backstory (CW: drug / alcohol abuse) (Part 1)

CW Drug & Alcohol abuse by a parent

I want to write about Sara and Simon as children who grew in a home damaged by drug and alcohol abuse. I’m going to focus on Sara, because I’m thinking about this in order to get a better insight into why she behaves as she does (for a WIP). People are really hard on her - and sometimes harder on her than on Simon or Wille, even when they do similar things. It makes my heart break for her, because I think she is misunderstood in a number of ways. Full disclosure, though, that I am not looking at this question from the perspective of neuro divergence / autism / ADHD, because I know less about than, um, I think I do about her family dynamic. I’ve split it into two parts because it’s long. I’d love feedback / thoughts, since I’m trying to work out her motivations.

Lying: Sara lies. The worst lie she tells is an omission: she doesn’t tell Simon she knows August filmed the video. But she also lies to Felice about her relationship with August. She lies to August at first about why she doesn’t want to go the ball with him. These are all lies about keeping up appearances; about her being afraid of people finding out what is true. It’s the kind of lie told to a child - often a lie by omission - “your father’s not feeling well today, he’s staying home from work” / “your father must have food poisoning” etc. when really he is passed out drunk or high. The thing about these lies is that both parties end up knowing they’re being told. Kids are smarter than it’s assumed, but they soon learn their role is to play along with the lie, so that they can maintain their role in the family dynamic, which is for everyone to collectively deny what is happening so that the wished-for world can be kept alive (as opposed to the actually-happening-world). A lot of what Sara does fits into this pattern of “i just wont say anything and provided I keep it up, the approved fact pattern will remain in place.” It’s why it took Wille threatening August with a gun for Sara to finally, brutally, have to step out of the lie.

Pretending: Sara isn’t happy at home. She wants to get out. But unlike Simon, who gets out ‘internally’ - by becoming more and more true to himself, and defending his boundaries - Sara tries to get out by changing her family (rather than changing herself). She tries to become one of the Manor House girls - right down to dressing like them, dancing like them, learning to laugh at the right jokes, etc. She’s trying to pass - i.e. she’s doing the same thing she learned at home, and learned as an immigrant - we can pretend everything is okay; she can pretend she really can be one of these rich girls. It’s why one of the most moving scenes to me is when she peeks her eyes open when all the girls are saying grace at the dinner table during her first sleep over, and she just can’t believe what she sees - that she is there, and she sees them, but they don’t see her watching them. It’s a way to heal that moment you can imagine between her, Simon, and her mother, where everyone knows the lies being told about Micke, but no one is going to say it aloud. At the Manor House dining table, though, Sara is briefly the only one who can see that she doesn’t quite fit in her new family. But only briefly - later, they all giggle at her when she makes too much of a fuss about wanting to know how to hypothetically address the Queen.

[part 2 = Watching / Attachment / August relationship]