#rwrb rambles

[pippin-katz]

Do you guys think about how Alex plays the guitar with his parents while Henry plays piano alone?

Or are you normal?

[meraki-yao]

Random RWRB thought: for the first hook-up, the polo scene and the DNC scene, did the boys need to practice taking off each other's clothes lmao

Cause I mean...

All gifs from tylerposey

That's ... that's really fucking smooth lmao

(also the thought of a camera aiming at Nick's crotch just to shoot a few seconds of footage of Taylor repeatedly undoing his belt is more amusing than I want it to be lol)

(Also I bet there are clothes-related blooper moments that we haven't seen yet )

[almightaylor]

Ellen Claremont wasn’t a perfect mother (as all moms are) but she taught alex how to love. Alex’s expression of love are bits and pieces of how he received it from his mother. The forehead touches and names of endearment such as “baby”. And Alex echoes Ellen’s willingness to fight for a reason— he fights for love and for what is right.

Henry has become on his own since the passing of Arthur and Catherine’s absence. And the idea that Ellen’s motherly love extends towards Henry through Alex is something that is so important. He didn’t just find a person who loves him but also another set of parents who loves him.

henry and alex’s dads

Alex was made for Henry because he knows exactly how to love him, and Henry was made for Alex because he made Alex find himself through loving him.

(thank you mama claremont for raising a loving beautiful boy, i just know that ellen cares for henry as if he is her own son *cue in tears*)

[beckleston]

We’ve talked so much about Alex’s comfort with physical affection and how guarded Henry is with his affection. I think this moment captures Henry perfectly. His sister, one of his only remaining supports in this life grasps his hands, but that’s it. Even in this moment of unfolding horror, Henry only receives the barest amount of physical comfort (no shade to Bea, I absolutely adore her - and she’s clearly shook too - the whole royal family needs a hug). We see here how Alex is the only person that has fully breached Henry’s walls as you see a few moments later when Alex embraces Henry on the stairs.

I have whole head canons of Henry getting comfortable with casual physical affection.

[goddess-darkness]

“I want you to know, Alex…and I mean this with all my heart, no man has ever possessed me in the way that you do,” Henry said. He leaned up to press kisses to Alex’s jaw. “Not one of them. Not even Dickie.” A sentiment which made Alex snort a little in disbelief, but which Henry ignored.

“I was fading….before I found you…losing myself in that underworld. Part of why I felt so…frustrated this time around because…you came back for me. And I knew I had to start fighting back for you - for us - but I couldn’t figure out how.”

Author fanfic: Rule Britannia. Chapter eleven: Beguiling.

[space--potat0]

Because absolutely no one asked - some thoughts and favourite moments from The Trailer

Henry's face in the paper - looks like he's just said "oh my fucking Christ" i.e. the first time Alex hears him swear!

HENRY CALLED HIM SWEETHEART (sarcastic). LOOK HOW PROUD OF HIMSELF HE IS. meanwhile Alex is just looking at him like 'this better not awaken anything in me'

Is that Shaan in the background??

Henry's camera smile vs his genuine smile mY HEART

Is this Henry's face after seeing Alex kiss Nora at midnight? My poor baby he looks so sad

'it was at this moment he realised he fucked up'

And finally more happy!Henry because my anxious neurotic sweetheart deserves only soft kind things

[henrysfox]

not to be annoying but do you also constantly think about how far gone alex was for henry in the white house bedroom scene already??? like look at his face

that's a man in love, your honor (he doesn't know it yet, but it's so obvious)

like the uncontrolled laughter that bubbles out of him, the way his eyes soften looking at henry, the way he never stops staring at henry and tells him he wants to do it again immediately after that

it's making me insane tbh

[enbyeddiediaz]

I am both so ready and not prepared at all to see "then fucking have me" on my screen this weekend, that shit is gonna destroy me

[somanywords]

HOW ARE WE DOING RWRB PALS??????????? [hint: SO good]

[cinnamorollbf]

rwrb + @poems-of-a-lover's text posts

[beautifulhigh]

Welcome to the next edition of Jen's meta ramblings

I have watched the movie at least once a day since it came out and I kid you not, I see something new every time. The fact that this is Matthew López's first directoral debut is just... I'm in awe. And you can tell how much he loves the story because of the way things like this are set up and played out

In the novel, Henry and Alex are skinny dipping in the lake at night, and so I absolutely got the change in both time of day and also attire. But let's talk about that little island shall we?

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea

Every single one of us is not meant to be alone, without connection and without a link to someone else. We are parts of a whole and if we lose that... well. It's not good.

Henry is on that island, our prince who belongs to Britain and Henry Fox who thinks he has to belong to himself. The prince is forced into status and circumstance, of appearances and mindless ribbon cuttings. When he does something that means something - like the trip to the cancer ward - then he doesn't do it with cameras. I'd argue he's not the prince there, he's Henry Fox. The man who lost his father to cancer.

But this is not that meta.

Henry has shut himself off, shut himself away. He doesn't date the people he's interested in, he doesn't live his truth (and for very good and valid reasons). He has decided that while Prince Henry belongs to Britain, Henry Fox is an island.

And look who is swimming up to that island. Look who is coming out to Henry, having realised the night before that oh yeah, I do feel forever about him and so Alex swims out to that island.

And the first thing he does? He makes Henry laugh. He is silly and fun and the complete antithesis of the composed and collected Prince of Wales. And then he joins Henry, on his island.

This gorgeous overhead shot shows us that Alex is putting himself on Henry's right (protocol or his good side?) but he's also in the centre of the island. He's not on the edge of it. In the metaphor of Henry Fox's island, Alex is putting himself at the heart of it all. RIght before he lays out his heart to Henry.

The shot that broke our hearts too, along with Henry's. Because we can see the shore in the background now. We're reminded that islands are not - they cannot be fully independent. People cannot be islands and even though Alex is literally and metaphorically planting himself at Henry's side, Henry knows that this island he's formed for himself in his heart and his sense of self cannot stand if Alex is there. If Alex is with him then he is no longer an island. Henry Fox will not belong to himself and the sense of protection and self-preservation we see coming out in the Storming of Kensington is under threat.

So he bails.

The island is submerged, like the mythical Atlantis, because how do you render land useless? Drown it. How do you deal with water? Drain it away. He abandons his island and flees back to the only other space he has left - Kensington Palace - in an attempt to regroup. He drains his life of Alex and what he brings. He has to return to being the Prince of Wales because Henry Fox got too close. Because Henry Fox realised he was being loved by a man who would literally swim out to where he is.

Moment of appreciation for the shot. Matthew, you have a fucking talent and I cannot wait to see what else you do. Because our #imtaller boy looks so small here. So lost. When else have we seen someone look so small and lost?

Oh. Yeah.

When he's curling in on himself in an almost last-ditch attempt to protect himself and his boundaries from what is coming. You can see that he's no longer dry, that Alex's "shower time" has changed him. Alex brought laughter and love and water onto his island and Henry has just realised what this means. This isn't a visitor's visa. This is immigration.

Which is what makes THIS so much more. Back to our boy, drenched from the storm, plaintively asking Henry to talk to him.

Because yes, the Storming of Kensington happens during an actual storm, but by now you know I overead into everything... so once again we have Alex "swimming" out to Henry. He's dived right in and gone are the jokes, gone is the humour. He is here and he is asking to be let in and daring Henry to send him away.

This is Alex, serious and in love and following Henry to whatever landmass he is setting foot on. Henry is trying to be an island and Alex is out here going, "I'll just build another boat you fucker". A true 'ship if you will. He swam out to an island on a lake, he flew to a tiny island across an ocean. He is standing at Henry's borders and he isn't launching an offensive. He's just saying that if Henry wants to be cut off from everything then he needs to do the cutting himself.

Prince Henry felt like he belonged to Britain, Henry Fox felt like he had to belong to himself, and Alex turned up and went "nope. Mine now". (Insert additional historical quip about the English being colonised for once.) But there is still some truth in that: the Prince is part of England, and we should all belong to ourselves even in relationships. Henry just learns that the different parts of him can co-exist. Bit like how water and land can co-exist without one destroying the other.

Henry is Alex's North Star but he's also his solid ground. Insert quip about Alex colonising Henry and claiming him for his own, planting of flag, your innuendo of choice goes here. Pyramus wished there wasn't a wall - Alex straight up scaled Henry's.

There's a divergence between Prince Henry and Henry Fox, but at the heart of them both there's Henry. And this is the man that Alex sees, this is the man that Alex loves. Alex swims out to the island for Henry Fox, Alex pushes through the rain for Prince Henry. Alex holds steady in the storm of talking with King James/Queen Mary and the public.

And it started with Alex literally making his way out to Henry on an island: be that England for the Royal Wedding, a pontoon island on a lake, or knocking down Henry's walls.

To this moment. Which is very hard to grab a screenshot of, but Alex asks Henry to "take a walk" with him. This time it's Henry going to/with Alex. The fact that he's there is one thing (and a rant rather than a meta) but at this point they have each other. They belong to each other. Where one of them goes, the other one follows. Independent, together, co-existing.

Anyway. I'm sure there will be more bullshit ramblings and metas at some point. Follow me if you want more of that (but be warned: blank and empty blogs are blocked on sight) because we are not islands in this metaphorical storm of life. Let us swim out to one another, dry off with one another, and live a life with broken down borders and walls.

ETA: I now have another name to add to the thanks. Stephen Goldblatt, from the bottom of my soul, thank you

[pippin-katz]

Friendly, or maybe not so friendly, you decide, reminder that Alex and Henry hadn’t heard each others’ voice for at minimum a week so Henry didn’t even let himself hope that it was Alex on the other end.

This man’s heart probably just exploded from relief and love when he heard that pet name.

[meraki-yao]

A little detail I love about this blooper: Pay attention to Nick's facial expression

When Alex/Taylor is properly kissing his neck, Nick's Henry, a face of content and happiness, as you would expect in a scenario like this

But when Taylor starts blowing a raspberry, look at Nick again

His face scrunches up adorably, a common reaction to suddenly being tickled in a sensitive area like the neck

But aside from that, his smile actually grows bigger

I feel like that's a great indicator of how comfortable the boys are with each other and how much fun this project was for them

[almightaylor]

It would’ve been so cute if they included this scene as the morning after their paris getaway. Alex clearly doesn’t want to leave, he has his suitcase ready and all dressed to go (a car is probably already waiting downstairs) but he keeps on stalling bc he can’t stand to miss henry

They’re like newlyweds on a honeymoon after their “first time” when he felt something right and real towards henry. The pillow talk and henry’s gentleness when he guides alex as he’s all so new to this

And when he was on the plane, this was the moment he was starting to realize that what they have isn’t just physical anymore. The way he smiled here looks like he just unlocked something, the kind of smile when you’re in love

[goddess-darkness]

“I’ll have to try very hard not to be jealous,” Henry said, pressing his forehead against Alex’s shoulder, the pout returning.

Alex laughed a little. “Can’t tell if you’re just being cute or…”

“I really would be jealous. I feel all the jealousy I begrudge you, the jealousy that you are more than deserving of feeling if you were a lesser man like me.”

“How very self-aware of you, baby,” Alex said. He turned his body and wrapped his arm around Henry’s neck, pulling him close to his chest. Henry ducked his head, his crown pressing against Alex’s throat.

“I just can’t stand the thought of you having someone else to please other than me. An employer…a boss.”

Author fanfic: Rule Britannia. Chapter twelve: Orbit.

[supercalime]

So we can all agree that Tommy’s kiss made Buck understand the difference between rugby and football