uselessroyals

[uselessroyals]

A few notes on Linda's salary and the Erikssons' financial situation

I looked into this topic when @crownedwille brought it up in some tags a while ago. I abandoned it because I didn't think it would be that interesting after all, but the discussion started by @mydignityisinflames on @young-royals-confessions inspired me to finish the draft.

I was going to copy and paste it all in a reblog, but it got too long so... Here it is as a separate meta post!

Linda's job

As of S2, we know for sure that Linda is a registered nurse (sjuksköterska). This means she's completed a three-year (180 credit) higher education programme in nursing. We don't know if she's completed a specialist nurse's programme on top of that, but it isn't required to work at the youth clinic (ungdomsmottagningen or UMO).

Youth clinics are public clinics for people aged 12 to 22, primarily providing services related to sexual and mental health. Nurses there examine patients and take samples for lab testing etc., but they also counsel and reassure young people who come to them with concerns. (This explains why Carmen's post-S1 interview with the PRP actually gave me the impression that Linda was a youth counsellor instead.)

Anyway, Linda herself confirms in S3 that she works at the UMO. Both the Swedish CC and the subs have her telling Simon to be glad she doesn't make him "go" there every week for drug testing - but if you listen to her words, she actually says come in (komma in). This indicates that she works there.

Linda's monthly income and how it compares

We can estimate Linda's salary quite confidently by looking at relevant statistics from 2020 and 2021 when the show is set.

As a registered nurse working at a youth clinic, Linda is employed in the public sector. More specifically, by the municipality.

As of S3, we also know she is working in the region that is called Östra Mellansverige (Eastern Central Sweden) in the statistical data. Bjärstad's location was kept vague for a long time, but the hate letter Simon received in 3.02 included their address. Bjärstad's post/zip code was written as 58581 - this is a made-up code that puts them in the Linköping area. The closest real-world equivalent (58580, Ljungsbro) is just northwest of Linköping itself.

Here are the most relevant stats on monthly income (before taxes):

The average monthly income in Sweden was SEK 36,100 in 2020 and SEK 37,100 in 2021.

For non-specialist registered nurses employed in the municipal sector, specifically in Östra Mellansverige, average monthly income was SEK 38,300 in 2020 and SEK 40,000 in 2021. Their average base salary in this region (without any additions for evening/night shifts, weekends, experience etc.) was SEK 37,000 / 38,500.

In other words, Linda's monthly income should be pretty close to the national average. Maybe even slightly higher based on region, even though she may not work in the evenings or weekends as the UMO may not be open.

In a survey conducted in 2022, a household with children was considered low income if two parents' combined monthly income before taxes was less than SEK 42,000, or if a single parent's monthly income before taxes was less than SEK 29,500.

So, the Erikssons are not low income by definition. This fits the impression we get from their house, as well as details such as Sara having learned how to ride before Hillerska.

However, it is also clear from the show that they cannot necessarily afford larger surprise expenses such as Simon's tutoring. That makes sense when Linda is paying for everything herself. Her income may be slightly above the national average, but it falls between the numbers considered low income for a single-parent vs. two-parent household.

I guess we could call them a medium-income household, but towards the lower end.

About the house

It was indirectly revealed in S3 that Micke was the one who moved out when he and Linda separated. That's the only way Simon can have lived in their current house for fourteen years (i.e. since 2004, when he was two and Sara three):

Back in S1, when Sara said Linda should have left Micke when everything started, Simon protested that they wouldn't have had anywhere to live. This sounds like Linda was still financially dependent on Micke when the kids were small. It was probably Micke who originally bought or rented the house for his family (although the property, mortgage and/or lease could have still been in both their names).

Linda and Micke's assets will have been split 50:50 at the time of their divorce. If the house was bought rather than rented, she likely had to take out a new mortgage to buy him out. Mortgages in Sweden typically have very long payment terms, so it's likely there was still quite a bit left to pay, and the value of the property had increased in the meantime.

If the house is a rental, the rent will have gone up over the years. Based on a quick look at places for rent in Linköping, many terraced house units of that size currently cost SEK 11,000 to 18,000 per month. We don't know what the rent would have been in 2020/2021, but we can assume it would have taken a pretty big chunk of Linda's single income.

Anyway, it is a nice house. Especially if it's a rental, paying for it does put a strain on the Erikssons' finances, even though they aren't struggling as such.

About Hillerska

I had not meant to include this at all, but as there was some confusion on the confessions blog, it should be noted that Linda doesn't have to pay for Simon and Sara to attend Hillerska. Even private schools in Sweden haven't been allowed to charge tuition fees since 2014. They do charge very high boarding fees, but that's why Sara got a grant to board in S2. So in principle, Hillerska shouldn't be more expensive than Marieberg, although it is possible that school outings may cost a bit more and there may also be other more or less voluntary extra costs (e.g. private tutoring or equipment for extracurriculars).

If you want to read more about the boarding school fees, you can check out this post.

About Simon's summer jobs

I don't think Simon's lines here are meant to be taken as in, "Simon has to contribute to the family economy" or "Simon has to pay for all his own stuff." Linda keeps her children clothed, buys the things they need for their hobbies and presents for their birthdays (e.g. Sara's jodhpurs), and based on her phone call in S3, is even planning to take them abroad to see family.

The key here is the line about Wille and the other rich kids getting everything they want for free, including designer clothes or spontaneous trips to New York. Simon is simply saying he and Ayub need to make some money of their own to do activities and buy things they don't strictly need but want.

Simon and Ayub have been applying for summer jobs hos kommunen, with the municipality. These jobs are only offered for part of the summer (typically three weeks) because the municipality has a limited number of positions available and they want to employ as many applicants as possible. The duties usually involve helping out at municipal services and facilities, e.g. preschools, care facilities for the elderly, facilities for sports and leisure, museums, public parks, and so on. The municipality may also support local businesses and non-profitable associations in offering some positions as well.

Some examples by age:

14-year-olds: simple duties, e.g. mowing lawns or distributing newspapers; reasonable hourly wage SEK 50–80

15 to 16-year-olds: more complex duties mainly in the municipal sector, e.g. working with children, in leisure activities or with the elderly; reasonable hourly wage SEK 80–100

17 to 18-year-olds: increasingly complex duties and more opportunities to find work in the private sector, e.g. cashier work, customer service, simple administrative tasks, hospitality industry; reasonable hourly wage SEK 100–140

I wonder what kind of summer jobs Simon, Sara and Ayub have been doing (and Rosh too, other than the football camp). When outlining my post-S1 summer fic, I had imagined Simon applied to work with children while Sara chose park/garden maintenance because she found it calming after the stormy spring, but that was a long time ago (and the details never even made it into the fic).

__

Anyway, I think that was all the stuff I meant to cover! As always, I may well be wrong about something, and further discussion is very welcome.

[uselessroyals]

Too busy to write a 5k essay it deserves but neither the audience nor Wilhelm saw the actual monarchy as an institution worth fighting for or at least worth considering it.

The monarchy was completely absent from the show. You could replace it with a billion-dollar publicly traded company and it wouldn't change the plot. Concerns about public image? Check. Out of control sense of privilege? Check. Spoiled children of rich parents? Check.

No one from the unrealistically small royal family was given a chance to demonstrate or explore the gravity and the positive influence a thousand-year-old institution can have. Does the queen have causes she particularly cares about? Does she invest her time into fundraising for them? Does she think certain problems are overlooked by the society and does she use her celebrity status to draw attention to them? We have no idea, we only have been shown her caring about the public image of the institution she represents.

Same with Wille: in the show he was never given a chance to explore how his status could be used for good. Were there young people for whom his coming out meant a lot? Definitely, but we never heard about them. Would it be equally important for others if the crown prince started openly talking about his struggles with anxiety? For sure. This list is potentially endless but the creators were never interested in showing anything positive about the monarchy.

[uselessroyals]

Young Royals and pronunciation

I've been listening to a ton of reaction videos and podcasts about Young Royals now, pretty much everyone apologizes for butchering their names, and then they proceed to butcher their names. So I decided to put together a little guide, because this is an educational tumblr after all!

First up, it's perfectly fine to go with your language's version of the names. William, Guillaume, Szymon, Simón, it's all good. Languages have local versions of names for a reason, we adapt things all the time.

Secondly, there is no one true way of saying their names, the actors in the show say the names in different ways, because it depends on context and emphasis. There's a range of pronunciations in Swedish.

And the third thing to keep in mind is that it's impossible to pronounce their names in Swedish in the middle of a non-Swedish sentence. This is because the sounds of a language, the phonemes, don't blend well with the phonemes of other languages. When we talk, we don't actually pause between words, we blend the words together, and those rules break down if we switch language mid-sentence. So either you have to pause around the word, which breaks the flow, or you have to adapt either the word or the sentence.

If you've listened to the dubbed version of the show, you will have heard examples of this. Either people speak English with a Swedish accent, in which case the phonemes blend, and the Swedish names just fit in nicely. Or they have less of an accent, and speak the names with an English accent, to make them blend, to make them fit.

And that last option is pretty easy to do. With some small changes to the English version of the names, you'll be much closer to the Swedish originals, and it'll still sound great when you speak normally.

Let's start with Wilhelm. Go ahead and watch this edit of various characters saying his name:

The biggest difference is that Swedish doesn't have the 'w' sound that English has. We have the letter, but we got it from German, so we call it a double-v, not a double-u, and it's pronounced exactly like a regular v. Compare how Madison says the name in the middle of that video with how everyone else says it. But English has the sound, if you can say village or very or volume, you've got the v sound right.

The second 'l' and the 'h' is optional. When Simon and Rosh talk about him on the bus, they mock him by enunciating clearly, because it sounds posh. Wilhelm himself usually drops the second 'l' if you listen carefully. So the range of pronunciations go from Villem to Vilhem to Vilhelm, the only important part is to get the initial 'v' right. Think of him as Vilhelm in the Village.

I've made a similar edit for Simon, so go ahead and listen to people saying his name:

The biggest difference here is that in Swedish, both vowels are plain, there's no diphthong like in the English version. Compare how the English reporter says it, versus everyone else. He's saying sigh-mon with a diphthong, when everyone else says sea-mon.

Linda is saying her son's name in Spanish, so the vowels are slightly different, but the most noticeable difference is that she stresses the second syllable, so she says sea-MON, when everyone else says SEA-mon. Keep the stress on the first syllable. However, there are no diphthongs in Spanish either, but I've heard a lot of reactors or podcasters pronounce his name as "sea-moan", and I have no idea where that comes from. Please don't. You're killing me. Just think of him as Simon the Sea-monster.

[uselessroyals]

Swedes & royalties

Hi! Maybe this is a bit of an unnecessary rant, but I wanted to get this across.

Let me start with saying that privacy is a highly valued thing in Sweden (and in Finland). There was this joke during Covid; "Thank god when Covid is over and we can skip the recommend 2 meter distance and go back to our normal 5 meter distance."

This also applies to royalties. The majority of Swedes have a "I don't give a sh**" attitude. There are of course true royalists/monarchists, as well as a republican organisation. But the only party (out of 8 in the parliament) that directly promotes switching to Republic is the left wing party Vänsterpartiet. So as I said most Swedes don't care at all on a daily basis, mainly happy to (perhaps) watch their gala outfits during the yearly televised Nobel festivities.

And this brings me to the actual rant part. Because, contrary to a lot of fic:s and post:s, Simon (and others) have probably NOT watched Wille on TV a lot during their upbringing (that is if the YR world is similar to real Sweden). First of all, how many teenagers nowadays actually watch telly??? Anyone? Well, they do watch the Eurovision stuff in Sweden, but apart from that? Secondly, and more important, you have to actively go looking to find a glimpse of any royalties on telly. You can easy avoid the occasional wedding, baptism or funeral as they are usually years apart. And very few under the age of 50 watches the annual "The year with the royal family". And even those how follow their Insta accounts, would rarely admit to that.

You might spot the king and queen occasionally in the news, when he is acting as Head of State, like when Macon recently visited Sweden. But the emphasis in the news would be on the political agreements, not any royal stuff.

You should also know that the gossip press (and similar on-line sites) are far less rabid than e.g. their British counterparts. Although there are a few pretty awful ones here as well.

Ok, that's it for now. Wishing you all a happy Wilmon month 💜.

[uselessroyals]

S2 Walty snippets series [complete]

With the final season of Young Royals almost upon us, I've been taking stock of my fics and decided to scrap the second chapter to Like you better. There is always a chance of me returning to it someday, but I don't think it really brings anything new to the fic.

That means my little series of S2-compliant Walty fics is complete, and since I never made a proper series post, here's some shameless self-promo (ft. comment quotes):

Sflow's S2 Walty snippets

S2-compliant Henry or Walty fics. The first two are consistent with each other, the last one is separate. Any of them can easily be read as a standalone. Henry is ace as always in my fics, but the depiction of his asexuality and the nature of his relationship to Walter varies.

Bright ideas: ~5k, T, platonic Walty "I love how no matter how short this little one-shot is, it still has a complete narrative structure (--) I giggled from start to finish"

Henry's motivation for rowing has been on a downward spiral all winter. He gets a little lost inside his head trying to avoid punishment for being late, until Walter tells him to get home for something exciting. Cue an awkward walk-by when Wilmon are trying to have an important talk, some related thoughts, a discussion with Walter, and an invitation for Wille to join some ridiculous shenanigans.

OR: A missing moment/scene expansion for s2ep2 (written for YR week 2023) that shows us what Henry was up to before, during and after the locker room scene. My attempt at crack.

Like you better: ~2k, T, queerplatonic OR romantic Walty "I didn't know I needed queerplatonic fanfics that much. It makes me so happy!"

After the masquerade ball, Walter comes home to Henry, who is newly recovered from a migraine attack. A bit of talk about girls, their friendship, and Henry's recent revelation of his asexuality ensues. Along with some cuddles.

OR: A super fluffy missing moment between Walty at the end of s2ep4. Can be read as either queerplatonic or romantic, your choice!

Last chance: ~7k, T, romantic Walty Not consistent with the other parts of the series! "beautifully crafted (--) second chapter was amazing and gentle and like being hugged through my phone screen"

As Henry and Walter's friendship takes a romantic turn, Henry decides to take the last chance to come out to his best friend before everything changes.

OR: A first kiss + coming out/ace talk + getting together fic set after S2 (written for Ace Awareness Week 2023). Contains discussion of past acephobia, previous sexual experience (not very specific), and aversions (French kissing specifically mentioned, the rest are up to the reader's interpretation). A more sex-favourable take on ace Henry than my other fics (sex doesn't happen in the fic, though). Also, Walter is explicitly gay in this one.

[uselessroyals]

YR Season 3 speculations: a layperson’s take on the criminal justice side

I’ve been considering making this kind of post for a while, because I’ve seen a lot of hopeful takes on how things are going to play out now that Sara has called the police, and I feel like I could add some perspective for those less familiar with the Swedish justice system. I hesitate to do it because I’m just a layperson and not even from Sweden but the next country over - but our justice systems are reasonably similar, I’ve spent a lot of time poring over relevant sources on Swedish law and justice, and @scatteredpiecesofme encouraged me to do this after our conversation yesterday.

So, here goes, haha.

As usual, I could very well be wrong about some things, and I welcome any additions or corrections!

Keep reading

[uselessroyals]

To August anon 2

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply! I don't know if you'll even see this as I've decided not to risk the backlash of putting it on the main tag, but I hope you do.

[Earlier posts: August anon 1, August anon 2]

I want to curate the discussion a bit now that you've shifted part of the focus on Sara. I don't share your position of liking both her and August for being 'morally dark' people, and I fear it may be a bit jarring to any Sara fans reading this. So I've decided to screenshot your message and put it under the cut instead of replying directly.

We disagree on some fundamental things when it comes to August's and especially Sara's characterisation, and I doubt we're going to reach consensus. But that's okay! I'm just going to explain some parts of my POV below, and then we can agree to disagree. There are also a few areas where we seem to be getting our wires crossed (e.g. what we mean by 'understanding' the consequences) so I want to clear those up.

Most of this rambling essay was written before the S3 trailer came out, so I'm not focusing much on the glimpses we see of them in the trailer. But I am still using the spoiler tags just to be safe.

CW: negative take on Sara (but the anon actually likes her); couple of suicide mentions

Okay so... I'm going to start by clarifying a couple of things:

Understanding vs. understanding

Infantilising vs. taking young age into account

When I talk about August and the consequences, I'm not saying he lacks the intellect or analytical thinking to know/predict them. I'm saying he lacks the empathy and relevant frames of reference to understand them. I think we're just using the word 'understand' to mean different things - maybe internalise, empathise or relate would be a better choice for what I mean by it?

To revisit my previous example, August as an incredibly privileged member of the elite cannot understand i.e. relate to Simon's experience as someone whose ability to make his own reputation and get by on his own merit has been permanently affected by the video. As a very confidently straight man, he also cannot relate to Wille's experience as someone whose non-straight sexuality, a deeply personal and private thing that he wasn't even done figuring out, has suddenly been exposed to the world and potentially even some homophobic hate.

I'm not saying this to infantilise, defend, or excuse August. I'm saying it because to me, it partly explains why it's so easy for him to dismiss the harm to Simon and see his betrayal of Wille as just a matter of loyalty - the only moral code he knows - instead of something that would've been wrong no matter who the victim was. It's a thought pattern that stems from his upbringing and worldview, and it would have to be dismantled for him to feel proper remorse. Which I think would probably take professional help at this point.

(I agree with you that August would be extremely prejudiced against Boris. A glimpse of him googling therapy providers or booking an appointment for after graduation might feel more realistic to me - but I guess it depends on what the writers want to do with him. We already saw very quick progress with Wille in S2 so it's safe to say they can take some liberties.)

I still believe that August will lose his social status in S3, likely towards the end. But it's fair that you don't, and the trailer is certainly edited to support your position. If he retains his status, then you may be right about him remaining the same old asshole! If he does lose it, then my original point about him likely not being resilient enough to cope with the consequences still stands. He is very much the kind of person to whom suicide is the "proud" way out compared to the shame of losing everything.

Now, the age thing.

Respectfully, I think you may be ascribing too much meaning to August and Sara being of age in S2 (note that Sara was still 17 when she made her worst decision and made the deal with August in S1). Eighteen is the age of legal adulthood, yes, but it doesn't make them fully grown and mature adults in the (neuro)biological, psychological or social sense.

[This feels like a good point to say that I am not going to try to account for Sara's neurodivergence here. I definitely don't have the insight, so if anything I've written below is in any way inaccurate or offensive to persons with AuDHD, please let me know!!]

Firstly, it's important to note that that the human brain matures gradually and unevenly. The prefrontal cortex i.e. the 'reasoning centre' only matures in the mid-to-late 20s, while parts that handle things like right/wrong, risk/reward, and emotional responses (e.g. the amygdala) mature earlier. This can cause teens and young adults to struggle with things like impulse control, assessing the long-term consequences of their actions, understanding others' emotions, and rational decision-making in situations that trigger a strong emotional response. Reason can get overtaken by emotion on a chemical level; sometimes the young person can't even fully explain afterwards why they did something they rationally knew was wrong all along.

[I don't think August was in a particularly analytical state of mind when he decided to post the video. He was an intelligent but emotionally unstable and empathically challenged 18-year-old who felt like he had nothing left to lose and the only moral code he knew (i.e. loyalty) was obsolete. He was also still stewing in the emotional turmoil of his humiliation and likely stuck in a negative feedback loop. It feels very plausible to me that he could be in a very bad place for a pretty long time and still function enough to plan his revenge (more on the revenge part below).]

Secondly, both August and Sara have also had some pretty traumatic experiences (Sara's bullying, August's dad's suicide, the influence of both their dads while they were still in their lives). These may have impacted their emotional and psychological development in various ways and created some thought patterns. Not to play arm-chair psychologist, but I don't think it's a coincidence August's decision to post the video is related to his family estate and legacy, while Sara's decision to make a deal with August is related to the threat of being sent back to Marieberg.

[This feels particularly relevant for Sara, whose bullying was brutal and long-term enough for her to have to repeat a year. The negative attention on Simon after the video probably seemed less severe in comparison, and also like a 'first incident' (in fact, she might have even felt like Linda was applying a different standard to Simon's ordeal compared to hers by immediately wanting to take them both out of Hillerska).]

[I vehemently disagree with Sara's idea that the damage to Simon was already done and it wouldn't have made a difference whether he knew who was responsible, but I think it matters to some extent that she didn't know the history between Simon and August. To her, the video probably seemed like something that was mostly between August and Wille. That idea was likely reinforced by August consistently dismissing Simon's side of it - and also by Simon seemingly moving on with Marcus and no longer being the talk of the school after Christmas. This kind of rationalisation may have even made Sara feel better about pursuing a relationship with August in S2.]

[I also think Sara probably felt like she had the right to be selfish after everything she'd been through. Simon's support during her bullying wasn't conditional; she didn't feel like she "owed him" any sacrifices. It was clearly Simon's idea to follow Sara to Hillerska, and she may have even felt like he was hovering a bit (I doubt S1E1 was her first time saying she was fine now and he didn't have to be there). Then, Simon started to keep secrets and even see Micke for reasons Sara didn't know, altering the terms of their relationship, while Sara was finally daring to dream of things she'd been denied for so long. Friends, a better future, even romance. To her, it felt extremely unfair to have to give all that up and go back to a school that was a nightmare to her but not to Simon. Especially when her and Simon's lives weren't as intertwined anymore and she finally felt like she was gaining some agency in her own.]

Thirdly (circling back to the point about maturity), it's good to keep in mind that both August and Sara are still in the high-school phase of life. A phase when most people are a bit selfish, and their past and current dramas and dreams for the future are everything to them. They haven't really acquired much experience or long-term perspective yet. So I really don't think we can call them that much more mature in the social sense than, say, Wilhelm and Simon. They are still messy teens living their messy teen lives, shaped by their upbringing and limited life experience, all the while thinking they are basically grown adults.

So am I saying all this to infantilise August and Sara and excuse their actions? I'm sure it sounds that way; hence, not putting this on the main tag.

But the way I see it, to infantilise them would be to say they weren't responsible for their actions or didn't know what they're doing. They are responsible, and they do know. All the factors laid out above (and also in my previous August posts) explain their reasoning and actions to some extent, but they do not excuse them. The fact still remains that they both applied their best judgment and deliberately chose to do the thing that they knew was wrong.

You're right that they took time to consider their decisions in S1, although I don't think we can know for sure exactly how long August takes. The timeline is a mess at that point; he is still at the Palace wearing the same outfit when the others make their statement, and I doubt he could've been there overnight. But he does take several hours in any case, and although he isn't thinking rationally at that point, he still knows what he's doing is wrong. In fact, he does it with the sole intention of hurting others, which makes it all the more reprehensible.

I just want to caution against labelling him as some evil, fundamentally unfeeling mastermind. He's just a very selfish and immature young man with a very warped view of the world, who needs to see some consequences for his own sake as much as his victims'. I think part of the reason we saw him turn so soft with Sara in S2 was to underline that he is capable of empathy and caring; it's just a matter of unlocking those emotions. They haven't exactly been nurtured growing up, so he is only applying them to the people he deems "worthy", instead of all his fellow human beings. That selective empathy is another thing he seriously needs to work on, alongside the lack of accountability.

As for Sara, she takes several days to consider what to do about the video, which makes her betrayal of Simon more severe. But as explained above, it's so much more nuanced than her not caring about him. (Or indeed her being some poor victim who didn't know what she was doing and fell in love with The Devil! Don't get me wrong, August definitely let her believe she was guiding him in a better direction, which may have even pushed some Micke buttons in her subconscious and/or memories of Simon's insistence that everyone deserves a second chance... But she still made her own decisions and is responsible for them.)

It's easy to forget that we do in fact see Sara aware that her actions are wrong even before the end of S2. She looks conflicted/unsure when she and August make out in S1E6, cries when Simon earnestly proclaims "I like you when you are you" and "I'm trying to be your friend again because I need you" after she has just betrayed him, and again looks conflicted when the siblings talk about loving the "wrong person" in S2E5. She did some very selfish things and hid them for much too long, yes, but I believe her regret is genuine. It will take some skilful writing to make her and Simon reconcile in a way that makes sense, doesn't feel rushed or reduce her to an archetype, and doesn't just magic away her leftover feelings for August (as those will probably take some time to clear out). But I do have faith it can be done.

So I think that just about covers what I wanted to say. This isn't a comprehensive essay by any means, and I'm sure it won't go down well with everyone. I also don't expect it to change your mind about these characters, anon, and that's okay!

I mostly just wanted to push back on the notion that Sara and August being 18 means all their bad decisions are now on par with bad decisions taken by fully grown adults and their character development is now set in stone. I highly doubt the show will end with them both proudly standing behind their poor choices - I can certainly see August doing that if he doesn't see any repercussions, but not Sara.

In any case, thank you for taking the time to explain your point of view on these characters, and sorry again for taking so long to respond!

[uselessroyals]

Hello, fanfic-writing tumblr friends! Here’s a prompt for you today:

Tell me about a fic where you subverted a trope in an interesting way, wrote about something less popular in your fandom, or otherwise challenged the normal conventions of fanfic writing.

You get to decide what counts as subversive, unpopular, or unconventional. I just want to hear a little bit of what your writing experience was like and how people responded.

[uselessroyals]

Query for real live Swedes,

I have been told that the Swedish school year starts in late August and ends at some point in June. I also know that there are 3 vacation periods between December and June.

Christmas Break, self-explanatory.

Sports Break, 1 week, usually in mid to late February.

Easter Break, 1 week, around Easter.

Here’s my question. Is there also another vacation from school in the period between late August and Christmas break?

Thank you for your time and expertise.

[uselessroyals]

I keep seeing discussion on the "Wilhelm washes his hands" scene in S1E3 on my dash, and I need to jot down my thoughts, because I see it a bit differently.

Cut for CW (see tags)

The general consensus seems to be that Wilhelm got off to Simon's pictures off screen, and I don't mind that interpretation at all. However, I think it makes just as much narrative sense that the scene is about him trying really hard to resist the urge to do so.

I don't disagree that we see Wilhelm restless in bed because he's so horny for Simon. I'd say that's indisputable based on the glimpse we get of his hand, as well as the fact that it's physically hard to sleep when you're worked up for any reason. Arousal is one such reason, and I can imagine it doesn't help that it's all directed at a specific person. I also don't doubt that he has sex dreams about Simon when he does manage to fall sleep.

Still, this is a point of the story where Wilhelm is actively trying and failing not to "be like that." It's easier by day, but he still can't help sneaking looks at Simon in class, and at night, he keeps going back to Simon's Insta. He definitely wants to get off to those pictures in the scene we see - but it also looks as if he's just about to get up when the camera cuts to him stepping out the door. To me, that always read more like taking a timeout and trying to reset/distract himself. (Who hasn't got up and gone to the bathroom just to stop the flow of thoughts after lying awake for an indeterminate amount of time, for whatever reason?)

Alas, he immediately stumbles onto a straight couple kissing goodbye after a hookup, and his mind flies to Simon again. This is the final push, and by the time he's done his business and looks at himself in the bathroom mirror, he has admitted to himself that he really is like that.

Again, I don't mind if I'm the only one who sees the scene like this, and I don't deny that the general consensus makes sense too. I just needed to write down my own thoughts.

[uselessroyals]

Edvin's Family Tree: How He's Connected to Nobility and Why I'm About to Throw Hands with the Young Royals Casting Directors

I had some free time to do a master post 👉👈 don't come @ me though because this was literally a passion project and it brought me so much joy. Bear with, this is a looong post!

So... why did you look into Edvin's family tree?

This is all because an anon from the confessions blog said they thought Edvin Ryding had "aristocratic beauty" and that "he really looks like a modern prince", which made me remember a post floating around this hellsite talking about an interview where Edvin admitted to have a noble grandmother. With that in mind, I then went on a Wikipedia deep dive and, frankly, I haven't been the same since.

What did you find out?

Well, firstly, I found out that Edvin's English Wikipedia page tells us fuck all about his family (which isn't a problem because I'm all for actors and celebrities keeping their private and public lives separate, but it did stump me on my search for his noble grandmother). So I switched the page to Swedish and took my research from there. Turns out, not only is Edvin related to nobility once through his maternal grandmother, he's related to nobility six fucking times.

Wait, whaaaat?

Yup! Here's the family tree I made illustrating his noble ancestors. The ones with glowing auras are the ones that come from aristocratic families, mainly:

his maternal grandmother Cecilia Munck af Rosenschöld

his great-great-great-grandmother Amalia Mathilda Lovisa af Petersens

her mother Carolina Amalia Odencrantz

Edvin's other great-great-great-grandmother Eva Charlotta Lewenhaupt,

her mother Charlotta Elisabet von Essen, and

Eva Charlotta's paternal grandmother, who is from the Cronstedt family.

Sounds fishy... are you sure?

Wikipedia isn't a hundred percent accurate, you're right to be hesitant, and admittedly I used translator tools to parse my way through the Swedish-only pages. However, a person's key information on their box profile could be fairly uniform once you're used to it and searching for relatives and the person they married got a bit same-y by the time I reached the third or fourth generation away from Edvin.

Here are some key Swedish words related to family and marriage, which helped a lot when I was scanning for information to translate:

föräldrar – parents

släktingar – relatives

barn – children

maka – wife

gift till – married to

Also, Swedish is a Category 1 language for English speakers because they share a lot of cognates, so family words like son, dotter, mor, and far were easy enough to guess. Dotterson means your daughter's son. Farfar means paternal grandfather and morfar is maternal grandmother. Gift means married, while ogift is unmarried.

This is awesome! Can you tell me more about Edvin's family?

Sure thing, buckaroo. I hope you're settled in with a beverage of your choice because here are the long posts/discussions I've had with people in the fandom about each branch of Edvin's family tree. It was like every time we unearthed a titled relative, another one crops up!

My initial post responding to Confessions Anon about how appropriate their use of "aristocratic beauty" was for Edvin, detailing his link to Eva Charlotta Lewenhaupt.

An anon asking about the Wersäll family connection to the Ryding family and how I spotted that a Gustaf Ryding married Amalia Mathilda Lovisa af Petersens.

A fairly detailed discussion about Swedish naming customs and how it's possible for Edvin to have his maternal grandfather's last name, where never before in my life have I tripped so carelessly due to my preconceptions... thank you, ethnocentrism!

Anon pointing out to me that Edvin mentioned a noble grandmother in an interview once (the specific details of which I've forgotten until then, oops!).

The discovery that there is an Annie Rudberg who married into the Ryding family back in the early 1900s.

RUDBERG?! Am I reading that right?

That's not a trick! Of course, we can't possibly confirm that Annie Rudberg is related to the Omar Rudberg that we know and love. I do not want to look into Omar's stepfather's family tree because that is his right as a private citizen and also the accomplishments of people who are still alive bore me.

The only reason I looked into Edvin's family tree is because they're all prominent members of Swedish society – journalists and diplomats and military personnel – so they were in the public eye anyway. Their births and marriages and deaths were a matter of public record.

But speaking of public records... Wikipedia tells us that Annie Rudberg had a brother called Fritz Erik Rudberg (1891 – 1959). I followed the little footnotes at the end of the article and got led to an online census database, where I found Erik's parents (the ones he shares with Annie). Unfortunately, the latest dated census entry noted that Fritz Erik Rudberg was unmarried, so there weren't any links to any modern day Rudberg family members that we can look into.

The census database also tells us that Annie Rudberg's mother changed her name from Elsa Löf (possibly Elsa Wilhelmina Löf) to Elsa Löf Rudberg between her birth and her death, so we can assume she changed it when she married her husband, Fritz Adam Rudberg (1841 – 1904).

Okay, this is all interesting... but you said Edvin's related to six noble families. You've only explained three so far.

Patience, young padawan. The footnotes on Gustaf Ryding's Wikipedia page led me to the Klinteberg Genealogy Archive and from there, I followed his wife's line up to her parents, which led me to Carolina Amalia Odencrantz. The Odencrantz are another noble family... so that adds up our tally to four.

As an aside, I fucked around in those archives for a while and found the Gother branch of the family. This was way back when Sweden used a patronymic naming system, which was why we have Bengtsson and Bengtsdotter in these set of names.

Moving on, this led me to search up Eva Charlotta Lewenhaupt again, and I saw that her paternal grandfather (farfar) married twice:

Gift 1: 9 september 1824 med friherrinnan Ottiliana Henrietta Cronstedt. Gift 2: 10 maj 1840 med friherrinnan Eva Augusta Cronstedt. // Married 1st: 9 September 1824 to Baroness Ottiliana Henrietta Cronstedt. Married 2nd: 10 May 1840 to Baroness Eva Augusta Cronstedt. [Wikipedia]

I can't tell you how those two wives of his were related, but given that they have the same last name and that they're both baronesses... maybe they're sisters? Or first cousins? They're not in the family tree diagram because I didn't know how to illustrate a second wife connection, nor was I sure which wife was Eva Charlotta's paternal grandmother.

Anyway, since the Cronstedt family are titled, our Edvin Ryding family tree of noble connections are now at the wholesome number five. To bump that up to six, we have Eva Charlotta's mother, who was Baroness Charlotta Elisabet von Essen:

Charlotta föddes som grevinna Lewenhaupt och var dotter till greve Carl Gustaf Lewenhaupt (1825–1863), och friherrinnan Charlotta Elisabet von Essen (1827–1895). // Charlotta was born Countess Lewenhaupt and was the daughter of Count Carl Gustaf Lewenhaupt (1825–1863), and Baroness Charlotta Elisabet von Essen (1827–1895). [Wikipedia]

Six families in the aristocracy. Lars Edvin Folke Ryding can link himself to six noble families at least – and I'm saying "at least" here because for sure, given how noble families work and the examples detailed above, they all pretty much inter-marry and there are bound to be other titled ancestors if you go higher up the tree.

Interesting stuff. What now?

I don't know, you guys. Do with this information what you will. Double-check the sources for yourself and make sure I haven't made all these names up, or that Person X is actually the Person X that married Person Y and not just another person who shared the same name.

This was, in effect, a fun activity for me. Even if I'm incorrect somewhere, I must say that I've had a whale of a time and learned some Swedish vocabulary doing all this. That's totally a win in my books.

[uselessroyals]

Some notes on the aristocracy in Sweden

I’ve decided to collect some of my research into the Swedish aristocracy into a post in case some of it could be of interest to other fanfic writers - or any other YR fans who want to learn or remind themselves how nobility works in Sweden.

I’ll start with some background info, move on to the current situation (with examples from YR), and finish with a couple of observations on names and emblems.

As always, any corrections and additions are much appreciated! I am sadly not Swedish myself, but my country was until 1809.

Keep reading

[uselessroyals]

none of the characters are 100% evil. they're all so complex. kristina, august, and sara especially. they're not good people, of course, but they're very interesting characters and aren't so black and white.

though, i do have to say...the way sara gets more hate than august is quite surprising. is it misogyny? possibly. i remember seeing so many posts about that -- a male character does something horrible, and people sympathize with him, whereas when a female character does something similar, everyone wants her dead. but we all know how fandoms get when you point out sexism in their community, so i'll shut up now 🤷‍♀️ maybe i'm just an annoying lesbian

(just know that i will defend sara with my life)

[uselessroyals]

wille is one ingenious public speaker

[uselessroyals]

one step forward, two steps back…

[uselessroyals]

Young Royals Yearbook Photos

So those pictures they released got me thinking about what the characters' yearbook pages would look like. So I made them! I gave them all quotes under their photo too (I know that's more of a senior thing to do, but Hillerska's a bougie school so everyone gets to have a quote in my head). I also did 2 versions, 1 with a quote the character says in the show and 1 with a quote I found that I think matches the character/their arc. Enjoy!

[uselessroyals]

It’s all in the way wilhelm felt so lost and confused but “you’re beautiful” was still the first thought coming to his mind, when his eyes focused on simon, and he needed to blurt it out only for him to know, like it was a truth he could no longer keep inside anymore, or just for the sake and urgency of listening to the sound of those words spoken aloud; simon’s body and gaze completely frozen right after, he probably would’ve liked to hear them in a different place, at a different time, different range of emotions involved, but they were not fake. They hit him, he felt the intention behind every word and took it in.