As you may or may not know, “Red, White & Royal Blue†is a queer romance YA novel that got popular on BookTok in 2019. “Red, White & Royal Blue†is about Alexander Claremont-Diaz, the first son of the President of the United States, and his hatred turned to love for Henry, the British prince in line for the throne.
The novel follows their relationship, which really begins when the pair of them cause a scandal at a royal wedding and have to pretend to be best friends in order not to have their reputations ruined by the press. They then become real friends, and that friendship, well, blossoms into more when Henry kisses Alex.
Alex is also openly bisexual, which isn’t very common in novels, especially for main characters. While queer literature is incredibly rare already, bisexuality still is often overshadowed by gay and lesbian literature, so this book is a treasure for many bisexual people, myself included.
According to , Amazon is planning on eventually releasing a film adaptation of “Red, White & Royal Blue,” directed and written by playwright Matthew López. Alex will be played by Taylor Zakhar Perez, while Henry will be played by Nicholas Galitzine.
While movie adaptations don’t tend to remain faithful to the book, I’m really hoping this one will, if nothing else, keep all the best parts of the novel.
I’m hoping for all the funny bits of the novel that made everyone fall in love with Henry and Alex and start rooting for them to end up together. I’m hoping Alex will be openly bisexual, too, because of how much that would mean to teenagers everywhere, maybe even ones that don’t know who they are just yet.
And, while I hope the movie does focus a lot on the romance between Alex and Henry, I don’t want either of the characters to lose core pieces of themselves. Like how sweet Henry is to children, or how Alex wants to end up a senator. I want them to explore Henry and Alex’s family dynamics, which are a core part of the novel, like Henry’s dad’s death.
I hope the actors chosen for the lead roles can take these characters and bring them to life, even though it will certainly be a taxing task. Queer people everywhere deserve that. And the kids who aren’t sure if they’ll ever be truly loved, because they’re queer? They deserve that, too. Maybe the movie will be like the book was for many, and inspire new queer kids to be willing to be themselves. I hope for that above everything else.
