Red, White & Royal Blue fans have already declared their top 5 favourite moments
Fans are already royally obsessed with Red, White & Royal Blue (Prime Video/Getty)
It’s a huge day for LGBTQ+ romcom lovers. Matthew López’s screen adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s best-selling novel, Red, White & Royal Blue, has arrived. And fans are already royally obsessed with several of the film’s queerest moments.
Starring The Kissing Booth 2’s Taylor Zakhar Perez as the bisexual Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the first female president of the US, and Cinderella’s Nicholas Galitzine as Henry, a British prince in line for the throne, the film tracks the pair’s journey from fierce rivals to fiery lovers.
After a tipsy brawl leaves them on the floor of a royal wedding, covered in cake, the pair embark on a PR tour to reverse the damage to their names and families. Their hatred of each other turns to friendship, which then turns to hot, steamy love.
The book’s fervent fan base has waited eagerly to find out exactly how the film version would differ from the book, and to see some of their favourite moments from the book play out on the big screen.
Here are the fandom’s top five favourite film moments. Spoilers ahead.
The moment before it all began
Before Alex and Henry came out to the world, before Alex and Henry realised they were in love, before Alex and Henry had even kissed, there was the New Year’s Eve party.
Following their cake-based altercation, Henry is invited to the party at the White House. Amid the dancing and drinking, with Lil Jon’s “Get Low” playing over the speakers, the pair are standing at opposites sides of the room.
As all the other guests drop to the floor, Henry and Alex remain standing. They catch each other’s eye, the music slows, and it becomes clear that a spark has been set off between them.
Alex and Henry’s first date in Paris
Alex and Henry’s scene in Paris is the first time the couple go on a proper date, and the first time that they – ummm – get intimate. To the world, they’re just two friends hanging out together, but to Alex and Henry, they’re nervously watching their love blossom.
Fun fact: it’s also the first scene that Perez and Galitzine filmed together, as director López wanted to capture the energy of two people who were unfamiliar with each other. According to fans, it worked.
The museum scene
The chapter in the book set in London’s Victoria & Albert museum is one of the most stunning. After deciding that they will officially give their relationship a go, regardless of how high-profile it will become, Henry takes Alex to one of his favourite places on Earth, after hours.
Alex is let a little more into Henry’s world, and the pair dance to Elton John’s “Your Song”.
In the film, it’s ever-so slightly different, as the song that plays is Perfume Genius’s cover of Elvis Presley’s ”Can’t Help Falling in Love”.
Despite the soundtrack change, fans have fallen in love with the scene, not least because it includes one of Alex’s best lines from the book: “History, huh? I bet we could make some.”
The bisexual representation
López wanted to make it clear that Red, White & Royal Blue isn’t a gay film, because Alex is bisexual.
“I sometimes bristle when people say: ‘Oh, it’s two gay men’. Actually, no, it’s one gay man and one bisexual man,” he told PinkNews in an exclusive interview.
In one scene, president Ellen Claremont, played by Uma Thurman, is comforting her son after he comes out to her, and she takes a line directly from McQuiston’s book: “The B in LGBTQ isn’t a silent letter,” she says.
Fans have declared this a huge moment for bisexual representation.
Alex’s speech
After Henry and Alex are outed to the world by a journalist, the pair attempt to grapple with what their relationship means for their families, their countries and their roles in public life.
In one of the film’s most poignant moments, Alex gives a speech to the press and to the people of the US from the White House, in which he professes his love for Henry, and emotionally condemns the forced outing.
His line: “The truth is, every queer person has the right to come out on their own terms, and on their own timeline. They also have the right to choose not to come out at all”, is easily one of the film’s best.
Red, White & Royal Blue is streaming on Amazon Prime Video now.
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