Stevie‘s review of Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Contemporary Gay and Bisexual Romance published by St. Martin’s Griffin 14 May 19
One of the tropes I only read when there’s some kind of new twist on it is that of the royal meets commoner romance. Even then, I can be very fussy when an author messes up on research or chooses to ignore how things work in the real world without giving a good explanation. Having read the blurb, I was expecting to get the story of a romance between the heir to the British crown and the son of the President of the USA. In actuality what I got was something subtly different. Although Henry is referred to throughout the book as the Prince of Wales, he is the second son – youngest of three children – of the (female) heir to the throne. It took me a while to figure that one out, since we don’t pick up all the details of Henry’s family life straight away, but once I understood the wrongness, it bugged me throughout what might otherwise have been a fun story.
For those who need the full explanation, the title Prince of Wales is granted by the reigning monarch to their eldest living son and heir apparent. The latter part is the most important. Since Henry in this story is both a second son and third or fourth in line to the throne (after his mother, his brother and – if the laws of succession of the story have been modernised in line with our recent update – his sister). So Henry can’t be Prince of Wales, and is unlikely to have taken Wales as his surname, as that’s a recent styling used by the descendants of our current Prince, and the late Princess, of Wales. He may or may not have a courtesy title – Prince or Duke of wherever – not all our current Queen’s grandchildren do for a start. But I just wish authors would pay more attention to the titles they confer on their characters. Rant over, let’s get back to the review…
Alex Claremont-Diaz is the son of the first female President of the US, whose parents both rose from working class and – in his father’s case – immigrant families to carve successful political careers. Although Alex’s parents are divorced, they have remained good friends, and Alex shares a close relationship with both of them and with his older sister – as well as with the granddaughter of the Vice-President. All three youngsters are closely followed by the media, and Alex especially has a habit of getting into awkward situations. He also has a bit of a love-hate obsession with Prince Henry, dating back to before his mother’s election to the Oval Office. When the Presidential party attends the wedding of Henry’s older brother, Alex manages to create a highly newsworthy diplomatic incident by scrapping publicly with Henry and destroying the wedding cake. Something has to be done to smooth things over…
… and that something is to create a fictional friendship between the two lads, making the whole incident appear to be a student jape and offering the press lots of chances to follow the pair as they make repeat visits to each other’s countries and attend important functions. The two become friends for real and then begin to fall for each other. Henry is gay and closeted on the orders of his grandmother, while Alex has never really considered that he might be bisexual, but once he starts thinking about it, it all becomes obvious.
I liked the way the story developed, although I’m a little unsure whether it would really be that shocking for a royal – and a relatively minor one at that – to be out as gay in this day and age, and I loved that there were interesting explanations for some of the facts about Henry that Alex finds boring when he first reads them in preparation for their publicity opportunities. This was a really tricky book to give a grade to. On the one hand, I loved the basic idea of the story, and a lot of the ways in which it developed. On the other hand, I hated the sloppy research that book’s editors, if not its author, should have picked up on. I may give her another chance: this was a debut novel after all.
Grade: C
Summary:
What happens when America’s First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?
When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.
Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn’t always diplomatic.
Read an excerpt.
