The series finale of Young Royals swooped in with all the emotional gusto of a royal wedding but with way more teen angst and heart-throbbing moments! Spoiler Warning: Spoilers for Young Royals Season 3 follow.
The final episode of Season 3 started in a dark place for Wilhelm and Simon. Wilhelm confided in Felice about his breakup blues, and Simon refused to go to school and even contemplated moving towns to avoid the pain of seeing Wilhelm.
Little did he know, fate had other plans. The Board of Education ruled that Hillerska had to shut its gates at the end of the term, meaning our love-struck boys might never cross paths again.
In the final days of school, Wilhelm and Simon ran into each other in the library and admitted that they were both struggling with the breakup. Wilhelm started to share his feelings with Simon when they were suddenly interrupted by a student asking about the white party (Hillerska’s last hurrah). Despite their initial protests, peer pressure does its magic, and both boys decide to attend the party, setting up for what’s going to be a night for the history books.
And oh, what a night it was! Wilhelm and August mended fences, Felice owned up to her whistleblower status, and Sara shut down any reboot of an August romance. But the real showstopper? Simon and Wilhelm’s reunion at the party, in which they made a “let’s forget it all and just have one last magical night” pact. They danced, skinny-dipped, and reminisced on their love. Then, when the sun rose the next morning, Simon swam away in almost Shakespearean form. It was all kinds of beautiful and heartbreaking.
Just when you thought their love story was over, Simon sent Wilhelm an MP3 of the birthday song he wrote for him. This wasn’t just any tune; it’s a declaration of undying love in which Simon referred to Wilhelm as his “revolution” (ummm… why has nobody ever said this to me?).
Graduation day brought a glimmer of hope as the school announced that it would appeal the closure decision. After the graduation ceremony, Wilhelm thanked Simon for the song, and Simon told him that he never gave up on them, just the royal drama. They say a heartbreaking goodbye and go their separate ways.
Then, in a dramatic turn of events, Wilhelm declared his independence from the crown, jumped out of his parents’ car, and ran after Simon in a rom-com hero moment. Then ensued a nail-biting chase, in which Wilhelm couldn’t catch up to Sara’s car and he watched as it drove off with Simon. Their love story is over, right? That’s what I thought, but then, the car stopped and Simon stepped out.
The reunion that followed was pure, unadulterated emotional catharsis. Wilhelm told Simon that he gave up the throne, and they hugged, kissed, and cried together as they expressed their love for one another. The best part was that while they kissed, we were treated to a montage of their love story that had me sobbing. As they drove away from Hillerska with Sara and Felice, Wilhelm and Simon left behind the constraints of their past lives and finally stepped into a future filled with freedom, love, and the promise of new beginnings.