‘Red, White, & Royal Blue’: What the film changes from the book

Red, White, & Royal Blue has finally begun its reign. The film has now premiered on Amazon Prime, and as with all adaptations, it’s time to scrutinize every detail we can find to see how faithful it is. Actually, the film’s pretty in tune with the novel — there are only a few minor differences that were either lost in the scripting process or lost when that extra hour of footage was cut.

As in the novel, Red, White, & Royal Blue introduces its audience to Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine). The two are rivals; though they’re both similarly aged, Alex finds Henry snobbish, and Henry finds Alex boorish. Their growing attraction and later passionate romantic relationship remains intact.

Several characters are changed from their book counterparts, however. The character of Nora Halleran, granddaughter of the Vice President, is played by Rachel Hilson. In the novel, Nora serves as a tertiary character who mostly exists in the background. Here, she’s upgraded to Alex’s closest confidant — his sister from the novel, June, is not present (a real shame, given that author Casey McQuiston has hinted at wanting to explore a romance between June and Nora in future novels).

Alex’s father, Senator Oscar Diaz (Clifton Collins Jr.), is also still married to Alex’s mother, President Claremont (Uma Thurman) in the movie. In the books, the characters have been amicably divorced for some time. The film actually mentions that most people thought Oscar Diaz and Ellen Claremont wouldn’t last when they first got together.

Henry’s grandmother, the Queen of England, is instead made into King James III, as played by Stephen Fry. Though his siblings, Beatrice (Ellie Bamber) and Philip (Thomas Flynn), are in the film, they don’t have as much of an impact on Henry and Alex’s story. Beatrice has an entire subplot about a drug addiction in the book which is absent from film, probably to streamline the narrative. Philip, who is antagonistic towards Henry and Alex in the novel, only gets a few brief scenes where he expresses his discontent.

Senator Rafael Luna also plays a large role in the novel, where he is a central figure in the subplot regarding the Presidential election. In the movie, he’s essentially replaced by Juan Castano’s Miguel Ramos, a journalist who’s a former lover of Alex. While Senator Luna is ultimately a good guy, Miguel Ramos is firmly a corrupt journalist.

Speaking of, Alex’s romantic history is also slightly altered. In the source material, Alex only begins to embrace his bisexuality after his relationship with Henry blossoms. He had not had any prior relationships or sexual encounters with men. In the film, however, Alex has had sexual experiences with men in the past (Miguel being one, an unnamed high school fling being the other), so Alex coming to terms with his bisexuality isn’t something that’s explored as in-depth as in the book. He still only embraces the label after he starts to accept his attraction towards Henry, though.

Alex’s romantic past also comes back to haunt him in the film adaptation, when it never does in the books. Henry and Alex’s relationship status is leaked due to political intrigue on paper; whereas on screen, it’s because of Miguel’s jealousy. The estrangement between Henry and Alex is also resolved over a shorter period of time — the result of having to condense the story into two hours. And the ending of the novel, wherein Henry’s mother helps smooth out the situation with the Queen of England, never comes to pass. Instead, she’s off doing philanthropic work, and as such, Henry defies his grandfather entirely on his own after seeing a crowd of supporters.

Other than these relatively slight differences, Red, White, & Royal Blue is a fairly faithful adaptation of McQuiston’s book. The central story, the romance between Henry and Alex, is fully intact in every way (hey, there’s a reason it’s rated R). If you’re a fan of the book, then it’s definitely a film you should check out. Perez and Galitzine have wonderful chemistry together on-screen, making the movie even more inviting to watch. Just make sure to stay after the credits — there’s a nice little surprise you don’t want to miss.