Spoilers for 'Royalteen: Princess Margrethe'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Netflix has added a new royal teen drama to its collection, titled ‘Royalteen: Princess Margrethe’, and released on Thursday, May 11. The movie stars Elli Rhiannon Muller Osborne as Princess Margrethe, Mathias Storhoi as Prince Kalle, Ines Høysæter Asserson as Lena, Amalie Sporsheim as Ingrid, and Filip Bargee Ramberg as Arnie. This Norwegian spin-off deals with a royal teenage girl who struggles to live a normal life in the wake of her prom scandal. In her efforts to seek “normalcy” in her life, she ends up drowning in drugs and alcohol.
‘Royalteen: Princess Margrethe’ addresses the issue of teenagers dealing with mental health, anxiety, panic attacks, and winding up with drugs and alcohol to escape from their struggle. Although the movie highlights an important topic, it fails to give its audience a full picture of the events.
The movie encompasses various things at once to display the princess’s struggle, but none completely unravel her situation. Regardless of its flat ending, the sequel of ‘Royalteen’ did a great job making the viewers “feel connected” to the lead character, Princess Margrethe.
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‘It was scary, but felt good’
After Princess Margrethe’s prom video of snorting cocaine is leaked, she has to give a statement to the media - a duty that comes with the royal title. Nervous, panicked, and scared, Princess Margrethe is being prepared to give a statement by her PR, but she runs off outside to catch her breath.
Followed by her father, she slams him for “fooling around with his mistress”, to which he reveals he is gay and has a lover who has cancer. After a while, her mother joins them, explaining that she is aware of her husband’s sexual identity and that she is fine with it. As Princess Margrethe has to give a statement to the media, her parents encourage her by saying, “You’re the strongest of us”. She then walks toward the media, and pours her heart out with honest revelation. She apologizes in front of the media to the people of Norway and her family for the scandal. She adds that she feels scared and lonely all the time, and drugs and alcohol helped her feel like everyone else who is smarter and cooler. She ends by telling the media that she’s not cool and smart; she’s just Margrethe - not entitling herself as the Princess. Despite feeling scared of confronting the media, she puts on a brave face, expressing her emotions. After giving her statement, she feels peacefully happy, wearing a “proud smile” on her face.
What happened after Princess Margrethe put on a brave face?
Princess Margrethe displays happiness and a constant smile after her statement. She reconnects with her friend Ingrid, her brother’s girlfriend Lena, and Arnie and maintains healthy and happy relationships with people. Princess Margrethe asks for forgiveness from Ingrid for blaming her and calling her dumb. She explains why she acted that way, saying, “You’re better than me”. After apologizing to each other, both skip the class and enjoy ice cream while sitting together on a bench.
As for Arnie, he video calls Princess Margrethe, telling her he’s backing out from the gig he got because he feels he doesn’t belong on the same stage as TOS. She runs over to him backstage to rescue him. Margrethe convinces him with positive affection and joins him on stage when a technical issue arises. Both end up cheering the crowd with incredible music and sharing a kiss after the crowd goes insane.
The movie gives its best efforts to portray royalty and teen issues with deeper meaning; however, it falls short of highlighting the nuance of the themes. Unfortunately, the viewers will find it difficult to receive a well-thought-out conclusion from the movie.
'Royalteen: Princess Margrethe' is available to stream on Netflix.