Young Royals - Season 1- - Episode 4

This episode asks the question the rest of the season will try to answer: Can you love someone if loving them means erasing who you are? For Wilhelm, the answer, for now, is a devastating no. What did you think of Wille’s decision? Was Simon right to walk away? Let me know in the comments below.

Wille’s strategy is painfully clear: He buries his face in his phone, avoids Simon’s eyes, and lets the panic simmer. We see the crown prince disappear, replaced by a scared boy who has just been told by his mother (the Queen) that his entire future depends on saying nothing. The Queen’s Ultimatum One of the most chilling scenes in the series is the Queen’s phone call. She doesn’t yell. She doesn’t threaten. She simply states the reality of their world with cold, surgical precision. “Deny it,” she says. “It’s the only way.” For Wille, this isn’t a suggestion; it’s a verdict. His love for Simon is now a "liability" to the monarchy. Young Royals - Season 1- Episode 4

Simon, patient and furious, rows them out to the middle of the lake. He refuses to be a secret. He refuses to be a scandal. In one of the most mature and heartbreaking exchanges in teen TV, Simon gives Wille an ultimatum of his own: “Tell the truth, or lose me.” This episode asks the question the rest of

Wille’s response is devastating. He can’t. He’s trapped. The tears streaming down his face as he says, “I can’t... I can’t be with you if I have to lie,” aren't tears of cruelty—they are tears of a boy who realizes his life was never his own. Episode 4 is the best episode of the first season. It’s the moment Young Royals stops being a boarding school romance and becomes a sharp, painful study of systemic power. The cinematography leans into the gray Swedish winter, mirroring Wille’s internal frostbite. The sound design is sparse—you can hear the oars creaking, the snow crunching, the silence of a boy screaming inside. Was Simon right to walk away

Warning: Major spoilers for Young Royals Season 1, Episode 4 ahead.

By the end, when Wille denies the video in the official statement, we don't feel relief. We feel sick. Because we know what that “yes” cost him. And we know that Simon is watching from his window, heart shattered into a thousand pieces.