This March on The Hallmark Channel is an ode to all things royal and the first film to arrive is The Royal We, a sweet romance about a princess forced to marry a prince of a rival kingdom out of duty. What initially starts as a tempestuous relationship built on false assumptions grows into something more, but in a meta kind of way, the film also addresses the tropes and stereotypes of classic fairy tales, with an empowering twist about moving past outdated norms.
THE ROYAL WE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Engaged couple Prince Desmond (Charlie Carrick) and Princess Coralina (Nicole Posener), who hail from two rival kingdoms, pose uneasily for engagement photos. Their future wedding is more of a business merger than a love affair, and neither seems keen to put on a happy face for the royal photographer.
The Gist: Welp, Desmond and Coralina’s engagement didn’t last long. In a quick time jump, we learn that the princess broke off the engagement with Desmond and ran off with a plumber, leaving Desmond all alone. Desmond himself is taking it all in stride, realizing he’s just been a pawn in a pre-arranged merger of two political dynasties, but his parents, the King and Queen of Aldovia, are furious.
That’s when Desmond gets an idea that seems like it can solve this diplomatic predicament: he wants to track down Coralina’s younger sister Bea (Mallory Jansen), who has lived in Boston for years and abdicated all her royal responsibilities, to see if she’ll marry him. Bea absolutely doesn’t want to be found, nor does anyone in her Boston life even know she’s royalty. When Bea is tracked down by Desmond’s lackeys, she and her best friend Chloe – who refuses to let Bea get “kidnapped” alone – and Desmond explains the situation and proposes to Bea out of the blue. She declines, but after some thought she realizes this marriage is the only way to halt tension between the two countries, so she reluctantly agrees to get engaged, at least for now, until she can come up with a better solution.
Bea and Desmond initially rub each other the wrong way, but soon she loosens him up and he makes her realizes he’s not the terrible, prim polo player she assumes he is. They form a genuine alliance, which they both need once the media latches on to their relationship. It’s the kind of attention Bea moved away from to avoid a life in the spotlight, so it’s hard for her to get used to, but because of her years spent under the radar, she ends up becoming something of a… people’s princess.
Thanks to Bea’s professional skills, she ends up mediating peace between the two kingdoms and is eventually released from her engagement to Desmond, but despite that, she realizes maybe she doesn’t want the engagement to be broken after all…
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? There are definitely shades of all the princess movies in The Royal We, from the fish-out-of-water The Princess Diaries (Genovia, Aldovia, what name generator are they all using to come up with names of royal municipalities?) to the more recent The Princess Switch and The Royal Treatment on Netflix which feature even more themes of royals commingling with commoners and finding love.
Our Take: Every so often in a Hallmark movie, there’s a subtle message underlying the romantic plot. In the recent film Return To Office, I noted that movie’s surprising anti-AI plotline was an unexpected twist, and in The Royal We, the film, about a literal princess falling in love and living happily ever after, takes a feminist stance against that very thing. In one scene, as Bea explains her real-life job to Desmond – she runs a program for girls in STEM – and she says, “Consider if you will the messages that we send our children. Throughout history, only half the population has ever been invited to adventure, explore and engage in the world…Now consider the stories we tell our girls. It’s usually some put-upon princess who’s forced to marry a dull prince…The story usually ends at her marriage.” Bea continues to explain that her goal is to “reframe the narrative” for girls everywhere.
I’m not saying that The Royal We is a revolutionary romantic movie that’s reframing how we look at women or feminism or rom-coms, but the fact that it dedicates a good chunk of time discussing how girls are taught to reach their potential is unexpected for this kind of movie. A little exciting, even. That’s the special thing about certain Hallmark movies, you have to give them credit when they subvert their own genre. It happens more often that you’d think and in this case, it elevates this already fun, charming film. The romantic chemistry between the two leads is great, the supporting cast adds humor throughout, and while the prince and princess do live happily ever after, they’re also well-rounded people with priorities beyond the castle.
Parting Shot: Bea and Desmond break off their engagement after brokering peace between their countries, but they both realize that’s not what they want. The next day, they race from their respective castles to the border of the two countries, and Desmond professes his love and re-proposes to Bea. As they kiss, the two border security guards, one from each country, approach each other and give one another a hug, too.
Performance Worth Watching: Rae Lim who plays Bea’s best friend Chloe is given some of the best lines in the film. Full of quippy one-liners, and completely outside her comfort zone while visiting Bea’s castle, she’s delightful to watch.
Memorable Dialogue: “Are you sure you’re a princess?” Bea’s best friend from Boston, Chloe, asks her, surprised to learn her friend’s real identity. “Because we like boxed wine.”
Our Call: STREAM IT! The Royal We is an above average romance that benefits from great casting and a message that reminds us that getting the guy isn’t the only reason for a happy ending.
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Royal We’ on Hallmark, About A Prince and Princess Who Find Love Despite Their Politically-Motivated Arranged Marriage appeared first on Decider.
