Netflix's 'Royalteen: Princess Margrethe' Review: A heady mix of royalty, teenage angst and drugs
Spoilers for 'Royalteen: Princess Margrethe'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Norwegian teen drama spin-off film ‘Royalteen: Princess Margrethe’ is finally streaming on Netflix. The movie is a prequel to ‘Royalteen’, which aired in 2022. ‘Royalteen: Princess Margrethe’ revolves around the life of a royal teen princess who struggles to maintain her perfect identity after a prom scandal.
Written by Randi Fuglehaug, Anne Gunn Halvorsen, and Marta Huglen Revheim and directed by Ingvild Soderlind, ‘Royalteen: Princess Margrehte’ premiered on Thursday, May 11. This Norwegian movie is produced by The Global Ensemble Drama. The movie features Ines Høysæter Asserson as Lena,Elli Rhiannon Muller Osborne as Princess Margrethe, Mathias Storhoi as Prince Kalle, Filip Bargee Ramberg as Arnie, Amalie Sporsheim as Ingrid, Sammy Germain Wadi as Prince Alexander, Ina Dajanna Ervik as Tess, Julie Agnete Vang as Queen Louise of Denmark, and Frode Winther as The King. With a 1 hour and 38 minutes runtime, ‘Royalteen: Princess Margrethe’ captures its grace from a borrowed context - book by Randi Fuglehaug and Anne Gunn Halvorsen.
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Princess Margrethe’s broken royal family
‘Royalteen: Princess Margrethe’ portrays a Norwegian royal family and the struggle of the princess post her prom scandal. The movie explores the hardships faced by Margrethe to find normalcy in her life. The plot of the film majorly focuses on Margrethe’s challenges in coping with her teenage life, family drama, and maintaining a perfect façade. Her mother appears to be dealing with anxiety as she is often seen sleeping at odd hours, taking addictive pills, and never attending family meetings. While her father is supportive and loving of her family, he turns out to be gay, as revealed at the end of the movie. He stays absent for most of the movie, stating that he is busy and away to be with his lover, who has cancer. Although Princess Margrethe deeply loves and cares for her brother, Prince Kalle, he seems to enjoy and spend most of his time with his girlfriend Lena.
Overall, her family is quite f***ed up, considering their royal title. Nevertheless, the movie does a good job of showcasing the story as an explosive Norwegian version of ‘The Crown’ via the Beverly Hills.
How does Princess Margrethe struggle personally?
The distressed life of Margrethe centers around a girl who wants to be normal, and enjoy life like other “normal teenagers” with drugs, and identity problems, and to be popular and adored by boys. The movie kicks off with Margrethe being rushed to the hospital by her friends and family, after having suffered from a panic attack due to a drug overdose. Her impulsive behavior and constant panic about being surrounded by the public drowns her in alcohol and drugs. For instance, while visiting her mom, she steals some of her drugs from the table, taking them whenever she feels panicky or “unable to breathe”.
Moreover, she felt pressurized by her friends for constantly being told “to get laid” and them pushing her to be with some guy. For instance, when she tells her friend Ingrid about Prince Alexander texting her “to meet soon”, she instantly makes her believe that he is interested in her, even when Princess Margrethe says, “He doesn’t like me like that”. Later, when she meets Prince Alexander, Ingrid tells her to make a move towards him, saying, “Please try not to be Princess ‘I Don’t Want To’.”
Rejected by Alexander, Margrethe felt horrible and shamed and snapped at Ingrid for constantly pressurizing her to be with someone. Princess Margrethe’s own life struggles put her in a difficult position when her prom video snorting cocaine is leaked, and she finds herself attacked by the media.
Her character in the movie is complex, showcasing the personality of a drug addict with mental health issues. Although she did a great job portraying a young teenager struggling to manage her personal and public life, the movie is betrayed by a flat ending and mundane storyline.
'Royalteen: Princess Margrethe' is streaming exclusively on Netflix.
