Red, White and Royal Blue: The Differences Between the Film and the Book
Amazon Prime Video is bringing Casey McQuiston's best-selling novel, Red, White & Royal Blue onto your screens. But fans of the acclaimed novel may be surprised by the differences between the book and the film.
Streaming on 11 August, you can watch the film adaptation of the book of the same name on Prime Video. The book has captured the hearts of many, and with the limited run time of 1 hour and 58 minutes, not all the iconic moments from the book can be transferred onto the screen.
Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for those who have not yet read the book or watched the film.
Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine for Red, White & Royal Blue. (Source: Prime Video)
Many characters are missing from the movie or lacking their storylines.
June Claremont-Diaz does not exist in the film.
A fan-favourite character, June Claremont-Diaz, is not in the movie. Many of her roles are taken over by Nora Holleran (played by Rachel Hilson).
Thus, there is also no White House Trio, which consisted of Alex, June and Nora.
The Claremont-Diaz family is still together.
From left: Congressman Oscar Diaz (Clifton Collins Jr.), President Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman) and First Son of the United States Alexander Gabriel Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) in Red, White & Royal Blue. (Source: Prime Video)
In the books, President Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman) and Senator Oscar Diaz (Clifton Collins Jr.) are divorced. Ellen then marries Leo Castalazzi, who becomes Alex and June's stepdad and the First Gentleman of the United States.
However, Ellen and Oscar are still together in the movie so Leo does not exist in this realm of Red, White & Royal Blue. Oscar is also not a Senator in the movie, and he was addressed as a congressman.
Alex and Henry's height difference is inaccurate.
Alex is approximately 5' 7" tall while Henry is 6' 0".
Actor Taylor Zakhar Perez, who plays Alex, and Nicholas Galitzine, who plays Henry, are both 6' 2", with Perez having a slight advantage over Galitzine.
Rafael Luna does not appear in the film.
Rafael Luna, an openly gay American Senator and Alex's role model, does not exist in the movie. His storyline is disregarded entirely and some of his roles are taken over by a new character, Miguel Ramos. Since he played such a big role in the books, many of the future events are altered.
Miguel Ramos is a new character in the movie.
Miguel Ramos (Juan Castano) is a gay journalist, who also happened to have a romantic relationship with Alex in the past. Now, Miguel uses Alex to get newsworthy quotes for his articles. It was insinuated that he was the one who was behind the email leaks.
Liam is not in the movie.
Alex's childhood best friend, Liam, is not in the movie. The duo spent a lot of time together in high school as they were roommates and he was Alex's first queer experience.
Cash is not in the movie.
Cash is Alex's Secret Service agent. He protects Alex and they've become good friends.
Henry's name is different.
Goodbye Henry George Edward James Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor. Hello Henry George Edward James Hanover-Stuart-Fox.
Nora lacked personality in the movie.
Nora is Alex's best friend in the movie, but she lacked personality. In the book, she was a genius who was amazing with numbers and could formulate data and statistics in the blink of an eye. This was not discussed in the movie as most of her conversations with Alex only revolved around Alex and Alex and Henry.
Bea's storyline was removed from the film.
Princess Beatrice (Ellie Bamber) was in the press for a while for substance abuse. The Queen had sent her for a wellness retreat but she had checked herself out. The next day she went back to get herself rehabilitated, and she has been clean ever since. The press nicknamed her the "Powder Princess" but nobody from the Royal Court confirmed or denied the allegations.
When the emails get leaked in the book, the public also found out that the rumours about Bea's substance abuse were true since Henry had confided in Alex about them.
Bea's past was not mentioned in the movie and it did not come up when Alex and Henry's emails were leaked.
Senator Jeffrey Richard's scandals were not addressed.
Jeffrey Richards (Donald Sage Mackay), the Republican Senator who was running against Ellen Claremont for the presidency, has a murky past. He sexually assaulted young boys and took advantage of them, holding it against them until they were in their adult years. This was not brought up in the movie.
RIP the Queen, Long Live the King.
We had a Queen Mary of England in the book, but now we have King of England (Stephen Fry) in the movie.
Henry's mother is not in the movie.
Henry's mother, Catherine, is the main driving force for helping Henry's family come to terms with her son's sexuality. Catherine had become a distant parent after the loss of her husband, and she wanted to make it up to her children by being there in their lives now.
However, as she was not in the movie, Henry had spoken to his grandfather himself.
Percy was just there for the vibes.
From left: Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), Pez (Malcolm Atobrah), Nora (Rachel Hilson) and Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez) at Alex's New Year's party. (Source: Prime Video)
Percy Okonjo (Malcolm Atobrah), also known as Pez, plays a much bigger role in the books. He's best friends with Henry, manages a nonprofit humanitarian foundation and is the heir to his family's company.
In the movie, he barely appears for two scenes.
His romance with June is also replaced with Nora since June does not exist.
These main plot lines were changed
Alex and Henry are older in the movie.
Alex and Henry are aged up in the movie so Alex is a law student. In the book, Alex was still deciding on what he wanted to do while he was an undergraduate.
The location where Alex and Henry first met was different.
In the book, Alex and Henry first met at the Rio Olympics.
"Do you really not remember being a prick to me at the Olympics?"
Alex remembers it in vivid detail: himself at eighteen, dispatched to Rio with June and Nora, the campaign's delegation to the summer games, one weekend of photo ops and selling the "next generation of global cooperation" image. Alex spent most of it drinking caipirinhas and subsequently throwing caipirinhas up behind Olympic venues. And he remembers, down to the Union Jack on Henry's anorak, the first time they met.
In the movie, Alex and Henry met at the Melbourne climate conference.
Alex didn't smear cake on Henry at Prince Philip's wedding in the book.
Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Henry and Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz in Red, White & Royal Blue. (Source: Prime Video)
In the movie, Alex is a little tipsy so when he puts his glass on the table, he accidentally pushes it into the $75,000 wedding cake. When he picks the glass back up, there's cake on the glass and on his hands. So when he pulls Henry back by the shoulder to get Henry's attention, he forgets about the icing on his hand and smears cake onto Henry's blazer.
However, the cake was not ruined in the book until Alex is "tripping over his own foot and stumbling backward into the table nearest him" and the cake falls on top of the both of them.
Alex goes through the Henry fact sheet with Amy instead of the White House Trio.
In preparation for the damage control weekend, Zahra hands Alex a Henry fact sheet that has all the information Alex needs to make it seem like they've been best friends for a long time. He goes through them with June and Nora and they turn it into a drinking game, drinking for every answer Alex gets correct.
In the movie, Alex goes through the fact sheet with Amy (Aneesh Sheth) on the plane while they're on the way to England.
Henry meets Alex for their damage control weekend in a car, instead of a horse.
Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez in Red, White & Royal Blue. (Source: Prime Video)
In the book, Alex meets Henry for their damage control weekend on a horse. "Henry comes galloping around the bend on the back of a pristine white horse."
However, Henry drives a convertible in the movie, showing off some very swift moves.
Henry mysteriously gets Alex's number.
In the book, Alex gives Henry his number after their damage control weekend.
"Here," Alex says. "That's my number. If we're gonna keep this up, it's going to get annoying to keep going through handlers. Just text me. We'll figure it out."
In the movie, Henry mysteriously gets Alex's number, claiming he got it from "MI6" and that he's "not kidding".
Alex takes the initiative to help his mother find a way to win Texas.
In the book, the President had requested for the White House Trio to help her with her campaign.
"I've been thinking," Ellen says, "this time around, y'all—the 'White House Trio'." [...] "Y'all shouldn't only be faces. Y'all are more than that. You have skills. You're smart. You're talented. We could use y'all not only as surrogates, but as staffers."
In the film, Alex takes the initiative to draft a "14-page memo detailing how we can win in Texas next year". Zahra then tells him "If there's one thing people on campaigns hate, it's when the family of the candidate takes initiative."
Zahra Bankston (Sarah Shahi) in Red, White & Royal Blue. (Source: Prime Video)
Alex knows he's queer and he doesn't have a sexuality crisis.
In the book, Alex kissed his best friend Liam and they explored their sexuality together. He thought it was just a thing best friends did and didn't think too much about it. When Henry kissed him at the New Year's party, he was rethinking his straightness and had a sexuality crisis about it, confiding in June about this encounter.
In the movie, it's clear that Alex already knows he's queer. He doesn't have a sexual crisis after Henry kissed him, and the dilemma he faced revolved more about him kissing his enemy rather than him kissing a guy. It's unclear when he found out about his bisexuality but there was mention of him hooking up with two guys before Henry.
Alex's coming out was different...
After realising he was bisexual, the dialogue between the book and movie is slightly different.
Alex goes to his mother's office and tells her that he's bisexual. Ellen is relieved and is proud of Alex for coming out. Then Alex tells her that it's with Henry. Ellen takes a few moments to recall a Henry before she realises Alex is referring to the Prince of England. Immediately, Ellen gets a little frantic and asks Alex if he's free in an hour. Ellen leaves the office and not a few seconds after the door closes, Alex receives a meeting invite from his mother.
In the movie, Alex related his coming out to becoming a problem for his mother's election. The duo also do not reconvene in an hour and instead, they have a meeting right then and there with pizza.
... and there was no PowerPoint slide.
In the book, after Alex and Ellen reconvene again in an hour with Chinese food, they go through the necessary paperwork, Ellen claiming "this is, quite frankly, a logistical and ethical clusterfuck, so we need to make sure we have our ducks in a row".
Ellen also presents a PowerPoint slide to present to Alex, the slides titled:
Sexual Experimentation with Foreign Monarchs: A Gray Area
Exploring your Sexuality: Healthy, But Does it Have to Be With The Prince of England?
Federal Funding, Travel Expenses, Booty Calls, and You
Unfortunately, the iconic presentation slides were not in the movie and Ellen admitted "if I'd had more warning, I could have made you a PowerPoint presentation".
Henry and Alex exchanged their ring and necklace respectively.
In the book, Henry gives Alex his ring to keep. Alex keeps it together with his necklace.
At cruising altitude, he takes the chain off his neck and slides the ring on next to the old house key. They clink together gently as he tucks them both under his shirt, two homes side by side.
In the movie, they exchange their ring and necklace so they have a part of each other with them.
The delivery of the most iconic line of Red, White & Royal Blue was different.
The most famous line of Red, White & Royal Blue, "History, huh? Bet we could make some" was originally said in one of Alex's emails to Henry. In the film, Alex said it to Henry when they were at the V&A.
How Alex and Henry's relationship was outed was different.
Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) at the V&A in Red, White & Royal Blue. (Source: Prime Video)
In the books, Alex and Henry were outed after a photo of them kissing in a car was leaked to the press. However, in the film, their emails were hacked (presumably from Henry's side).
The aftermath of the scandal was different.
In the book, Senator Jeffrey Richards was behind the leaks.
"Basically, Richards hired a firm that hired the photographers who followed Alex and the hackers who breached your server, and then he hired another third party to buy everything and resell it to the Daily Mail."
Prior to this incident, Rafael Luna had joined the opposition party to find proof to take Richards down after his history of sexual assault. During this period, Luna found out that Richards was the cause of the leaks. He then sent Nora an anonymous email (which only Alex could decipher) with all the information they need to take Richards down. From there, they gathered the proof Luna attained to make a police report against Richards.
In the movie, there was no mention of who was behind the leaks (although it was implied that Miguel did it and that he had access to Alex's emails for a long time before the leak happened). Additionally, since Richards and Luna's storyline were omitted from the movie, there was no drama surrounding the anonymous email Nora received.
And the trivial scenes and details that I loved from the book but weren't adapted for the film
Henry goes to Alex's part of Kensington Palace in search of Cornettos.
On the damage control weekend, Henry comes wandering into the quarters of Kensington Palace where Alex was residing to look for Cornettos, something he craves when he can't sleep.
"Hello," he says, hoarse. "Sorry. Er. I was just. Cornettos." [...] He crosses to the freezer and extracts the box of ice cream cones, showing Alex the name Cornetto across the front. "I was out. Knew they'd stocked you up."
There was no Star Wars reference.
When Henry and Alex visit the hospital, they go their separate ways to speak with the children. Alex overhears Henry speaking to a girl about Star Wars and who their favourite characters are. Later, he asks Henry which movie was his favourite.
"Return of the Jedi."
A beat. "What?"
"To answer your question," Henry says. "Yes, I do like Star Wars, and my favourite is Return of the Jedi."
Although the boys did visit the hospital, they did not discuss about Star Wars.
I still enjoyed the film nonetheless but as a book-to-screen reader, I was a little disappointed that some of these iconic scenes were changed or removed entirely.
Have you watched Red, White & Royal Blue? If so, did you have a favourite scene from the movie?
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