Is This Red, White & Royal Blue Character Based on Prince Harry?
Both the actor and the writer give an unequivocal answer.
The charming new Amazon Prime rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue is capturing the hearts of viewers around the world. True to its source material, Casey McQuiston's novel, the film tells the uplifting love story of the Prince of England and the First Son of the United States. Naturally, viewers can't help but draw comparisons to real-life figures.
While Taylor Zakhar Perez's Alex, the son of Uma Thurman's President of the US, is clearly a completely fictional character, Nicholas Galitzine's Prince Henry reminds many of Prince Harry.
The resemblance comes not only in the name, the 'spare' status, and the overall appearance, but also in Henry's drive to break centuries of tradition to finally put his own happiness ahead of duty.
'I feel like, especially in the last five years, Prince Harry and Prince William have been so in the public eye. Harry, especially being this kind of rogue amongst these very uptight, duty-bound royals, is maybe a comparison people will make,' Nicholas Galitzine told People.
So was the character really inspired by Prince Harry or any other particular member of the British royal family? The actor says no.
'I wouldn't say I did too much research into one royal in particular,' he said. 'To be honest, I feel like Henry almost has more of William in some sense. For a large part of the story, duty comes first. This responsibility that has been bestowed upon him since childhood comes first and he can't put his love, who he really is, before that.'
However, the character of Henry comes from the original 2019 novel, which was published exactly one year after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding. What if the author based their story on the real-life British-American romantic union? Back in 2019, Casey McQuiston denied this assumption.
'Most of my characters are pulled from a mixture of my brain, people I know, people from history and tropes I love,' the author said in the interview for the LAPL blog. 'I'm more of a casual fan of the royal family than you might think.'
Apparently, any resemblance of Red, White & Royal Blue characters to actual members of the British royal family is purely coincidental, and if this seductive work of fiction feels close to home, that's entirely on you. Winking face emoji.