Television series
Young Royals
A Swedish Netflix drama about a closeted prince shipped off to an elite boarding school, where he falls for a scholarship boy from the wrong side of the tracks. It's slower and sadder than the premise suggests — less palace intrigue, more suffocating expectation, class shame, and the particular loneliness of being watched constantly. Gorgeous to look at, quietly devastating to sit with.
If you liked this
Heartstopper2022
British counterpart in gentleness — same ache of hiding who you love, but sunnier, kinder, and confident nobody needs to suffer to make the romance mean something.
But If you want darkness and consequence, this will feel almost too soft and uncomplicated.

Élite2018
Same private-school pressure cooker of money, secrets and class resentment, dialed up into soapy thriller territory with murder mysteries layered over the romantic tangles.
But Loses the delicacy — this trades emotional restraint for melodrama and body count.

SKAM2015
The Scandinavian original that basically invented this whole mode: naturalistic teen ensemble drama, told in real time, that treats adolescent feeling as seriously as any adult story.
But Low-budget and unpolished, originally released in awkward real-time clips online — a very different viewing experience.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Maurice1987
Young Royals is basically Maurice with a Netflix budget and a phone camera: a well-born young man falls for someone below his class at an elite English institution and has to choose between the life he's handed and the one he wants.
The film that did this story first, decades before it was fashionable — Merchant Ivory's lush, aching adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel about class, repression and a love with nowhere sanctioned to go.
But Stately period pacing and 1987 filmmaking rhythms — patient viewers only, nothing here moves at Netflix speed.

More like this (8)
Sex Education2019
British sixth-form comedy-drama that shares the earnestness about identity and desire, but wraps it in warmth, absurdity, and a genuinely huge ensemble of misfits.
But Broader and funnier throughout — if you want Young Royals' hush and restraint, this is louder and messier.

Normal People2020
Another quiet, aching story of two people from different worlds who can't quite let each other go, told with the same unshowy intimacy and long silences.
But No royalty, no institution, no secrecy plot — just two people, which some will find too spare.

The Crown2016
For the institutional side of the equation: duty crushing desire, a family that treats feeling as a liability, and the particular prison of being born into an audience.
But Much older, slower, and grander in scale — this is prestige history, not intimate teen romance.

Call Me by Your Name2017
The film that captures the same summer-fever, first-love intensity — sun-drenched, physical, and unbearably tender about wanting someone you're not supposed to.
But It's a film, not a series, so you lose the slow-build ensemble world Young Royals builds over seasons.

Please Like Me2013
Australian comedy-drama that treats coming out and family fallout with the same mix of humor and real sadness, following a young man figuring himself out.
But Older, scrappier, and more episodic — less swoon, more shrug-and-laugh about disaster.

Atypical2017
Lighter family-and-school dramedy about identity and difference, worth it if you want the coming-of-age warmth without the aristocratic weight bearing down on everything.
But Considerably fluffier and more sitcom-adjacent — the stakes here are domestic, not dynastic.

The Talented Mr. Ripley1999
Swap romance for menace and you get the same engine: someone who doesn't belong performing belonging inside a beautiful, moneyed world, with a queer undercurrent of wanting both the man and his life.
A gorgeous, sun-drenched thriller about class envy and identity theft among the idle rich, with Jude Law radiating exactly the kind of golden privilege Wilhelm was born into.
But This is a thriller with a body count, not a romance — the tenderness of Young Royals curdles here into obsession and violence.

Gossip Girl2007
Same ingredients — elite institution, class anxiety, secrets that could ruin someone's whole future — thrown into a blender with none of the restraint and all of the camp.
If you want the trashy, gleeful version: private-school scandal, narrated gossip, and privileged teenagers destroying each other over status, with zero of the melancholy.
But It has none of the emotional seriousness or believability — pure soap, and proud of it.

People
Cast
Writing
- Camilla HolterCreator
- Lars BeckungCreator
- Lisa AmbjörnCreator
Production
- Lars BeckungExecutive Producer
- Lisa Berggren EyreProducer
- Martin SöderProducer