Royalteen

 is a Norwegian romance movie. It is based on The Heir, the first book in the acclaimed young adult series Royalteen by Randi Fuglehaug and Anne Gunn Halvorsen. The film was directed by Per-Olav Sørensen and Emilie Beck, and produced by Janne Hjeltnes at The Global Ensemble Drama.

Summary
"A teenager struggles to keep her scandal-ridden past and a big secret from getting out when she strikes up an unlikely romance with the crown prince."

- Official Netflix synopsis

Royalteen is a love story about living with your mistakes, conquering your fears and breaking the internet. When prince Karl Johan (Mathias Storhøi), Kalle amongst friends, and newcomer Lena (Ines Høysæter Asserson) start to develop warm feelings for each other, Lena is charmed but also skeptic, for many reasons. Party prince Kalle is a regular figure in the tabloids and the gossip blogs – one of them was run anonymously by Lena herself, until she was exposed. Lena is painfully aware that dating the future king might put them both in an impossible situation and she has not told Kalle or anyone else about her even bigger secret, which is also the reason why she moved from her hometown.

Plot
Royalteen opens with Lena getting ready for her first day at a new school. It is established that her family moved to Oslo from Horton after a traumatic incident with her. Her mom shows excitement about school, especially because a pair of royal siblings are supposed to be Lena’s classmates. However, Lena thinks that Prince Kalle is quite the playboy — owing to him being surrounded by girls on social media — and wishes to maintain her distance. Unfortunately for her, Kalle’s seat is right next to hers and they immediately hit it off. Kalle turns out to be quite warm and friendly whereas his sister Margrethe houses an uptight and elitist personality. One morning Lena goes for a run with her baby brother Theodor and gets lost. To make things worse, the stroller gets stuck and Lena starts having visions of her disastrous past. Fortunately, Kalle shows up at the spot and helps out his new friend. In return, Lena picks out a tick from Kalle’s chest and he clicks a picture with her to show thanks. He even invites her for a pool party at Ingrid’s. The next day, news about Lena hanging out with Kalle spreads and the girls in her class introduce themselves to her. Lena isn’t too keen on going to the party but Kalle shows up at her place and befriends her parents. They leave for the party together where Margrethe tries to grill her. Lena stands up for herself but before things can get worse, Kalle shows up for the rescue. They sit together and end up kissing. As Kalle leaves, Lena passes out due to excessive drinking and has nightmares about her secretive incident. She wakes up and jumps into the pool. Kalle, thinking that she’s drowning, grabs her in a chokehold but Lena snaps at him, stating that she was just swimming. Embarrassed by her outburst, she leaves and talks to her father about trying vape for the first time as she throws up. Her dad asks Lena if she can reveal the truth to the prince but she doesn’t respond. The next day Kalle sends Lena a voice note apologising for the chokehold and inviting her to a boat ride with a bunch of friends. She politely declines the invitation, stating she has to take care of Theodor. Kalle shows up to see her later and asks to hold Theodor. The little baby pees on Kalle’s shirt and Lena gives him a new one from her wardrobe. Things get cozy and they start to kiss but Lena’s parents walk in on them. Ecstatic to see her daughter potentially dating the crown prince, she asks them to go enjoy. Kalle gets his personal boat and takes Lena out to sea. His bodyguard reminds him that the police escort boat will be with them but will keep its distance. On the boat, Kalle asks Lena about why she moved and she lies by saying her dad got a new job. They kiss again and everything seems to finally be going well for her. Kalle ends up inviting her to the royal palace the next day as he’s going to be home alone.

Lena is picked up in a car sent by Kalle and shows up with a bag of sweets. Unfortunately, it is the king who greets her and she is perplexed. He is quite warm and welcoming like his son and invites her to eat. Kalle apologises stating that his parents changed their plans last minute and he couldn’t tell her in time. While eating, Margrethe is on edge and not happy about Lena being at the palace. The queen shows up and asks to talk to the king in private. This is when Margrethe picks her moment and berates Lena for the way she is. Kalle steps in to defend her and the king returns. Margrethe excuses herself stating that she lost her appetite and the meal comes to an end. Lena offers a sweet to the king and leaves with Kalle. Who does Lena see at the gas station? At school, Kalle invites Lena to a weekend trip with his sister and friends. They discuss about the queen’s health and Kalle admits his mom suffers from severe anxiety. The narrative then shifts to the day of the trip and Lena joins her friends. They stop at a gas station near Horton (Lena’s previous city) and she sees an old school mate Guro. Small flashbacks reveal that Lena posted a sexual video of Guro out of jealousy and ruined her reputation at school. She finds her in an isolated spot and apologises to her. However, Guro physically assaults Lena but stops when Margrethe and the bodyguard notice them. Lena admits it was old stuff that led to this assault and things settle down. Margrethe, totally out of character, promises to keep the incident between them. However, she does ask Lena to tell her what that was all about someday. She then asks her to clean herself up before Kalle sees them.

At the retreat, Kalle and Lena bond. During their time together, Lena realises that contrary to his online image, Kalle is a virgin and she likes him more for that. However, she is shocked to find Guro at their vacation spot the next day and excuses herself back to the cabin. She packs her bag, leaves Kalle a note saying that she’ll explain later and prepares to leave. However, she runs into Guro and the two have a conversation. It is revealed that Lena and Guro had a falling out after the latter started dating a guy named Kristian who Lena was in love with. However, when Guro cheated on him, Lena took the opportunity to film it, leak the video and sleep with Kristian. Guro threatens to tell everything to Kalle and Lena, completely done with being targeted, tells her to do whatever she wants and walks off. She finds a cab midway and heads back to Oslo.

Lena drives back to Oslo and meets her influencer classmate Tess. Everyone else in the class doesn’t like Tess because according to them, she used the royal siblings to gain followers. Meanwhile, Tess says that she knows she didn’t use them and being away from the group helped her become a person who doesn’t care about people’s opinions. Lena texts Kalle and invites him to a park but Margrethe shows up instead. She warns her to stay away from Kalle revealing that she spoke to Guro. Lena stands up for herself but Margrethe drops the ultimate bombshell. She reveals that she knows Theodor is really Lena’s son who she had at 16. She asks her to stay away from Kalle or else she’ll tell everyone. Her reasoning is that due to the queen being ill, they cannot deal with a teenage mom dating the prince. It might lead to the family’s collapse.

The next day Lena breaks up with Kalle without explanation. At home, she starts bawling in front of her parents and confesses that she hates her life. They comfort her but things go from bad to worse when her mom passes out. At the hospital, the doctor reveals that a blood clot caused her to faint as she wasn’t getting enough oxygen but it’s all dealt with. Lena uses this to moment to reflect and posts a video online, telling everyone that Theodor is her son. Surprisingly, it is well received by her classmates and they send her some very supportive messages. Prom arrives and Lena decides not to go until Tess shows up at her door. She gets her ready and they head to the event. All her friends welcome Lena with open arms and ask to meet Theodor. Margrethe takes her aside and tells her that even though the news about the baby is out, she won’t tell that Lena also betrayed her friend if she maintains her distance from Kalle. That too isn’t meant to be as the crown prince performs a song on stage and kisses Lena after. Everyone celebrates but the final scene sees Margrethe walk off disgusted and then passing out owing to an anxiety attack of sorts.

Cast and Characters

 * Ines Høysæter Asserson as Lena
 * Mathias Storhøi as Prince Kalle
 * Elli Müller Osborne as Margrethe
 * Ina Dajanna Ervik as Tess
 * Filip Bargee Ramberg as Arnie
 * Amalie Sporsheim as Ingrid
 * Veslemøy Mørkrid
 * Petter Width Kristiansen
 * Hannah Larsen Walberg as Fanny
 * Vår Sørensen Grønlie as Astrid
 * Niels Skåber as Gunnar
 * Carmen Andrea Høilund as Guro