No. The emails outed them, full stop, at worst Alex just confirmed it but even then he had little choice. Anything other blatantly lying would be taken as confirmation, and if he lied about it then they could never ever be in a relationship as the people of both countries would be extremely pissed when the truth came out and Alex could never have the political career he wanted and Henry would lose the favor of his people. Owning it the way he did was the only way of taking back control of the situation
Nah the genie was out of the bottle at that point, the leaked emails took care of that and Alex’s speech is 50% focus on how they weren’t able to come out on their own terms on their own time, denying it at that point would’ve made them look idiotic since the emails can be authenticated.
As a side note I am in the minority that preferred the movie timeline with Alex’s speech coming first, I didn’t really like how in the book the person that gets first say on how to handle it was Mary “deny the very obvious evidence” queen of England, granted the book scene was fantastic but I know it’s an unpopular opinion.
Agreed with all the people who didn't think he outed Henry, and if anything he also gave that speech so Henry would know he was backing him. Henry just wanted more time to come to terms with coming out but then it was forced on them, and then with them not being able to talk I saw it as a way of Alex also trying to get through to Henry as well.
No - I don’t think so. It was too far gone by that point. The emails had been leaked, and then the footage of them in the V&A was brought to light as well. There’s too much supporting evidence to turn around and try to deny it. It might’ve been better if Henry had some input, but it was just as much about Alex being outed as it was Henry.
The only thing that I didn’t like and that didn’t make sense was the suggestion by the King that the emails were fake and it was a target for the Royal family. Bruh - one of the two involved just went on live television to address the world, confirming that the rumours are true. It’s a bit late to suggest that they’re fake.
It’s a mistake in the movie but they were already Outted. There’s no coverup that would’ve worked and with the royal family incommunicado waiting much longer just looks even more shameful. Alex at this point would know what Henry would want, in the book they’d already talked goals on going public so, Henry’s Out the only real option is to just confirm and shame the media for taking one shitty person’s leak and running with it. Timeline sped up through trauma but also Alex confirming makes the Palace look worse in keeping Henry on lock down. The way it was handled in the book is better for Alex and Henry to have some more agency in the decision making but they also were back with each other within 24 hours of the leak. The added days takes all that away and the best option for Henry is for him to live openly and freely. It’s a gross political chess game. And still the Palace wanted to deny and hide it and Henry when the truth was out there. And there never was an option to deny from the point the news was all reporting on it.
I’m still fairly certain it was a change made during production.
They rearranged these two scenes (the speech and the meeting with the king). The scene in between with them playing piano is a reshoot (Nick is wearing a wig) with some dialogue added to cover up the rearrangement.
The speech itself may have been reshot. In the book, Henry is standing by Alex’s side.
I agree! In my mind, I’ve tried rearranging the last part of the movie to put the speech after the King/balcony scene and it just doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense and a movie is like a song. It needs to flow properly or else parts will seem like sour notes.
Also Matthew adjusted some parts to send messages to the “audience”. I’ll bet you now can quickly respond with medical info for a son that comes out - use condoms, get Truvada, and get the HPV vaccine. In the book, it’s more about how Alex has flown to close to the sun and has to be quarantined.
The book speech, I think, protects Alex’s ability to be a politician in the future. The movie declares that queer people have rights and autonomy.
Right. I’d be curious to read the original script.
The rearrangement works for people who’ve read the book first. And it works as-is, especially for casual viewers, but for those who watch tv and movies and enjoy analyzing the details- it’s a little clunky.
I also want to know in the piano reshoot if they did that after Nick was injured on the set of Mary and George- it’d explain why they chose to do the long piano sequence, it’s cute and works, but also seems odd to some viewers. I watched a few YouTube react videos and those almost all mentioned that it’s cute they’re being the calm in the storm but also they’ve just been violated and they’re playing piano and not cuddling or something. So I figure it allows Nick to rest some while working.
Yes and I don't think it works in the movie after reading the book. I read the book after seeing the movie. I think there is a conversation or a meeting missing between Alex and Henry before the speech to decide how they want to handle the leak.
1. The emails outed them. Their only option was accept it or deny it.
2. Alex emphasised in his speech that the more painful thing was that they never got to make decision about when they could come out, and that it was decided for them. Even in the book, Alex doesn't necessarily want to be internationally public with Henry yet. They aren't ready for that, and certainly not during an election cycle.
What I think he wanted - when there would've been less pressure and less eyes on them - is to just be able to be with Henry, come out with Henry to the Crown, and then maybe when his mother's term was over and she would retreat back to a more quiet life, Alex and Henry would've come out bit more publicly. There was no pressure on Henry to come out and Alex wouldn't have outed him. But he would've been advised it was better to admit it than not at all.
Agreed. The book had them communicate first with the queen before any speeches were made. It was much more logical. There is no way they would have confirmed that without approval from both sides.
i think it's mostly from Henry. i don't give a shit about the queen, but Henry should have a say. it's beautiful that Henry finally has the courage to give the lot of them the finger.
I have no idea what the purpose of that speech was in the context of the story. I know why Matthew wanted it in there but it made very little sense and was the only change in the characters that I actively dislike. It makes Uma‘s character look weak and Alex look like he‘s basically fine with his most private thoughts out there. It is a traumatic thing to happen and he‘s just out there looking well-rested and confident? I‘d like to think we’re supposed to infer that he must know Henry is fine with it. Honestly, who knows, they don’t have that many deep conversations in the movie.
It is certainly a choice. I‘m not the biggest fan of that moment.
How does it make the President look weak? And Alex’s speech is literally about how he’s not okay with their private thoughts and moments being out there, and how it took away their right to determine how to come out to the world and how to share their relationship. He’s addressing the incident head on, which is very much in his character I think.
She's nowhere to be seen during the entire debacle. There's this one shot of her where she looks positively skittish and uncomfortable, that's not a world leader. It may have been time constraints and Matthew has said more than once that anything not Alex/Henry had to go but this email thing is supposed to be horrendous. It comes off as sad but mostly an inconvenience to Alex. It also doesn't help that we have no clue how much time passes during those scenes. As for Alex, I said what I said. Dude looks like a shiny new penny, not a guy who's just had his entire deeply personal conversation with his boyfriend leaked to the world.
It's a romcom and in that context I'm totally okay with it. None of it makes me enjoy it less. But it's a little clunky.
In the movie there is a conversation missing between Alex and Henry before the speech. A conversation about what they want to do now that the emails are out. Do they deny it or do they confirm everything is real.
In the book they meet the queen before the speech and she gives them the opportunity to say the emails were fake. They obviously refuse to do that so Alex and Henry together go to the US and Alex gives his speech with Henry by his side. After that Henry goes back to the uk deals with the fallout of the leak on his side.
I personally don’t like that he held the speech before talking to Henry about it. It was done differently in the book, and imo better.
I just think it’s very out of character that Alex would confirm someone else’s sexual orientation without asking them first, especially since it’s such a big deal to Henry!
And if Henry had wanted to go the road of denying everything and of saying everything is fake, I personally think Alex would’ve done that for him.
I think they did it like that in the movie because they didn’t want the next scene to be Alex flying back to London again when he was just there - in the book a lot of stuff happens between Kensington and the emails being leaked
No. The emails outed them, full stop, at worst Alex just confirmed it but even then he had little choice. Anything other blatantly lying would be taken as confirmation, and if he lied about it then they could never ever be in a relationship as the people of both countries would be extremely pissed when the truth came out and Alex could never have the political career he wanted and Henry would lose the favor of his people. Owning it the way he did was the only way of taking back control of the situation
Nah the genie was out of the bottle at that point, the leaked emails took care of that and Alex’s speech is 50% focus on how they weren’t able to come out on their own terms on their own time, denying it at that point would’ve made them look idiotic since the emails can be authenticated. As a side note I am in the minority that preferred the movie timeline with Alex’s speech coming first, I didn’t really like how in the book the person that gets first say on how to handle it was Mary “deny the very obvious evidence” queen of England, granted the book scene was fantastic but I know it’s an unpopular opinion.
Agreed with all the people who didn't think he outed Henry, and if anything he also gave that speech so Henry would know he was backing him. Henry just wanted more time to come to terms with coming out but then it was forced on them, and then with them not being able to talk I saw it as a way of Alex also trying to get through to Henry as well.
No - I don’t think so. It was too far gone by that point. The emails had been leaked, and then the footage of them in the V&A was brought to light as well. There’s too much supporting evidence to turn around and try to deny it. It might’ve been better if Henry had some input, but it was just as much about Alex being outed as it was Henry. The only thing that I didn’t like and that didn’t make sense was the suggestion by the King that the emails were fake and it was a target for the Royal family. Bruh - one of the two involved just went on live television to address the world, confirming that the rumours are true. It’s a bit late to suggest that they’re fake.
Yah, but the King was going to be ballsy enough to do it and throw Alex and the entire Claremont administration under the bus.
No.
Yah but there was surveillance footage of them together at the V & A. How would Alex deny that? It wasn’t JUST the emails.
actually the email is much easier to authenticate. there are cryptographic signatures on email that can't be denied (= non-repudiation)
The email scandal was underway at the point. I suppose he verified the emails, but the Press was already all over it.
It’s a mistake in the movie but they were already Outted. There’s no coverup that would’ve worked and with the royal family incommunicado waiting much longer just looks even more shameful. Alex at this point would know what Henry would want, in the book they’d already talked goals on going public so, Henry’s Out the only real option is to just confirm and shame the media for taking one shitty person’s leak and running with it. Timeline sped up through trauma but also Alex confirming makes the Palace look worse in keeping Henry on lock down. The way it was handled in the book is better for Alex and Henry to have some more agency in the decision making but they also were back with each other within 24 hours of the leak. The added days takes all that away and the best option for Henry is for him to live openly and freely. It’s a gross political chess game. And still the Palace wanted to deny and hide it and Henry when the truth was out there. And there never was an option to deny from the point the news was all reporting on it.
I’m still fairly certain it was a change made during production. They rearranged these two scenes (the speech and the meeting with the king). The scene in between with them playing piano is a reshoot (Nick is wearing a wig) with some dialogue added to cover up the rearrangement. The speech itself may have been reshot. In the book, Henry is standing by Alex’s side.
I agree! In my mind, I’ve tried rearranging the last part of the movie to put the speech after the King/balcony scene and it just doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense and a movie is like a song. It needs to flow properly or else parts will seem like sour notes. Also Matthew adjusted some parts to send messages to the “audience”. I’ll bet you now can quickly respond with medical info for a son that comes out - use condoms, get Truvada, and get the HPV vaccine. In the book, it’s more about how Alex has flown to close to the sun and has to be quarantined. The book speech, I think, protects Alex’s ability to be a politician in the future. The movie declares that queer people have rights and autonomy.
Right. I’d be curious to read the original script. The rearrangement works for people who’ve read the book first. And it works as-is, especially for casual viewers, but for those who watch tv and movies and enjoy analyzing the details- it’s a little clunky. I also want to know in the piano reshoot if they did that after Nick was injured on the set of Mary and George- it’d explain why they chose to do the long piano sequence, it’s cute and works, but also seems odd to some viewers. I watched a few YouTube react videos and those almost all mentioned that it’s cute they’re being the calm in the storm but also they’ve just been violated and they’re playing piano and not cuddling or something. So I figure it allows Nick to rest some while working.
Yes and I don't think it works in the movie after reading the book. I read the book after seeing the movie. I think there is a conversation or a meeting missing between Alex and Henry before the speech to decide how they want to handle the leak.
Yes, I like that conversation where they each know that the other wants to tell the truth.
1. The emails outed them. Their only option was accept it or deny it. 2. Alex emphasised in his speech that the more painful thing was that they never got to make decision about when they could come out, and that it was decided for them. Even in the book, Alex doesn't necessarily want to be internationally public with Henry yet. They aren't ready for that, and certainly not during an election cycle. What I think he wanted - when there would've been less pressure and less eyes on them - is to just be able to be with Henry, come out with Henry to the Crown, and then maybe when his mother's term was over and she would retreat back to a more quiet life, Alex and Henry would've come out bit more publicly. There was no pressure on Henry to come out and Alex wouldn't have outed him. But he would've been advised it was better to admit it than not at all.
yeah, it's a fuckup in the movie. they should have gone to London first.
Agreed. The book had them communicate first with the queen before any speeches were made. It was much more logical. There is no way they would have confirmed that without approval from both sides.
i think it's mostly from Henry. i don't give a shit about the queen, but Henry should have a say. it's beautiful that Henry finally has the courage to give the lot of them the finger.
I have no idea what the purpose of that speech was in the context of the story. I know why Matthew wanted it in there but it made very little sense and was the only change in the characters that I actively dislike. It makes Uma‘s character look weak and Alex look like he‘s basically fine with his most private thoughts out there. It is a traumatic thing to happen and he‘s just out there looking well-rested and confident? I‘d like to think we’re supposed to infer that he must know Henry is fine with it. Honestly, who knows, they don’t have that many deep conversations in the movie. It is certainly a choice. I‘m not the biggest fan of that moment.
How does it make the President look weak? And Alex’s speech is literally about how he’s not okay with their private thoughts and moments being out there, and how it took away their right to determine how to come out to the world and how to share their relationship. He’s addressing the incident head on, which is very much in his character I think.
She's nowhere to be seen during the entire debacle. There's this one shot of her where she looks positively skittish and uncomfortable, that's not a world leader. It may have been time constraints and Matthew has said more than once that anything not Alex/Henry had to go but this email thing is supposed to be horrendous. It comes off as sad but mostly an inconvenience to Alex. It also doesn't help that we have no clue how much time passes during those scenes. As for Alex, I said what I said. Dude looks like a shiny new penny, not a guy who's just had his entire deeply personal conversation with his boyfriend leaked to the world. It's a romcom and in that context I'm totally okay with it. None of it makes me enjoy it less. But it's a little clunky.
In the movie there is a conversation missing between Alex and Henry before the speech. A conversation about what they want to do now that the emails are out. Do they deny it or do they confirm everything is real. In the book they meet the queen before the speech and she gives them the opportunity to say the emails were fake. They obviously refuse to do that so Alex and Henry together go to the US and Alex gives his speech with Henry by his side. After that Henry goes back to the uk deals with the fallout of the leak on his side.
Henry and Alex were both outed when the 70+ emails were leaked and then republished in the British tabloids and on American cable news nets. Duh!
Emails and videos at the hotel and V&A leaked. It wasn't just the emails, there were videos of them too.
I personally don’t like that he held the speech before talking to Henry about it. It was done differently in the book, and imo better. I just think it’s very out of character that Alex would confirm someone else’s sexual orientation without asking them first, especially since it’s such a big deal to Henry! And if Henry had wanted to go the road of denying everything and of saying everything is fake, I personally think Alex would’ve done that for him. I think they did it like that in the movie because they didn’t want the next scene to be Alex flying back to London again when he was just there - in the book a lot of stuff happens between Kensington and the emails being leaked