Red, White & Royal Blue

After he gets back to England, Henry emails Alex. It’s been a week of boring meetings, and he’s too busy thinking about Alex to be at all useful in them. He mentions that King James I was gay, and he’d likely have sympathy for Henry. Alex emails back, threatening to fly to London to pull Henry out of meetings so they can have sex instead. When Henry replies, he describes the difficulty his press team had coming up with Henry’s (supposed) favorite English author—his first choice, George Eliot, was a woman, and they lost it when Henry suggested Jonathan Swift (he was Irish and a political satirist). Personally, Henry thinks Dickens was a hilarious choice—he wrote some pretty dramatic female characters. Henry’s actual favorite English author is Jane Austen, and he includes a quote from Sense and Sensibility. He can’t wait to see Alex again, hopefully soon.

Alex doesn’t worry about using a private email server—it doesn’t feel important right now. Henry’s emails become a lifeline for Alex as the campaign heats up, as Republicans smear Ellen and make racist comments about Alex and June, and as WASPy Hunter continues to be obnoxious. Annoyingly, Alex is in Nevada for his first D.C. Pride since his “awakening.” But he’s thrilled when, soon after, Ellen agrees to do a rally in Houston amid numbers suggesting Texas might be a battleground state now. The line is extremely long, and Alex feels vindicated.

However, Alex’s happiness disappears when he gets to work on Monday and finds WASPy Hunter holding the Texas Binder. Hunter asks what it is, but he also suggests that Texas is “backwards” and will never go blue. Alex spits that there are White supremacists in blue states too—but Hunter just laughs and says that people in red states consistently vote against their interests. Alex snaps. It’s their job, he says, to show those people that they care. The candidate they’re both working for is from Texas, the Klan is active in every state, and Hunter doesn’t get to pretend that this isn’t their problem to help solve. Alex storms out with the binder and signs up for the LSAT.

Alex receives an expensive invitation from Buckingham Palace, inviting him to attend Wimbledon. He heckles Henry about it but agrees, so on July 6, Alex follows Henry to the Royal Box and insists he can handle the likes of Philip. Bea joins them as they take their seats, which are front and center. She insists that the photographers can’t tell from this distance that Henry and Alex are sexually involved. Philip and Martha show up hours later, and Philip immediately begins insinuating that Henry has been wasting his gap year and insulting Pez for being “peculiar” (which is implied to mean Black and fashionable). Henry, Philip insists, should consider friends that are of “similar standing” to his own. He’ll never find a wife if he keeps on the way he currently is.

Henry excuses himself. Alex finds him 10 minutes later, and Henry asks to show him the clubhouse. They go inside, find a supply closet, and decide to have sex to spite Henry’s family. Then, Henry’s security people sneak them to Kensington Palace and up to Henry and Bea’s rooms. There’s some evidence that Bea lives here, but little that Henry does. It makes Alex sad. The music room is the only one that looks like it’s actually lived in. Henry sits at the piano and, with Alex’s prodding, plays some Wagner and Brahms and explains the difference between the two composers. After playing his favorite sonata, Henry transitions into “Your Song” by Elton John. Alex tells himself he isn’t here to fall in love with Henry. They go back to Henry’s room and have sex all afternoon. Alex can’t sleep, but he tells himself it’s jetlag.

It’s the week before the Democratic National Convention, and Alex pretends to vomit as he watches Richards tout his youth outreach program on TV at work. Alex has been pestering Luna all week, and it’s well known that Stanley Conner is joining Richards’s cabinet. Ellen is on edge, and Alex misses Henry, who’s in New York with Pez for a fundraiser. They can’t see each other, though. On the plane to the DNC, it comes out that Zahra has a long-distance boyfriend, which piques June, Alex, and Cash’s interest. As they’re pestering her, Zahra sees something on her phone that clearly shocks her. Luna, she says, is joining Richards’s cabinet.

Outside the hotel elevator, June speaks to a Post reporter while Alex looks on. She refuses to say anything about Luna, except that Ellen intends to win. Then she sweeps Alex into the elevator and into her room, where she explains that she slept with this reporter last year and, like Alex, feels extremely betrayed by Luna. She tells Alex to wake her up after the general election, and Cash takes Alex downstairs to the hotel bar. Alex wishes he could talk to Henry when Henry appears next to him. Henry explains he was worried and sent Pez home. It’s nice, Alex thinks, to let someone else besides June worry about him. Once Henry has finished his drink, Alex almost drags him upstairs. He kisses Henry, but Henry suggests they talk about what happened instead.

Groaning, Alex explains that he’s been in awe of Luna for years now and wanted to be like him. Luna is caring, queer, Latino, and being like him seemed like a more attainable goal than being like Ellen or Oscar. Now, Alex just feels naïve and like Luna sold out. Henry suggests that this doesn’t change anything about Alex, but Alex explains that he just wanted to be the kind of person who believes the best of people. Again, Henry assures Alex that he’s a good person, and it’s good he cares. They have sex and fall asleep. 

Alex wakes up to Zahra pounding on his door. His phone is dead, so his alarm didn’t go off and he missed her calls. Zahra calls that she’s coming in, so Alex, cursing, wakes Henry and shoves him into the closet. Zahra bursts in and, seeing Henry’s phone, asks who “she” is. Henry promptly tumbles out of the closet, still mostly naked. Zahra curses. She confirms that the paperwork is all taken care of and asks how long Alex and Henry have been seeing each other. Alex asks her not to tell Ellen. Zahra spits that it’s a huge liability for Alex to be having sex with a man, especially this particular man, at the DNC, in the middle of a close race. She won’t tell Ellen, but Alex has to tell her after the convention is over. Alex needs to be downstairs in five minutes, and Henry needs to leave the country.