Season 3 Young Royals (Version 1)

62. Interview 1

The Queen came back into the parlor with Jan Olof close behind. To Wilhelm she seemed concerned but was hiding it expertly as usual. He had been focused on Simon and the hairstylist.

Wilhelm made eye contact with his mother and squinted his eyes at her as a way of questioning what was going on.

She came over to the boys first and greeted them.

"Hello, Simon, how are you?" She smiled at him. Simon was almost too surprised to reply, but gave her a quick, nervous response.

The hairstylist tidied up his kit, understanding that it was his cue to leave them.

"Älskling, we don't have Rosenqvist today. It's a Miss Hansen instead. Jan Olof says she's fine, but I'm not familiar with her." She turned slightly back towards Jan Olof and then back to the boys.

Wilhelm understood why she looked concerned and he trusted his mother's instinct, and absolutely did not trust Jan Olof.

"Just politely decline anything you don't feel comfortable answering."

The boys nodded.

"Miss Hansen won't ask anything that would make either of you uncomfortable I'm sure." Jan Olof said in his gruff voice.

The Queen looked over to Jan Olof skeptically again. "I hope not." She seemed much more reluctant than usual, at least to Wilhelm.

"Whenever you're ready, Kronprinsen, she's waiting in the next room." Jan Olof pointed in the direction of the usual room they used for interviews.

"Ok, are you ready, Simon?" Wilhelm asked looking over to him, smiling at him, trying to encourage him and hoping to make him feel less nervous.

"I think so, yeah." He stood up and followed Wilhelm who went behind Jan Olof into the parlor. The Queen and Linda stayed behind initially.

The interviewer stood as they entered and made her way past the cameras and light stands to greet the boys, smiling widely and shaking their hands. Jan Olof made introductions and Miss Hansen invited the boys to sit down.

The Queen decided she would sit off to the side in the room where they were being interviewed, just off camera in case she was needed. Linda followed. Jan Olof tried to convince them to return to the parlor and watch from there but they refused politely.

Simon was sat closest to Miss Hansen and Wilhelm sat to his left, close enough they they were nearly touching. Both faced her and the camera. The interview began. Hansen made a short introduction to the audience then addressed and greeted the Crown Prince and Simon. They returned the greeting, Simon slightly more shy than Wilhelm.

Simon smiled at his mom then turned his attention to the interviewer.

After a few simple questions about school and friends, mostly for Wilhelm, Hansen suddenly changed her demeanor toward the boys.

"We've asked what our viewers are most curious to know and they have a lot of questions for you, Simon."

Simon's eyes got wide. He managed to smile meekly and give an "ok."

Wilhelm looked over to his mother and lifted his head slightly, making sure she was paying close attention.

"Firstly, what's it like being in a relationship with the Crown Prince?"

Simon blinked as he thought quickly and looked around the room. He smiled and chuckled slightly, but hesitated a moment.

"Ehh, I guess like being in any relationship. It's my first though, so I can't really compare."

"But weren't you in another relationship recently?"

Wilhelm was taken aback but didn't know what if anything he should say.

"Ehh, no. It wasn't really a relationship..." Simon spoke hesitantly, and looked around again, searching for some sort of help.

No one said anything, but Kristina nodded at him, trying to encourage him not to be nervous. She was hiding her own annoyance at the line of questioning and was on the verge of stopping the interview. 

"Ah, well, he seemed to have a lot to say about you recently."

Simon started to feel angry at the intrusive questions, and he couldn't help but respond in a slightly more sarcastic tone.

"He does, I guess, but I don't have anything to say about him." He lifted his eyebrows.

Wilhelm tried to hide the smirk that came to his lips from the sassy clapback Simon had given this woman.

Wilhelm saw the glint in his mother's eyes and hoped she approved but it was hard to tell. Hansen didn't hesitate to respond.

"It seems like it's been fairly dramatic so far, your relationship with the Crown Prince, wouldn't you say, Simon?"

"Mmm, no. Our relationship has been normal I think." He said it in a slightly defiant tone that Wilhelm knew and he wondered if Simon had just decided to lie at this point because he was sick of the questions.

"No? I mean, what with the sex video and everything...wouldn't you consider that dramatic?"

Wilhelm was actually shocked that she'd brought up the video and couldn't hide how upset he felt suddenly. He even opened his mouth to interject but Simon continued before he could.

"Well, the relationship wasn't ever the problem. It was more people's interest in the relationship of two sixteen year old boys...that's been the problem."

Simon lifted an eyebrow at Hansen as he said the last part so that she would understand his meaning.

Wilhelm couldn't stop himself from smirking as he looked at Simon's profile, just amazed at how confident he was, but still, Wilhelm felt extremely stressed.

"So would you say you resent people's interest in the Crown Prince?" Hansen still wasn't ready to back down.

Simon looked at Wilhelm as if to ask if she were serious. He was shocked that she was pretending not to understand.

Wilhelm decided to take over before Simon said something he'd regret.

"I think he clearly means interest that's based on ulterior motives."

"What ulterior motives do you see people having?"

Wilhelm looked at his mother questioningly and she nodded slightly.

"People can take advantage when we let them get close to us. It's just a reality of being born into this family." Wilhelm shrugged and added, "but in this case it was someone we thought we could trust. It's in the past though and I'd rather move on from it if you have other questions." He managed to maintain a polite tone.

Wilhelm saw his mother smile slightly from the other side of the cameras and was relieved.

"Alright, Kronprinsen, how do you feel about the relationship with Simon?"

"I'm really happy with it." He looked at Simon for a moment who smiled without looking directly at Wilhelm.

Miss Hansen hardly paused and then asked, "Another question we've received for Simon since no one's ever heard his side of things before is: what do you think about the need for an heir from the Crown Prince and how your relationship will affect that?"

Wilhelm suddenly looked over at Simon, then at the reporter, with his mouth agape.