#people who are anti-monarchy are gonna want to use that as leverage

[the-words-we-sung]

I don't mind people disagreeing over Wille and Simon's future and if they can or cannot lead an 'ordinary' life but as the son of a Monarch, (so as a Prince) it's hard to call Wilhelm's life 'ordinary'. As op says, he will still live an incredibly privileged life and will still be linked to Royal life, because it'll still be his family (except if he decides to cut all ties with them but we have zero indication that he would ever wanna do that).

For my part, I don't believe they can live just a normal life anytime soon (also, not gonna lie, it's not something that I'm really interested in story-wise), if it ever happens, it will take them quite a while to get there because of the situation they're in at the end of season 3.

Even if we take into consideration that they are Swedish royals and not British royals (so have less of a following, less people interested in them as op and the addition both said), a lot of things still happened that made Wilhelm (and Simon) quite front and center in the public eye:

There was a sex tape uploaded of the Crown Prince and his boyfriend

The Crown Prince officially denied it was him in it

Then he made a speech to say it was actually him, and in the process came out as dating Simon, on television

These first points and their fallout in the show really highlight that people DO care about royals (or at least about the Crown Prince): lots of headlines in journals, lots and lots of online comments, people recognizing Simon in the street (supermarket scene for example or May Day), Simon's house getting attacked, etc. So they have a huge spotlight on them, the public is interested. And if we go on with the decision Wilhelm makes in the finale episode:

The Crown Prince is going to renounce his title

There is not official heir that people are aware of at that time

The Royal Court is gonna (try to) make August the next Crown Prince

Wilhelm's decision is gonna add even more of a spotlight on him and Simon! The whole country is gonna wonder what will happen to the monarchy, people are gonna wonder why Wilhelm is stepping down just after announcing to the world that he's in a relationship with another man. These things are not ordinary, they will be discussed everywhere. Sweden might not care about their royals the way Britain seems to, but these actions are unprecedented and are gonna have a lasting effect on the country.

So all of that to say that Wilhelm and Simon living an ordinary life might happen at some point, but clearly not before quite a long time. People will be interested. People will want to understand what happened. It'll take a lot of time before it all dies down.

(And them leaving to live and hide in another country is a nice idea but not what I would call ordinary. And would Simon really leave his whole family and his friends? I can see him not spending his entire life in his hometown of course, but leaving the country is still quite a big decision, and something they definitely won't do immediately since Simon is still 16 at the end of the show).

Thinking about ordinary.

Particularly in the context of 'Wille will never be able to lead an ordinary/normal life' (true) 'and therefore the ending doesn't work because abdicating doesn't actually solve his problems' (oof...I see where you're coming from but I've got to strongly disagree).

[Yes, I know it's not technically abdication, it's just a convenient shorthand!]

Wille will never be able to lead an ordinary life if by ordinary you mean a life like Simon would have led if they'd never met. He'll always be the son of a monarch, he'll always have been famous since birth, he'll always be ridiculously wealthy and privileged. But would he eventually be able to lead an 'ordinary' life by the standards of any privileged trust fund baby whose parent is a major public figure? Yeah, I think so.

There's a world of difference between being famous/wealthy/privileged but able to choose how to live your life - including the ability to choose a very private life if you want one - and being the literal head of state with absolutely no choice in the matter.

And yeah, I'm thinking about this because of all the footage of Harry and Meghan and their slightly odd pseudo-royal tour on the news. Which isn't a dig at H&M, I have no strong feelings about them one way or the other, but I've seen them used as a stick to beat the YR ending with ('it'll never work, look at Harry and Meghan'!). But Wille and Simon aren't Harry and Meghan.

And I don't just mean because they're fictional and H&M aren't, though actually you know what, that's important - it means that if I want to headcanon they can lead a fairly normal life once Wille's out of the line of succession then I can, nothing's stopping me. But also I cannot see Wilmon ever choosing to stay in the limelight by doing a tell-all Oprah interview, or a book or a podcast or a documentary, and I definitely can't see them doing a semi-royal tour where cameras follow them everywhere and where they sit in chairs(/thrones) and look awkward while people perform traditional dances for them. (Again, no shade! The circumstances and the people are very different, that's my point.)

I could see Wille going into academia or writing books about poetry, or maybe he owns a horse sanctuary and gets Sara to run it, or he co-owns a restaurant with Felice. Or all of the above, why not. He probably can't ever go and get a 'normal' job, but he won't need one - he'd have plenty of money to live on if he's living a fairly humble, non-extravagant lifestyle, and again, he's fictional, I can believe he'd happily do that with Simon if I want to.

Maybe they'd live abroad for a while to escape the attention - because with the best will in the world, the Scandinavian monarchies aren't worldwide famous in the way Diana and her children are, and Wille's video/speech/abdication would be a five minute wonder and probably quickly forgotten outside Sweden.

This is getting longer than I meant it to so I'll leave it there without going into Simon and how he fits into it all, because that's another three thousand words lol. Maybe I'll do a part 2. 😂