#siblings young royals

[raincitygirl76]

I wonder how much of the Sargust fallout in 2.06 was due to August being an only child…

He clearly did not anticipate Sara reacting as badly as she did to finding out that her boyfriend had used her tipoff to blackmail her little brother. He probably figured she wouldn’t be happy. But her level of betrayal seemed to catch August off guard. But then, August doesn’t know what it’s like to be truly pissed off at your sibling, but they’re still your sibling.

I had a fight with my sister on the weekend, and we just made up via text. We’re both gone 40 and she’s married with 2 kids (who have their own sibling rivalry issues). But she’s still my little sister, and fighting with her is still not fun.

Sara in 1.06 was not happy with Simon, and I suspect that made it easier for her to cut that deal with August. Judging by 1.06, August could have assumed that Sara doesn’t like Simon very much, and won’t particularly care what August does to him. But again, August has no siblings.

Sara cut a deal with August in 1.06 when she felt betrayed by her brother and panic-stricken at the thought of her mother forcing her to return to the old school where she had been viciously bullied. But eventually Sara’s anger at her little brother cooled. And he remained her little brother.

A few months pass. Simon and Sara aren’t as close as they used to be, with Sara boarding at Hillerska this term. And Sara is preoccupied with both her secret romance and the pending sale of Rousseau. But Simon still tells her when he finds out it was August who leaked the video. And Sara tells August what Simon told her, expecting him to do the right thing. Is she naive for thinking that? Yes. But she’s also only 18 and in love.

Then August uses her information, not to confess his crime to the police “spontaneously” before Simon can turn him in. But instead to blackmail Simon with something or other (Sara doesn’t know the specifics) so Simon can’t turn him in. Sara must be doubting at this point whether she ever meant anything to August, or if he was just using her to keep her quiet about what she knew.

As it happens she’s wrong about that, but it’s not unreasonable for her to doubt August’s motives for pursuing her, given what she’s just found out about how he used the information she gave him. Note on the shooting range she says “Because I was in love with him.” Past tense. Not “Because I’m in love with him,” present tense.

Furthermore, when she tells the truth, partly because she fears Wilhelm will blow August’s head off, Simon is devastated. He trusted Sara, and she betrayed that trust. She betrayed it more than once, has had this information since December and got involved with August anyway. I don’t think it really hits Sara until this point just how badly she’s fucked up, or just how devastated Simon is.

He’s her little brother, he’s in pain, she wants to hurt the person who hurt him. But the person who hurt him is her. She did this to him. Sara is not a forgiving person, look at how she decisively cut Micke out of her life. She must be fearing that she’s ruined her relationship with her only sibling for the rest of her life, that he will never forgive her.

I personally think Simon will forgive Sara eventually. But Sara knows what it’s like to be betrayed by an immediate family member, and knows she will never forgive Micke. It’s not difficult to imagine Sara extrapolating from her own experience, and believing Simon will permanently cut her out of his life the way she has permanently cut their father out of her life.

So she’s hurt her only sibling very badly, and for what? For a guy who turned out to be a duplicitous asshole and used her tipoff to hurt her brother. Again.

And August thinks she’ll simmer down. Yeah, she walked away from him on the shooting range, but he approaches her the following morning confidently. He has an ace in the hole to get his girlfriend to stop flipping out: he’s bought Rousseau for her. August (again, an only child) assumes the gift of Rousseau will be sufficient recompense for deep-sixing Sara’s relationship with her brother.

It isn’t sufficient recompense, and August is taken aback when Sara refuses the magnificent gift. But August doesn’t understand the push-pull of sibling dynamics. That Sara is experiencing family loyalty at a very inconvenient time (from August’s point of view).

August’s father is dead, he’s clearly not close to his mother, and he hates his stepfather’s guts. And he has no siblings, nobody else who understands what it was like to grow up at Arnas with Carl Johan and Louise Horn as their parents.

He was pretty close to his second cousin Erik before Erik wrapped his Ferrrari around a tree. But it seems like that friendship didn’t really get close until a traumatized, recently bereaved 16 year old August showed up at Hillerska as a first year and Erik (then a third year) took August under his wing.

August and Erik knew each other all their lives, but they were only close for about 2 years. And given they first got close at 16 (August) and 18 (Erik), that’s not actually analogous to a sibling relationship. Erik was already old enough to drink and vote, and August only a few years off. That’s not spending your childhood together.

And we’ve seen how superficial August’s friendships with his two best friends at Hillerska are. In S1, August and Vincent trash talk Nils behind his back for being nouveau riche. In S2, given an opportunity, Vincent sells August out, and Nils helps Vincent do so. August does not have any siblings, nor any sibling-like relationships where mutual loyalty is crucial.

So August sees Sara sell Simon out in 1.06 and takes that at face value. He doesn’t realize that Sara is angry with Simon at that point, but will get over it. Because August doesn’t understand the messiness of sibling relationships. Or their importance.

I know adults who have cut siblings out of their lives because that sibling had hurt them so grievously they said enough. But I don’t know anyone who has cut a sibling out of their life without giving it serious thought beforehand. Even if they’re better off without that sibling in their life, it’s still a huge decision. Sometimes it’s a bigger decision than cutting a parent out of their life.

Matters are complicated somewhat by divorce, remarriage, half-siblings, step-siblings, etc. obviously. But generally speaking, if you spent a significant chunk of your childhood living in the same house as someone, the decision to cut them out of your life is a very serious one.

My best friend has two older half siblings she is not close to and has never been close to. But one is 20 years her senior and the other 18 years her senior. She is the only child of her father’s second marriage, and she acts like an only child. The combination of her father’s divorce from his first wife and the massive age gap means she has very few shared experiences with her half-siblings. Now, part of that is on her dad. But part of it is simply that both her half siblings are old enough they could be her parents themselves.

So yeah, August was raised as an only child. Even if it turns out Carl Johan fathered another child out of wedlock at some point, that hypothetical half-sibling didn’t grow up with Carl Johan. There might be curiosity, it might even lead to a bond eventually, but there won’t be the shared childhood experiences.

Whereas Sara and Simon are full siblings close in age. Furthermore, they grew up together, in a traumatic family situation with a father who was an addict (and possibly abusive to boot) and a mother who meant well but was struggling to cope. Even if Simon and Sara never reconnect, they will still always have those shared experiences of growing up as Micke and Linda Eriksson’s children.

So I really don’t think August saw Sara’s total disillusionment with him in 2.06 coming. Because August isn’t anyone’s brother and doesn’t really get it.

[raincitygirl76]

That prediction didn’t age very well. Oh well, the OP can’t get them all right, nobody can. But I was really hoping for that in S3 too.

Instead in S3 Felice and to a lesser extent Sara just got siloed off each in their own plotline that didn’t interact much with Wilmon.

This scene is a foreshadowing of season 3 where Wille and Felice will help Simon and Sara communicate and connect together again. Mark my words.

[raincitygirl76]

Excellent YR edit on YouTube about Wilhelm and his family. The maker, PointlesFunEdits does not appear to have presence on Tumblr. So if you enjoyed the edit, I encourage you to give them a like on YouTube, and maybe check out their other edits as well. Link to their profile on YouTube below.

[raincitygirl76]

I was rewatching YR 2.02 last night and I was wondering something. Does anybody know which video game is on the big screen TV in the flashback scene when Erik gives Wilhelm the frog Prince snow globe?

It looks to me like a paused video game, rather than a paused movie. But I don’t know how easy it is to tell one video game from another based on a still. Not being a gamer myself.

Thank you.

Edited to add: @sflow-er has informed me it’s a game called A Way Out. It’s the same game Simon was playing in 1.01.

[the-words-we-sung]

Day 6: Sara

Siblings

For Simon’s Month 2024 hosted by @youngroyals-events

[saynomorefic]

Shout out to all my biracials / biculturals / bilinguals who feel visible and represented thanks to Simon and Sara Eriksson

[raincitygirl76]

I love this flashback. Especially because it says flat out that Erik struggled with the pressure of being Crown Prince of Sweden too. He was just a lot better at hiding it than his little brother is. Projects an image of being the golden boy.

But in an unguarded moment during the flashback, we see that he is, at best, deeply ambivalent about his position. And envious of Wilhelm, who, in spite of being considered the family screw-up, has more freedom as the second son than Erik does as the heir.

Not that Wille has much freedom before Erik dies. But his birth order and rebellious personality give him an outlet that Erik doesn’t have. It’s pretty clear that Erik always conformed and did his duty, regardless of his personal feelings. The weight of the high expectations of his parents and the entire country for him to appear the perfect Crown Prince probably weighed on him. And at least everybody expects Wilhelm to screw up. Everyone expects Erik to appear perfect.

There’s a wonderful short fic by @groenendaelfic which explores the possibility that Erik’s car accident wasn’t an accident after all.

Also, an article about car accidents as a method of suicide:

YOUNG ROYALS (2021—) Season 2, Episode 2

[norahtheweirdo]

POV you and ur the lesbian with your trans bff who are basically like siblings

@olllllllie (ignore all the ones that are in a relationship that’s not us) (also plsssss add ur fandoms if u want 💗💜)

[heartbreakprincewille]

I find it very interesting that both Wille and Simon are younger children in their respective families and they depict the two sides of the same coin of a "parent-younger child" dynamic.

In Wilhelm's case, Kristina and Wilhelm have a very rocky and nuanced relationship. An older sibling, especially who's a "golden child" and is the parent's beloved, sets this road-map for the younger sibling to follow, to walk upon, and the parents usually leave the younger sibling to deal with that road-map alone- after all, "we have done it all the first time with the older child, right? And the younger child has seen it all, right? Then they must know what to do!" Missed school events, constant examples of Erik in a conversation- it's all there in little interactions between them.

But the thing is, the younger sibling is going through life for the first time, just like the older child, and they too need assistance in everything. But if the younger child is left alone to fend for themselves most of the time, they will be lost, so lost. And alone. Wilhelm felt alone even with both of his parents because they were never there for him like they did with Erik. You have to ask for their attention, to guide you just like they guided the older child, and it results in "little rebellions"- going to a public school instead of Hillerska, constant outbursts of anger because nobody is listening. And the thing is, you know your parents love you- they are not like the "fairy-tale bad parent who tortures their own kid", they just love your sibling more- and there's nothing wrong in that, they're also human, and everyone loves their first child to death, right? And they love you! They still support you! But, sometimes, it's just not enough.

But in Simon's case, it's the opposite- when the younger child is the "golden child", it brings a different kind of loneliness. Your sibling loves you, and you love them too, but you are also the target of every frustration they will emancipate of being a "project" for their parents to work on- Sara with her neurodivergency and how she dislikes Simon having to look after her all the time. And you can't help it, because how can you stop being "you"?

The parent loves you, but they also assume that you've got your shit together all the time. You have to make a roadmap for yourself, and you feel lost making it, and even more lost navigating the wobbly sketches all by yourself. You suppress your emotions, because any display of trouble will be worrisome for your parent, like Simon suppressing his problems about Marcus and extra tutoring fees from Linda. And you just don't know what to do because you're still inexperienced in life and asking for help is not an option.

And maybe that's why they provide each other comfort all the time, because even though they are not aware of each other's issues on the surface, they recognise this loneliness in the other person, and they see their own loneliness inside them, and feel like no one should feel like I did.

[misfithive]

The thing that gets me about this scene is that even after everything Sara did, Simon is still protecting her by not telling their mom what happened at all. And protecting his mom because he probably doesn’t want to worry her or involve her in all the drama. It makes me sad because he really is carrying so much in the family. I’m glad Simon has Rosh and Ayub to talk about things with but being 16 and taking on all that responsibility to look out for everyone else is a lot and people need to give him more credit for that.

[raincitygirl76]

I think Sara did take Simon for granted. Also, she made her deal with August at a time Sara was really pissed at her brother.

Simon got back in touch with their dad after having promised her he wouldn’t. That indirectly led to the proudest night of Sara’s life thus far (playing Lucia) getting ruined by Micke showing up. Simon didn’t tell Micke to come, in fact he expressly asked Micke to stay away from Linda and Sara. But by opening the door to Micke in the first place, Simon contributed to a situation where Micke felt he could walk all over his daughter and ex-wife’s clearly established no contact boundaries.

Furthermore, not only did Micke show up to ruin Sara’s big night, the video leaked at Lucia. Meaning that at school the next day the only thing anybody was talking about was Simon and Wilhelm. They weren’t talking about how beautiful Sara looked the night before, or what a good job she did playing Lucia, they were gossiping about sordid events involving Sara’s brother. In the space of one evening, Simon stole his sister’s thunder twice.

Now, he didn’t do either of those things on purpose. In fact, I’m sure he devoutly wished neither thing had ever happened. The last thing Simon wanted was to steal Sara’s thunder in those ways. But he still did it. Sara was pissed at him, and she had an agenda, and he’d never held a grudge against her for long before. Besides, he was never supposed to find out about August. Or about Sara cutting a deal with August. What Simon didn’t know couldn’t hurt him, I’m sure Sara rationalized.

All that said, it’s interesting how fast and how dramatically Sara course-corrects once she realizes she might have lost Simon’s trust for good in 2.06. She’s spent an entire season minimizing the effects of August leaking the video on her brother. And then Simon finds out about everything, and he’s too betrayed to even yell. He just stares at his sister in disbelief as the bottom drops out of his world. Because Sara took Simon for granted, and Simon likewise. He never in a million years saw this coming. He took for granted that Sara was loyal to him.

And I don’t think Sara realizes until the shooting range scene just HOW badly she’s fucked up here and how much of a betrayal she committed. Simon won’t talk to her, can’t even look at her. He’s completely shut down. And then there’s August, offering feeble rationalizations as Sara watches her brother run away. She realizes she chose August over Simon, and August isn’t half the man she’d convinced himself he was. The trade-off, brother for boyfriend, wasn’t worth it after all.

And Sara’s sabotaged her friendship with Felice to boot, and Felice’s other friends immediately turn on her. Even though they don’t know the true reason why Felice is freaking out and refusing to have anything to do with Sara, they’re taking Felice’s side without question. That social network Sara worked so hard to build at Hillerska over months has crumbled into dust within a few minutes. Another casualty of Sara choosing August over Simon.

Felice can’t even sleep in the same room as Sara, who’s probably wondering how soon until Hillerska find a bullshit reason to take away her boarding grant. So Sara forestalls them and returns home. At least at home Simon will be there. He might ignore her, but maybe if she says she’s sorry often enough he might eventually start to believe her a little.

On the way, Sara runs into August, who still doesn’t really understand how badly both of them fucked up. Who thinks he can make it all up to her with a lavish gift. Rousseau to soothe her heart after she ruined her relationship with her brother on August’s account.

She turns down the lavish gift, even though it must sting. Sara still loves Rousseau, and here he is, within her grasp. But accepting the gift would mean accepting August’s apology and reconciling with him. She won’t do that. Simon already can’t forgive her for having chosen August over him in the past several times. If she chooses August over Simon now, even after she knows exactly who August is, she’ll have zero hope of forgiveness by Simon.

What else can Sara do to show she’s sorry? Show she’s not taking him for granted any longer? Turn August into the police, just as Simon had planned. That will blow up in her face in S3, but she didn’t know. Once Sara finally, finally faces the music and accepts the fact that she’s lost her brother’s trust, perhaps forever, she is quite proactive. She wants to earn Simon’s trust and love back, and will sell August out to do so. She’ll also reject Rousseau, even though he’s her baby.

But I agree, earlier in the show, Sara did take Simon for granted.

The fact that Sara was more worried bout Felice hating her for being with August than being with the person who leaked her brother's sex tape explains a lot about what she wanted at Hillerska.

I do believe she really likes her brother, don't get me wrong, but she suffered at her last school and she suffered in her familly because of Micke. She wanted a new start, she wanted friends, and now that she had them, she didn't want to loose them. She took Simon for granted because he always have been there for her and wasn't worried about loosing him.

[thatsmybook]

When Sara comes to Simon in need of his comfort and fully showing remorse in season three episode five, this is the first time we see Sara vulnerable and open and need her brother for anything in the entire show.

She has always put on a mask of competency and independence with him and pushed his sibling love away. Simon's love language is service, and though Sara has resented his need to take care of her, she has unwittingly been rejecting his love. Simon may have accepted this as just how siblings are with each other or an aspect of her neurodivergence, but it does hurt when she belittles their life and hurts their mom at the end of season one.

I remember his dejected face when she rejects the new jodhpurs present that he and his mum got for her on her 18th birthday in season two, and the offer of coming home for a family birthday dinner to instead have a sleepover party with her Hillis friends. He is understanding. He wants Sara to make friends after all, but you can tell that it hurts a little.

Simon goes to Sara for advice about Wille and Marcus. He leans on her and values her opinion and often acts on what she says (even when she is harsh and mid-argument. An aside: her assessment of Wille needing to be saved and using Simon is always special to me because, though a little too much, it is often accurate.) He is open and vulnerable with the people he loves and appreciates their love when they do the same towards him.

I think it was easier for Simon to forgive Sara when she came to him in tears about their dad. She is finally showing him love in a way that makes him feel useful, respected, and valued.

I also appreciate how being this vulnerable is difficult for Sara. Her growth in seeing strength in vulnerability (herself and Simon) and nuance in being fallible (her dad) has been beautiful to see unfold.

This, and their non-verbal and spoken conversation at the table in the final episode as they talk about where to go to school next, is a continuation of their beautifully reciprocal sibling dynamic. They have both grown so much over their year at Hillerska.

Conflict leading to growth is my favourite thing about Young Royals. I guess that's why they call them growing pains.

[spotaus]

Update: I am writing Reaper as shockingly uneventful and the plot relies heavily on me writing this scene between Geno and Error (I think Reaper doesn't grasp the severity truly until after *that* reunion. And so it's a dogpile of realizations (Angst Moment) only after Geno and Error have *their* angst moment- ) and I don't think I can write their angst tonight cuz I haven't really processed their personalities fully?

Anyways, gonna hop back over to see if the Nightmare's acquisition of Killer drabble or Error gets hired by Night drabble are looking any better.

[vague-homosexual-crimes]

God everything with Erik this season was so heartbreaking. Like you think Wilhelm can’t go through anymore with his brother and then that happens. And he has to deal with the fact that the person he was closest to, who he really trusted, who actually acted like he cared about Wilhelm might have hated who Wilhelm is. That’s devastating

[raincitygirl76]

I agree with the OP that August loves Sara, and he is not personally bothered by her neurodivergence. If anything he finds her inability to act like “normal” people charming and refreshing. Sara has her faults, but there’s no denying she’s fiercely authentic. For August, who is constantly putting on a facade, terrified of what people will think of him, I suspect Sara’s attitude is liberating.

She already knows his most shameful secrets, and she likes him anyway. So he doesn’t have to pretend with her. Keeping up a front all the time is exhausting. Having a person you can be yourself around without being judged for it is would feel safe. Especially since August is someone who canonically keeps up a facade around every person on the planet he’s ever met except Sara.

That said, I don’t think they would’ve worked out long term, especially if August were to become Crown Prince. I think the royal court would’ve been dead against Sara. Her mother’s an immigrant, her dad’s an addict, and her autism spectrum disorder would probably make royal meet and greets tricky. And then there’s the Simon connection. And I think eventually August would’ve come to understand that it wasn’t ever going to be “King August and Queen Sara”. Not if Kristina or the royal court had anything to say about it.

He would’ve been encouraged to move on from a youthful indiscretion and date a more suitable candidate for Crown Princess. And August wants to be king someday very badly. Eventually if his love for Sara had come into conflict with his royal ambitions, the ambitions would’ve won out. Although I think it would’ve been a hard decision for him. Because no neurotypical aristocratic trophy wife will ever see the ugly secret parts of him and want him anyway.

Which is all assuming Sara wouldn’t have dumped him before it got to the marriage proposal stage. Sara is in love for the first time (just like her younger brother). And when the boy she loves betrays her trust in 2.06, she acts decisively. In the shooting range scene, she says “I was in love with him”, past tense. And walks away.

She also refuses her dream gift (Rousseau) as an apology gift from her boyfriend. Granted, August had not originally intended Rousseau as an apology gift. But the confident way he seeks Sara out on Jubilee morning suggests he’s sure his lavish gift will be a decisive factor in her forgiving him. It doesn’t work.

Emotionally, August approaches this jubilee morning conversation as, “My girlfriend and I fought yesterday, and she’s still pissed at me. But my incredibly generous, thoughtful present will help bring her around.” Whereas Sara approaches that same conversation as, “That lying piece of shit I dumped yesterday is trying to bribe me to forgive him. What an asshole. And what a fool I was to ever trust him.” And then as soon as she gets on the bus, she calls the cops on August. She is DONE with him.

Now obviously there could be alternate realities where the shooting range scene (and its knock on effects) never happened. But judging by how decisive Sara is in canon once she’s decided to cut August loose, I think she’d act just as decisively in an AU. Sooner or later she’d realize the August in her head is a better person than the August who actually exists. And dump him.

I think whether august got pressured into dumping Sara by the queen and the royal court, or whether she dumped him, August would always see her as the one who got away.

P.S. I think he’ll go back to being a shitty, selfish asshole in bed with whatever aristocratic woman the royal court picks out for him to marry and breed with. The sex scene between him and Felice in S1 was light years away from the generous lover he was with Sara. Sara actually mattered to him, she wasn’t just a trophy girlfriend. So he prioritized her having a good time too. A future suitable girlfriend/wife, one he’s not crazy about, with a marriage of dynastic convenience? She’s going to have very lousy sex with August. He won’t bother, because she won’t matter, not like Sara did.

August och Sara

Thinking about August again. Thinking about his difference in relationships. Thinking about how he treated Felice vs how he treated Sara.

I think August was — is — genuinely in love with Sara. Like head over heels, the way Wille loves Simon, in love with Sara. It’s even more obvious when you think about how he treats her vs how he treated Felice in season one.

In season one, he says he’s going to marry Felice, but really he means he’s going to sleep with Felice. He tells Erik it’s better to get them when they’re “too insecure to object.” He had no intention of anything serious with Felice. He says he wants to take her on a date. He mentions flying her to a Michelin Star Restaurant, but only after she mentions how the only thing around is the lowly pizza place in Bjärstad. During sex he focused on his own pleasure. He told her not to closer her eyes. He didn’t want to be intimate with her (the position they’re in literally prevents any eye contact). He was using her. Every scene with Felice was impersonal at best. When they took their “relationship” public, he didn’t act much differently. He just walked her over to her friends (notice they didn’t talk about it with his friends) and then he moved on. He kissed her best friend to get back at her for being friends with Wilhelm. When they broke up, he was mostly upset that he was publicly called out. It wasn’t about Felice or losing her.

Now with Sara… Jesus Christ with Sara.

He talks about not just marrying Sara, but making her Queen. And he means it. He has every intention of being serious with Sara and staying serious with Sara. He wants to bring her to the ball. He sets up candles in his room for her with champagne. He waits patiently and plans to take her to the dance, not just see her there or meet her there or take her home after. He wants to do the whole thing. The whole song and dance of taking her as his date. The first time they have sex he immediately makes it about her and she cuts him off and says to stay up with her. He tries to make it about her pleasure and she stops him. In fact, the first time they have sex, he just invited her over to talk. He literally had no intention of sleeping with her. There are many many moments of them lying in bed together and being intimate. He lets her sleep late in his bed. He actively makes sure she gets enough sleep, but also makes sure she has the privacy she wants when she leaves. When she shows up at his door upset he comforts her. He does it in the hallway where anyone can see and he doesn’t care. He wants to be public with Sara (ie the dance invite). When it all goes tits up, he doesn’t break about Sara. She has to be the one that confesses because he won’t do that to her. He literally would have taken the bullet to make sure her friends and family didn’t find out what she did.

But the most damning piece of evidence I have for August being in love with Sara is the fact that he bought that damn horse.

You wanna know how he paid for that horse?

He sold art from his inheritance. He sold a painting. Something that he could get rid of quickly and make money quickly so he could buy that stupid horse that Sara loves so much.

In season one August cannot pay his tuition. His mother tells him to sell a painting because it will pay his tuition “a hundred times over.” Do you know what his response was in that moment?

“I would rather die.”

In season one he would rather die than sell that painting.

August is equating Sara’s unhappiness with death. Literal death.

He could not care less about her imperfections. He does not care that she blew him off a few times. He does not care that she shows up in his room smelling like a horse. He does not care that she’s blunt. He does not care that she’s autistic or has ADHD (which notice he never once took advantage of to fuel his drug habits). He does not care that she’s Simon’s sister. He does not care that, had he one day actually made her a queen, he would have difficulties with introducing her to royalty and the royal life. August does not care.

The only thing he cares about is her.

I’m distraught over this.

[othervee]

Nobility and fertility

Do we ever get an indication that anyone at Hillerska, other than Simon/Sara and of course Wille, has siblings? Any of the little background conversations, etc, does anyone mention a brother or sister at all? I don't remember any.

Kristina herself seems to be an only child, since the closest thing to an extended family seems to be August (who is Wille's second cousin, therefore a child of Kristina's first cousin)

Kristina and Ludvig had two children, probably out of necessity to have the heir and spare

August's father had just one, unless I am mistaken, and no indication that Smysan and Rickard have given him step-siblings

Felice seems to be an only child; she's so warm and loving that I'm sure if she had a sister or brother, they'd be close

And someone (Henry?) mentions that Hillerska's enrollments are dropping, and they thought Wille's presence would help boost them until the video came out.

Isn't it strange that all these wealthy families seem to have just one child? I mean, I have in the past worked with a number of very wealthy families, not nobility but people who regularly appear on the Rich List; the vast majority of those with multi-generational wealth had three or four kids at least.

There's something about the shrinking stock of nobility, particularly in the royal family who are supposed to be Peak Noble, coupled with the cold stone steps and the 'THE SCHOOL IS YOUR LEGACY' plaque... and (as @darktwistedgenderplural and @sillylittleflower have pointed out, the lyrics in certain scenes)... that screams the whole system Hillerska represents is not just outdated, it's literally dwindling and dying. Infertile. Drying up.