When Red, White, and Royal Blue was released on Prime Video on August 10th, fans were quick to notice that a beloved moment from the book that was included in the trailer was missing from the final cut. They eventually spent a week pestering director Michael López and the movie’s official Twitter account as a result. Well, anyone who was part of that campaign can breathe a sigh of relief. The powers that be gave in and released the deleted scene to celebrate the critically lauded LGBTQ rom-com becoming the streamer's No. 1 movie worldwide.
For context, the cut scene takes place at Kennington Palace hours after Alex Claremont-Diaz is flown back to England after the “Cakegate” disaster. Said incident left him and His Royal Highness Prince Henry covered in a $75,000 cake at Prince Phillip’s royal wedding. In the footage, Alex is FaceTiming his best friend, Nora, to vent about Prince Henry. Check it out:
As a massive fan of the book (seriously, I have multiple annotated copies), I was glad Prime Video decided to share the footage. That's especially because it stayed pretty true to the scene originally written by Casey McQuiston for the book. Plus, it’s fun watching Alex and Henry navigate their alleged hate for each other while shamelessly bantering and flirting.
I mean, who doesn’t want to watch a confident Alex tease Henry every chance he gets? No matter how hard he tries to deny it, even Henry can’t help but fall victim to Alex’s annoying charm. In fact, the omitted moment might be the first time fans get a sense of Henry’s true feelings since his face softens after Alex creates the iconic social media post.
While it’s nice to see the deleted “Cornetto Scene” (as fans have affectionally dubbed it) get some much-deserved love, I’m still wondering why on Earth they decided to cut it from the final version. It might seem like a simple filler-type of moment to the casual viewer, but die-hard fans like myself understand that it's pivotal in showing Alex and Henry’s early love-hate relationship dynamic.
8 Differences Between The Red, White and Royal Blue Book And The Movie
It also gives much-needed context to a scene that would and should have succeeded it. Without the moment, Red, White and Royal Blue goes straight from Alex’s arrival in London to a hilarious and tense interview montage that sees him and Henry trying to act like best friends. At one point during the aforementioned interview montage, Henry mentions that Alex is extremely loud about his opinions. While the comment sort of makes sense given what the movie has shown about Alex, the sequence's inclusion would've added even more depth since it shows Henry walking in on Alex loudly bad-mouthing him to Nora.
The “Cornetto Scene” seriously would have fit so perfectly into the final cut, and I can’t help but hope it's eventually edited into the movie. Us Red, White and Royal Blue fans are just never satisfied! In fact, many have moved on from the key moment and have started begging Prime Video to release the Kennington Palace breakfast scene that was also featured in the trailer but missing from the movie. Maybe, if the film stays in Prime Video’s top 10 this week, the company will end up releasing that, too. That milestone feels tangible, as the flick is certainly on its way to being considered one of the best romantic comedies of all time.
Until then, I’ll be busy rewatching Red, White and Royal Blue using my Prime Video subscription and pausing at the right moment to watch the “Cornetto Scene” on YouTube!
