It’s October 31, so you know what that means: It’s “Movember” Eve!
And while hairy folks around the world are getting in one last trim before No-Shave November, one star in particular is getting a head start on his ‘stache…
Over the weekend, Swedish Young Royals actor Edvin Ryding posted a series of photos to his Instagram grid, a handful of which featured him sporting some face fur for the first time. It’s a proper mustache reveal!
Best known for playing teenaged heir to the Swedish throne Prince Wilhelm on the hit LGBTQ+ romance, it’s definitely a more grown-up look for the Young Royals star (the actor will turn 21 this coming February).
We fully support this new style for Ryding, one that says loudly and proudly, “I’m an adult now, okay?”, but also, “We’re done filming the television show that’s been my whole life these past three years, so now I can finally look however I want.”
Ryding’s follower count has ballooned to 2.4 million since the premiere of Young Royals on Netflix in 2021, and quite a few of his fans took to the comments to agree that the ‘stache can stay. It’s a hit!
The third season of the hit Swedish romance is on its way. But, what a minute—isn’t something missing?
However, a shocking number of people also chose to log on and be rude, telling the star they’re “disappointed” in his new look, that he should “lose the mustache,” and that he’s only changing his appearance for a relationship.
(Some followers seem to think he’s dating his Young Royals co-star Felicia Maxime—the pair also appear together in Swedish thriller The Abyss and the upcoming Netflix movie A Piece Of You with pop star Zara Larsson.)
Seemingly in response to the negativity, Ryding took to Twitter X to post the following message to the public:
Hello, i’d like to kindly ask you to stop making comments on my physical appearance. It’s making me uncomfortable. Thank you.— Edvin Ryding (@RydingEdvin) October 30, 2023
Immediately, fans came to his defense, calling out all the haters in his Instagram comments and replying to the tweet with messages of encouragement:
“I hate that you even have to tweet that out,” one user writes. “People are so annoying & disrespectful. You are wonderful & perfect in anyway you are comfortable! I just want you to be happy and free to be who you are/want to be!”
Of course, some are ready to go to battle for Ryding:
This isn’t the first time Ryding has had to speak up about remarks on physical appearance or body image.
Since its premiere, Young Royals has been lauded for casting actual young talent to play its teenaged characters instead of, you know, older actors who look like supermodels that have been out of high school for at least 10 years.
Last fall, Ryding talked to Pink News about why its important the series depicts so-called “normal teen bodies” on screen. He said fans have come up to him on the street and shared they “feel seen by the way we portrayed humanity. It’s OK to look different. It’s OK to have acne, it’s OK to have different kinds of body size.”
Young Royals creator Lisa Ambjorn agreed, sharing that they were very intentional when casting the show, setting an age limit to keep things authentic and honest.
Referring to the teen dramas she grew up watching, Abjorn said, “Even if they had a problem I could relate to, I would think, ‘Yeah, but you look like a supermodel. So even if you have this problem, things are gonna go pretty alright.’
“I sometimes call it British casting,” she continued, “where people actually look like humans that you live next door to. And that makes it much more believable.”
She’s got a point, and we have a hunch that maintaining that believability and authenticity is what’s helped build Young Royals extremely loyal and engaged fan base.
A new Netflix video has your very first look at the third and final season of ‘Young Royals.’
And speaking of Young Royals, we were recently treated to a very flirty first glimpse at the third and final season, which Netflix has shared will drop at some point in 2024… in the words of the great Drag Race alum The Vixen, “No! Too vague!” We need answers!
Will Ryding’s mustache stick around for the season three press tour? We guess we’ll see!
(@DannyWxo) October 30, 2023
