Christmas Prince Mystery

Christmas Prince Mystery

Christmas Prince Once upon a time, Netflix’s Christmas Prince saga was a simple rom-com. Girl (iZombie’s Rose McIver) meets European prince (Ben Lamb), girl lies to prince, girl and prince still fall in love, girl becomes royalty. But the ending of 2019’s Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby proves the series is bigger than a mere love story now. A Christmas Prince is officially a holiday whodunit franchise.

In 2018, the Christmas Prince mystery involved cryptocurrency. This year, the big question is who stole a treaty between the very silly fictional governments of Aldovia — home to Queen Amber and King Richard — and Penglia, the newly introduced Asian country Aldovia somehow borders. If the artifact is not recovered and re-signed by midnight on Christmas, a “beshrew,” or a curse, will fall upon Amber and Richard’s unborn baby. Aldovia and Penglia will also technically be at war. It becomes Amber’s job to track down the document and save all she holds dear.
The key to solving Amber’s predicament comes down to some very Game of Thrones-y scheming and centuries-old rumors. Let’s put it all together.
The final act of Royal Baby confirms Mr. Little (Richard Ashton), an Aldovian palace attendant we’ve seen since the original 2017 film, is the culprit. Mr. Little stole the Aldovian-Penglian treaty and hid it in the dungeon. He hoped leaving the document unsigned by its ratification deadline would break the peace agreement it secured, severing his nation’s ties with Penglia forever. As Mr. Little tells the royal family, he had never heard about the treaty’s curse and therefore had no idea his plot could harm the royal baby.
Considering how much plot Royal Baby tosses out — a pregnancy, an engagement, a teen romance, and multibillion dollar global debt are at play here — it’s easy to feel confused by the Mr. Little twist. This entire international incident comes down to a small note Amber finds in one of her Aldovian history books around the movie’s 37-minute mark. Christmas Prince assumes you have been paying very close attention at this point, and remember who Prince Claude of Aldovia and Prince Jun of Penglia are. But, if you haven’t, know those are the two royals who initially signed the peace treaty 600 years ago.
“Did you know that there was a love triangle between Prince Claude and Prince Jun over Claude’s newlywed, Princess Jocelyn?” Amber asks her husband Richard. If that cavalier mention of Jocelyn is confusing to you, don’t be surprised — we have never heard of Jocelyn before, nor will we again in Royal Baby.
“Soon after the royal treaty was signed, Prince Claude was poisoned,” Amber continues. “Many believed Prince Jun did it. The house of Devon, Claude’s family, fell out of power and Claude’s descendants swore vengeance.”
This is our biggest sign that someone in the castle is a descendant of the Devons and stole the treaty as an act of revenge. The fact that Amber mentions reading up on the noble families of Aldovia within the first two minutes of Royal Baby also adds credence to the likelihood that age-old blood feuds are bubbling up. The Christmas movie may want you to suspect formerly villainous Cousin Simon (Theo Devaney) is the secret bad guy here, but he doesn’t fit the profile. As a member of the reigning royal family Simon couldn’t be related to some fallen aristocratic clan.
So enters Mr. Little, someone with a slightly more prominent role in Christmas Prince’s third installment and an unknown past.
The moment Mr. Little starts telling princess Emily (Honor Kneafsey) about the ghost in the dungeon — the perfect fake story to protect a hiding spot — it should be obvious he is the thief. Mr. Little confesses to the crime in his final scene, confirming he is a secret member of the House of Devon. Two pages out of Amber’s history book show Devon, Little’s maternal line, and Little are two ancient royal houses in Aldovia. Mr. Little’s theft was the only way he believed he could avenge the murder of his ancestor Prince Claude of Devon and punish the Penglians, whom he blamed for Claude’s death and the ruination of his family name.
It’s Penglia’s Queen Ming (Momo Yeung) who informs Mr. Little that Prince Jun was never proven guilty. In fact, Penglian historians believe a jealous lord killed Prince Claude — not Jun. No matter the truth, Mr. Little ends Christmas Prince 3 trapped in the Aldovian dungeons.
At least red herring Simon closes out Royal Baby innocent and engaged to Amber’s best friend, Melissa (Tahirah Sharif). Does anyone else smell A Christmas Prince 4: Another Royal Wedding, and whatever mysterious emergency that demands, brewing?

What did you do this weekend? If you logged onto Mariah Carey’s Internet and your answer is not “I watched A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby, you’ve lost rights to listening to “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and can expect coal in your stocking.

Netflix’s third installment of its cult holiday franchise demands your attention because, as hinted in the trailer, it’s pure bonkers holiday fun. This movie has everything: an ancient curse, a royal baby, a marriage proposal, and most importantly (at least to the plot anyway), a robbery.

Queen Amber and Prince Richard, who are expecting their first child, are hosting visiting royals from the distant country Penglia to renew a sacred treaty. But there’s a big problem: The original document goes missing!!! A storm hits Aldovia, suspending all roads and airplanes and trapping the thief inside the palace. And if the treaty isn’t signed by midnight, Amber and Richard’s baby will be cursed!!!

This, of course, begs the question: Who stole the sacred treaty? Here are the suspects.

Smile, Event, Floristry, Plant, Happy, Ceremony, Formal wear,
A (cursed?) baby shower gift.

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Who We’ve Ruled Out

Queen Amber

Our Queen is pregnant, dammit! She has no time to be stealing treaties. She’s too busy pushing Aldovian initatives, blogging (literally HOW the queen of an entire country is allowed to run a blog called “Amber’s Blog” is beyond me), and preparing to give birth. Queen Amber is not here to play and that perfectly coiffed lob and Duchess-like makeover mean business. Plus, she has to worry about hosting King Tai and Queen Ming of Penglia and attending her royal baby shower that looks like a cross between My Super Sweet 16 and my little cousin’s Frozen-themed birthday party. (Sidebar: Netflix really gave them a budget this time around and it shows.)

Christmas, Christmas ornament, Christmas tree, Christmas decoration, Christmas eve, Tree, Holiday, Event, Interior design, Plant,
Yas Queen!

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King Richard

Somewhere between the first and the third films, Richard went from hot moody playboy prince to goofy dad. I don’t like it, but I’ll allow it for the sake of #charactergrowth. All he wants to do is build a crib, which is kind of ridiculous since he has a staff to do it for him. But seeing as the staff consists of like, three people, once again, I’ll allow it.

Text, Font, Design, Material property, Hand, Paper,

Sahil

Tastemaker, event planner, and all-around icon Sahil planned Amber’s wedding in the second film and is back again for her baby shower. He also offers his services to “elevate” the treaty ceremony and calls the artifact “a bit tacky,” so he 2000 percent did not steal it. Sahil wouldn’t be caught dead with that dusty old scroll—as if! Amber defends the treaty as a “priceless work of art,” but this is coming from a girl who wears Converse with a ballgown, SO.

Chin, Facial hair, Beard, Screenshot, White-collar worker, Suit, Conversation, Photo caption, Pleased,

He’s been in New York (?????) this entire time so, no. It wasn’t him.

Electronic device, Gadget, Technology, Selfie, Communication Device, Photography, Smartphone, Portable communications device, Ipad, Multimedia,
“Hey Peanut!”

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Metropolitan area, Urban area, Metropolis, Cityscape, City, Landmark, Skyscraper, Human settlement, Building, Skyline,

Prime Suspects

Simon

The scheming villain of the A Christmas Prince franchise is a little too on-the-nose if you ask me, but still a legitimate contender. Simon has a few strikes against him already: After almost stealing the throne from Richard in the first film, he slowly redeemed himself in the second film and rejoined the royal family. He’s also dating Amber’s BFF Melissa, but has a past with the Penglian’s attaché Lynn, an old college buddy. Some would say Simon is a changed man, but love can make people do crazy things.

Facial expression, Event, Suit, Formal wear, Fashion, Smile, Human, Interaction, Ceremony, Conversation,

Lynn

The Ambassador of Penglia is up to something sneaky with Simon and it isn’t their little college reunion. Could these two old friends team up for a heist? Or is it a love heist? Maybe both?

Queen Ming

The ruler of Penglia and Queen Amber get off to a rocky start, with Ming initially thrown off by Amber’s non-traditional ways. She’s decidedly Not Here For It when Amber suggests that the two Queens add their signatures to the treaty, which would break centuries of tradition. Ming could have stolen the treaty to preserve its sacred tradition.

Carpet, Red carpet, Event, Fashion, Ceremony, Temple, Textile, Flooring, Tradition, Wedding,
Wildcard Suspects

Andy

What exactly is Andy doing here? Unclear. He’s supposedly Sahil’s business partner of S & A International, providing his “managing expertise,” whatever that is. His random if not forgettable presence makes him the ideal shocker culprit.

Hair, Facial hair, Beard, Face, Moustache, Eyebrow, Hairstyle, Chin, Forehead, Human,
Princess Emily

Sweet innocent Princess Emily is the perfect wildcard candidate. After all, she’s the one who discovers the ancient curse that throws the palace into chaos. Is it a diversion? Amber is completely freaked out by Emily’s incessant talk about how her baby might be cursed forever, which is a genius red herring. That, or Princess Emily has no respect for her pregnant sister-in-law. I mean, poor Amber is under all kinds of stress and Emily brings up the curse at literally every chance she gets. READ THE ROOM, PRINCESS EMILY!

Who Actually Did It

*Spoilers ahead*

And the thief is none other than…*drum roll* Mr. Little! Turns out the trusted royal aide to Amber and Richard has some family beef with the Penglians dating back centuries and stole the truce as revenge. Amber solves the mystery while in labor (!!!) and outs him in front everyone. Mr. Little, cornered by King Richard, confesses to his crime. He shows little protest to getting busted and casually walks away (???) without any kind of security escort (again, the staff consists of like, three people—actually, two now, since Mr. Little’s a thief.)

Suit, Businessperson, Facial hair, White-collar worker, Official,

In Conclusion

The treaty is signed at 11:59 PM (talk about meeting a deadline) and Amber gives birth to a healthy baby girl whom she names after her late mother Ellerie. The movie ends with our queen blogging (obviously) about her experience to her loyal readers.

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