Entertainment

We Have 'Royals' Mystery On Our Hands Now, Folks

by Sara Steinfeld

Last week's episode of The Royals was a DOOZY, y'all. King Simon officially issued the referendum to abolish the monarchy, some gross paparazzi caught and published Ophelia's topless moment in Monaco, and it all ended with King Simon being stabbed. Now, his life is hanging in the balance, and I don't even know what to do with myself. I have so many questions. Like, where was Cyrus skulking off to at the end of the episode? Are we seriously going to let Liam rule a country right now? Where's Jasper, and when is he coming back? But most importantly, who stabbed King Simon?

Personally, I don't think that the stabbing was a chance occurrence or a mugging gone wrong. I think it was a highly pre-meditated act, one that was planned out for a long time before it actually went down. It certainly makes sense, especially because it seems to be common knowledge that the king goes on unguarded walks almost every night (which, BTW, seems like a huge security breach and would probably never happen in real life). But, before we can talk motive, we need to talk suspects, and honestly, I don't think anyone's free from suspicion at this point. Here are the five most likely perpetrators:

Jasper

I've said it before and I'll say it again: we have no idea who Jasper really is. All we know is that he claims to be from Las Vegas, he may or may not have feelings for Eleanor, and he slept with the queen. Other than that, he could be a ninja spy for all we know. Oh, and Jasper was conveniently on "compassionate leave" from his duties at the time of King Simon's stabbing, which could have given him the opportunity to follow the king around outside of the castle walls.

Prudence

She and the king seemed to have a genuine friendship, but she did try to kill Cyrus on several occasions, so I think she's up to something nefarious. We also know she was fired from the castle staff, and we saw her watching King Simon's announcement about issuing the referendum to abolish the monarchy. She could be pulling a Severus Snape and working as the best double agent ever. Who knows?

Cyrus

I would be remiss to leave him out of this. We all know that he doesn't want to abolish the monarchy and that he wants King Simon's throne. We saw him leaving the castle just before King Simon was stabbed, so it's always possible that he did the deed himself. I don't think it's going to end up being Cyrus though — that would just be too easy.

Captain Lacey

We know that Captain Lacey and Queen Helena are in love, and we've seen them talk about what life could be like if she weren't royalty and if they were together. Also, just moments before King Simon stumbled up the palace gates all stabby-like, we a phone conversation between Queen Helena and a mystery character in which she said, "It's almost over." While we don't exactly know what she was referring to, I think it's possible that she was referring to her marriage. If Simon is out of the way, maybe Helena thinks that she could be with Lacey. And maybe Lacey is the kind of guy who will do anything, even commit murder, for the person he loves. He's a military man, so he'd certainly have experience with killing people.

Prince Robert

I'm operating under the same rules I use when I watch Pretty Little Liars: Unless I see a body with my own eyes, I will not be convinced that someone is actually dead. Let's say Robert is alive. He's the oldest son, so he'd be the one to take the throne in the event of his father's demise. Maybe Robert saw that King Simon was planning to abolish the monarchy, and he didn't like that his father was taking his crown away without consulting him first. So, in order to keep his title and his eventual role as King of England, he stabbed his own father. You know you'd love it if that happened.

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