Prince Robert's 'Royals' Death Might Be Murder

Already, the first season of The Royals is starting to suggest that nothing about the plot is as clear as it seems. The one thing we know for sure is that poor Prince Robert is dead, but while the official explanation was "military accident," there's no proof that's the real reason or way that he died. But is it possible that Prince Cyrus killed Prince Robert? The Royals may be hinting at a whole British conspiracy. The Shakespearean overtones of the show are clearest with Cyrus' character. He's right out of Hamlet, the scheming uncle with a lifelong rivalry with his older brother on the throne. And while it's only two episodes in, already he's trying to manipulate everything that's happening behind the scenes.

But since Prince Liam used to be like Cyrus, the younger brother who never thought he'd be able to be king, I think that the scene between them in the second episode holds a lot of clues. In it, Cyrus verbally slaps Liam around a little bit, lecturing him about not taking his responsibilities seriously enough as king. And here's the key piece of dialogue — Cyrus tells him that "Men would kill to stand where you’re standing. I would kill for it." Note my not-so-subtle emphasis of the word "kill" and Cyrus' admission of murderous intent. Since Cyrus identifies with his fellow spare heir, he might be giving an important clue about his involvement in the elder prince's death. He also might just be being the Disney supervillain crossed with a viper that he always is, and trying to convince Liam to become a schemer just like he is.

Unfortunately, we don't know that much about what Prince Robert was like when he was alive. I don't know why Cyrus would be so threatened by his nephew when his brother is already the king. And when he was out hunting with Simon, he seemed to have no qualms about shooting two inches away from the King's head and then smirking and saying "long live the King" suuuuper sarcastically. I mean, at this point it would have been more surprising to hear that Cyrus didn't kill anyone because of his ambitions.

He seems to think that drugs, alcohol, and scandal are enough to kill Eleanor's chances of showing up on the throne, so that explains why he's pretty much ignoring her as a threat. And he's vastly underestimating Queen Helena's ambitions, but she's not technically a royal — she married into the family — so that's probably why he hasn't taken her on face to face. But his brother, King Simon right now is the biggest risk, because in his grief he's considering abolishing the monarchy, which would make for a very swift ending to The Royals. But killing the crown prince could be just the first step on his journey to the crown. Having illicit sex with both the maid and the closeted government official clearly has some kind of end game, even though it's not immediately clear what that might be.

But whatever Cyrus' reasons are, I would not be the least bit surprised if he turned out to be behind the death of Prince Robert.

Image: Paul Blundell/E! Entertainment; The Royals on E!/Tumblr