“It’s just that Martha is a perfectly respectable daughter of nobility, and Philip is a prince. It’s as sexy as a business transaction. There’s no passion, no drama. Alex’s kind of love story is much more Shakespearean.”

Alex is watching a royal wedding but judges the entire proceeding to be too bloodless. When he makes this observation, little does he realize how it will soon apply to his own relationship with Henry. Their love affair contains more than its fair share of passion and drama.

“As your mother, I can appreciate that maybe this isn’t your fault, but as the president, all I want is to have the CIA fake your death and ride the dead-kid sympathy into a second term.”

Ellen makes this wry comment right after the wedding cake disaster. She is expressing the dichotomy between public and private that will appear at many points in the story. Her personal feelings for her son don’t blind her to the political embarrassment his actions have caused her.

“They’re the White House Trio, but here, in the music room on the third floor of the Residence, they’re just Alex and June and Nora […] Alex pushes them. June steadies them. Nora keeps them honest.”

This quote succinctly expresses the dynamic that exists among the three millennials inhabiting the White House. Their cohesiveness as a group offers them a defense against the tumultuous experience of being constantly in the public eye. Other than Bea, Henry has no such support system readily on hand.