99 Fun Facts About The Princess Diaries

In which year was The Princess Diaries released?

Disney released it. Its sequel followed three years later.

Who directed the 2001 film?

He had created Happy Days and directed Pretty Woman. His sister Penny Marshall directed Big.

What is Mia terrified of doing at the start of The Princess Diaries?

Speaking in public makes her so nervous she faints, runs away or is sick, as she admits at the ball, where, soaked from the rain, she finally gets through a speech.

Which fictional European country is Mia heir to in The Princess Diaries?

Genovia's queen warns Mia's mother that if Mia refuses the throne, the country 'will cease to exist as we know it', which is why a schoolgirl ends up in princess lessons.

In which city does Mia live at the start of The Princess Diaries?

San Francisco replaced the New York of the novels, and the film uses its hills: on a drive with her grandmother, Mia's car ends up colliding with a cable car.

In The Princess Diaries, what kind of building do Mia and her mother call home?

A converted firehouse, and a real one: a former city fire station supplied the exterior, while the studio-built rooms were dressed with Anne Hathaway's own family belongings to put her at ease.

The Princess Diaries is based on a novel by which author?

Meg Cabot says her first cheque from Disney was just $4,000, for a novel she wrote in her free time while working in a New York University dormitory; the film went on to gross $165 million.

Julie Andrews plays which queen in The Princess Diaries?

Queen Clarisse Renaldi was built up for her: the producers wanted Andrews from the start and enlarged the grandmother's part, and she says she drew on how Britain's royals wave and carry themselves.

In The Princess Diaries, Joe tells Mia no one can make her feel inferior without her consent, quoting which First Lady?

Eleanor Roosevelt is the name Mia supplies at once, and her driver replies that she was 'another special lady, like yourself'.

Roughly how much did the first film gross worldwide?

That was on a modest budget for a Disney comedy. The sequel took slightly less.

Which actor plays Joe, the queen's head of security and Mia's driver, in The Princess Diaries?

Héctor Elizondo appeared in all 18 films Garry Marshall directed, a streak the director insisted on keeping even when a script had no obvious part for him.

Which pop singer plays the mean cheerleader Lana Thomas in The Princess Diaries?

Mandy Moore's Lana exposes Mia to the paparazzi in nothing but a towel at the beach party, and the photo is in the newspapers the next day.

Which Welcome to the Dollhouse star plays Mia's best friend Lilly Moscovitz in The Princess Diaries?

Heather Matarazzo improvised her 'Not you, I don't even know you!', snapped at two strangers who stop when she shouts 'Wait for me!'; a producer had suggested she ad-lib.

When was the sequel, Royal Engagement, released?

Garry Marshall returned to direct it. Whitney Houston was among its producers.

In The Princess Diaries 2, what must Mia do within 30 days to keep her claim to the throne?

Marry within 30 days is what an old royal law demands of an unwed heiress, so Mia gets engaged to a duke she barely knows, then stops the wedding and talks Parliament into scrapping the law.

Which actor made his feature film debut as Lord Nicholas Devereaux in The Princess Diaries 2?

Chris Pine plays the rival heir sent to sabotage Mia's claim, who falls for her instead and turns the crown down; five years later he was Star Trek's Captain Kirk.

Why was Julie Andrews's 'Your Crowning Glory' in The Princess Diaries 2 a milestone?

Her first film song since surgery in 1997 cost her a four-octave voice: the composer kept it within one octave, and the music supervisor says she nailed it on the first take, leaving crew in tears.

Which singer and actress duets with Julie Andrews on 'Your Crowning Glory' in The Princess Diaries 2?

Raven-Symoné plays Princess Asana, a guest at Mia's slumber party: the queen starts the song alone, and Asana jumps in when a remixed second verse kicks off.

In The Princess Diaries 2, what do Mia and her slumber-party guests go 'surfing' on inside the palace?

Mattresses were the director's idea: he told the screenwriter to add a slumber party with mattress surfing, and she later said it taught her that a detour from the plot can be the best bit.

Which singer co-produced both Princess Diaries films, having co-produced a 1997 TV Cinderella?

Whitney Houston produced them with her business partner Debra Martin Chase, who had read the novel, loved it and sold the idea to Disney.

In which New York borough was the film's young star born?

She was born in November 1982. She was still a teenager when the first film was made.

Where was Anne Hathaway when she auditioned for the role of Mia in The Princess Diaries?

On a flight layover of 26 hours in Los Angeles, on her way to shoot a film in New Zealand, she got so nervous that she fell off her chair, and she thinks that is what won over the director.

Why did Garry Marshall's granddaughters urge him to cast Anne Hathaway as Mia?

She had the best princess hair, his twin granddaughters decided after watching the audition tapes, and he listened; the pair turn up in the film asking Mia for her autograph.

For which 2012 musical did Princess Diaries star Anne Hathaway win an Academy Award?

Les Misérables won her Best Supporting Actress as Fantine, the role she had watched her own mother play on tour as a child, the experience that first drew her to acting.

Who does Mia kiss at the ball that ends The Princess Diaries?

Michael, Lilly's older brother, accepts Mia's apology for cancelling on him to go to the beach party, and she tells him why she chose him: he saw her when she was invisible.

In the Princess Diaries novels, what does Mia call her formidable grandmother?

Grandmère is far sharper on the page than Julie Andrews's queen: a Sidecar-drinking dowager princess, critical of everyone, who barely gets along with Mia for most of the first book.

At the start of The Princess Diaries 2, Mia has just graduated from which university?

Princeton is where the sequel opens, with Mia collecting a degree from its Woodrow Wilson School of public affairs, apt training for a queen-in-waiting, before she flies off to claim her throne.

How does Mia's father differ in the Princess Diaries novels?

He is alive in the books, a prince left unable to have more children by cancer, which is why Mia is his heir; the film dropped him so that his lines could go to Julie Andrews's queen.

How old is Mia in the film version?

She drives a 1965 Mustang and lives in California. The novels place her a little differently.

What car is Mia fixing up for her sixteenth birthday in The Princess Diaries?

A Ford Mustang, a battered blue 1966 convertible, is the car she is desperate to restore; the production used two matching cars, and it returns gleaming in the sequel.

On The Princess Diaries, what did the crew nickname the frizzy hairpiece worn by pre-makeover Mia?

The Beast was a clip-in piece that made the makeover look more drastic; her bushy eyebrows were fake as well, each hair glued on individually over about an hour.

For which film did Princess Diaries star Julie Andrews win the Best Actress Oscar?

Mary Poppins came to her after Warner Bros. passed her over for the film of My Fair Lady; she won the Oscar, and The Princess Diaries, 37 years later, was her first Disney film since.

Filming The Princess Diaries 2 meant Anne Hathaway had to turn down the lead in which 2004 musical film?

The Phantom of the Opera wanted her as Christine, but its shoot overlapped with the sequel she was committed to, so she had to say no and the part went to Emmy Rossum.

What ended Julie Andrews's singing career in 1997?

She had developed hoarseness during a Broadway run of Victor/Victoria. The damage to her voice was permanent.

Which Broadway production did Julie Andrews have to leave in 1997?

Hoarseness forced her out near the end of the run. Surgery followed, with permanent consequences.

In The Princess Diaries 2, what do Mia and Nicholas tumble into after he kisses her at the garden party?

A fountain ends their 'I loathe you' shouting match: he kisses her, she accuses him of plotting for the crown, and in they go; she suggests he stay under while she counts to a million.

Which 1970s sitcom did Princess Diaries director Garry Marshall create?

Happy Days made his name and spun off Laverne & Shirley, starring his sister Penny, and Mork & Mindy; he drew on those family-sitcom years to make a G-rated film funny.

Which 1990 romantic comedy did Princess Diaries director Garry Marshall also make?

Pretty Woman gets a nod at Mia's state dinner: when she breaks a glass, the waiter says 'It happens all the time', the same actor delivering the same line he gave Julia Roberts.

Where does Mia take her grandmother on their afternoon off from princess lessons in The Princess Diaries?

An arcade, the real Musée Mécanique, is where the queen unbends after cancelling the day's lessons to spend time with Mia; visitors can still play the same machines.

What was The Princess Diaries called while its script was still set in New York, like the novel?

The Princess of Tribeca was the title on the script Anne Hathaway auditioned for; once the story moved west, the book's own title came back.

Which actress turned down the role of Mia before Anne Hathaway was cast?

Liv Tyler was considered the front-runner, but Marshall's granddaughters talked him into the unknown eighteen-year-old instead.

What is the name of Mia's pet cat in The Princess Diaries?

Fat Louie was played by four cats, each cast for one skill: being carried, sitting still, jumping, and the final scene; one of the four was Anne Hathaway's own pet.

The queen's secretary Charlotte has which joke surname, revealed only in The Princess Diaries' end credits?

Kutaway is a pun on the cutaway shot: Garry Marshall's daughter Kathleen plays her, and the film keeps cutting to her face whenever something goes wrong.

Which Connie Francis hit is covered on The Princess Diaries soundtrack by the actress who plays Lana?

Stupid Cupid is performed on screen too: Lana sings it at the beach party, which suited a cast member who already had pop hits of her own.

Which real-life mayor plays himself, interviewed as he arrives at the ball, in The Princess Diaries?

Willie Brown was the serving mayor of the film's setting when it was shot in 2000 and gets a quick arrival interview; the director and his sister Penny slip into the same ball as guests.

Which future TV showrunner wrote The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement?

Shonda Rhimes wrote it the year before Grey's Anatomy began and stayed a fan of its star: she later cast Julie Andrews as the voice of Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton.

Which Crazy Rich Asians co-writer was announced in October 2024 as director of The Princess Diaries 3?

Adele Lim called herself a diehard fan of the original when she signed on, and Anne Hathaway confirmed her own return by posting a video of Mia's catchphrase, 'Shut up!'

Where is Mia a student in The Princess Diaries film?

Grove High School's bleachers gave the film an unplanned laugh: Anne Hathaway really slipped mid-scene, carried on with her lines, and Garry Marshall left the fall in.

On its opening weekend, The Princess Diaries finished third behind Rush Hour 2 and which Tim Burton remake?

Planet of the Apes had just been knocked off the top by Rush Hour 2; the G-rated comedy, tipped to open at $13 to 15 million, took about $23 million instead.

The director of The Princess Diaries nearly turned it down after a typo in the title suggested which animals?

Cows came to mind because the original treatment was mistyped as The Princess Dairies, and he took it for a film about cattle.

At Julie Andrews's suggestion, the fictional kingdom in The Princess Diaries films became famous for which fruit?

Pears were her idea when the director asked for one, so the set was dressed with artificial pears and pear-shaped statues.

In The Princess Diaries film, who sells the secret of Mia's royal identity to the press, sparking a paparazzi frenzy?

Her hairdresser Paolo, the stylist behind the makeover, leaks the story on screen, whereas in the original novel it is Mia's own grandmother who tips off the press.

In The Princess Diaries, what does Mia smear on Lana's cheerleader uniform when she finally stands up to her?

Ice cream lands on the uniform as Mia pays the bully back for tormenting a schoolmate, a moment dreamed up by one of the film's producers.

Which future Grey's Anatomy star plays Vice Principal Gupta at Mia's school in The Princess Diaries?

Sandra Oh took the small role of the vice principal four years before she was cast as the surgeon Cristina Yang.

Robert Schwartzman, Michael in The Princess Diaries, wanted his screen credit changed to honor which famous cousin?

Nicolas Cage is one of several film-making relatives in the Coppola dynasty, but the promotional material was already finished, so the Schwartzman name stayed.

In The Princess Diaries, Mia recites a speech from which Shakespeare play, a nod to her actress's famous name?

Romeo and Juliet supplies one of Juliet's soliloquies, chosen because the film's lead shares her full name with Shakespeare's wife.

Which Kelly Clarkson hit was first released as a single from the soundtrack of The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement?

Breakaway was co-written by Avril Lavigne for her own debut album, then passed along when it did not suit the record.

Julie Andrews reunited with the writer of The Princess Diaries 2 by voicing Lady Whistledown in which Netflix drama?

Bridgerton arrived in 2020 from the same screenwriter, who has called working with her star the thing she treasured most about the royal sequel.

The pop singer who plays mean girl Lana in The Princess Diaries later voiced which Disney heroine in 2010?

Rapunzel sang with her voice in Tangled, and she returned to the part for the animated television series that followed.

At which event in The Princess Diaries does Josh Bryant kiss Mia in front of the waiting paparazzi?

A beach party gives him his fifteen minutes of fame, in a sequence shot at Zuma Beach in Malibu, dressed to pass for a beach much further north.

At the start of The Princess Diaries, shy student Mia Thermopolis is held back by a fear of what?

Public speaking terrifies her, so the climax makes her address a ballroom, and the director cast his lead for the grace and authority that speech needed.

Mia, the reluctant heroine of The Princess Diaries, is a nickname for which first name in her royal title?

Amelia opens a full title so long that the heroine of the novels sums herself up more simply, as a five-foot-nine freshman.

To put its young lead at ease, many props on the set of The Princess Diaries were borrowed from where?

Her own family supplied them, and the photograph of Mia's father is the actress's real dad, who also plays him in a flashback.

The director's twin granddaughters appear in The Princess Diaries as schoolgirls who ask Mia for what?

Her autograph is what the twins request, and the film is dedicated to the pair, who also talked their grandfather into his choice of star.

Which Armageddon actress was the front-runner to play Mia in The Princess Diaries before a newcomer won the part?

Liv Tyler headed a long list of established names considered for the lead, among them Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson.

Julie Andrews agreed to play the queen in The Princess Diaries after talks with its director but before doing what?

Reading the script came later, because she had long admired his work and called the director the hook that drew her out of semi-retirement.

For The Princess Diaries, the actress playing Mia filmed a scene wearing which item she had really worn as a child?

Her retainer was the very one from her childhood, after the director wrote her real struggles with wearing it into the film.

When a guest's arm kept burning at the state dinner in The Princess Diaries, how did the lead actress improvise?

She doused it with water from a glass when the planned ice bucket failed to put the flames out, and her panicked rescue stayed in the film.

While filming the final dance in The Princess Diaries, the crew played which Madonna hit that the cast kept lip-syncing?

Like a Prayer forced several retakes because nobody could stop mouthing along, and a different song was dubbed over the scene in the edit.

Which real band, fronted by Robert Schwartzman, appears as the garage band Flypaper in The Princess Diaries?

Rooney took its name from the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and plays one of its own songs, Blueside, in the film.

Which actor, the voice of the toy-wrecking Sid in Toy Story, plays Mia's crush Josh in The Princess Diaries?

Erik von Detten voiced the villainous Sid at thirteen and later took the title role in a Disney Channel movie before he played the school heartthrob.

Which actress, Emilie Schindler in Schindler's List, plays Mia's mother Helen in The Princess Diaries films?

Caroline Goodall had worked twice for Steven Spielberg, first as Moira Banning in Hook, before she played Mia's mother.

The actor who plays the queen's head of security in The Princess Diaries won an Emmy for which hospital drama?

Chicago Hope won him the 1997 supporting actor Emmy as Dr. Phillip Watters, and he also appeared in every film that his friend the director made.

Which comedian, Walter Stratford in 10 Things I Hate About You, plays stylist Paolo in The Princess Diaries?

Larry Miller improvised with the director to shriek at his first sight of Mia and to draw his styling tools from his pockets like pistols.

Which actor, Sallah in the Indiana Jones films, plays the scheming Viscount Mabrey in The Princess Diaries 2?

John Rhys-Davies, also the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings, plots to put his nephew on the throne in place of Mia.

In The Princess Diaries 2, which young nobleman has a rival claim to Mia's throne but ends up winning her heart?

Nicholas Devereaux is sent by his uncle to seduce Mia and wreck her engagement, then decides she deserves the crown more than he does.

When Mia halts her own ceremony in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which couple marries at the altar instead?

The queen and Joe are wed on the spot after she proposes to him, having just urged her granddaughter to follow her heart as she never did.

Which slumber party stunt did the director ask the writer to add to The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement?

Mattress surfing struck the screenwriter as beside the point at first, but she later said the scene taught her that straying from the plot can create memorable moments.

Which future Little Miss Sunshine star plays the orphan Carolina in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement?

Abigail Breslin was two years away from her Oscar-nominated breakthrough when she played the child whose new home Mia opens in the epilogue.

In the original novel of The Princess Diaries, Mia lives with her mother in which Manhattan neighborhood?

Greenwich Village is home on the page, where Mia is a ninth grader, and the move to the West Coast was made only for the film.

In the novels of The Princess Diaries, Mia attends a Manhattan high school named after which famous scientist?

Albert Einstein lends his name to the fictional school where she learns she is an heir, replaced on screen by a private school on the West Coast.

In the novels of The Princess Diaries, Mia's single mother Helen Thermopolis has found modest fame as what?

A painter with a liberal streak, she surprises her daughter by marrying one of Mia's own teachers and having a baby with him.

In the first novel of The Princess Diaries, Mia starts her journal when her mother dates her teacher of which subject?

Algebra is also the class she is failing, and by the end of the book her after-school review sessions have lifted her grade from an F to a D.

Once the press learns her secret in the novels of The Princess Diaries, which bodyguard shadows Mia everywhere?

Lars lives at the Plaza and trails her so closely that he is said to have gathered some serious blackmail material on her.

In the novels of The Princess Diaries, which classmate is shunned at school because her own bodyguard follows her?

Tina Hakim Baba is the daughter of a Saudi oil sheik who fears she will be kidnapped, and the two outsiders become close friends.

In the novels of The Princess Diaries, the tiny principality Mia will inherit lies between Italy and which country?

France also promised its protection in 1939, when the books say Mussolini's forces invaded and the ruling prince struck a deal with his neighbour.

In the novels of The Princess Diaries, the principality Mia will rule is known for exporting which high-end product?

Olive oil and tourism prop up the economy on the page, with orange juice joining the exports later in the series.

Which 2015 novel revived The Princess Diaries series, six years after its tenth volume had seemed to end it?

Royal Wedding picks up Mia's story with her marriage plans, and one magazine called it the next best thing to a new film.

In The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, what breed is Maurice, the dog kept by Mia's grandmother?

A poodle, credited as himself in the cast, echoes the novels, where the grandmother is almost always accompanied by her miniature poodle Rommel.

Which pop group recorded What Makes You Different (Makes You Beautiful) for the soundtrack of The Princess Diaries?

Backstreet Boys shared the album with Aaron Carter, Hanson, BBMak and B*Witched, a line-up one reviewer found slick and nearly interchangeable.

Before The Princess Diaries, its producers made a hit 1997 TV musical of which fairy tale, starring Brandy?

Cinderella drew 60 million viewers, and its rags-to-riches appeal is why the novelist's agent took the royal story to the same producer.

Julie Andrews's state dinner gown in The Princess Diaries pays homage to which musical she led on Broadway in 1956?

My Fair Lady made her name as Eliza Doolittle, and critics enjoyed the switch, with one joking that she now plays the Henry Higgins of the story.

The actress who plays Lilly in The Princess Diaries won an Independent Spirit Award for which 1995 debut film?

Welcome to the Dollhouse cast her at twelve as the adolescent outcast Dawn Wiener, years before she played Mia's eccentric, socially conscious best friend.

The author of The Princess Diaries also wrote which series about a teenage girl who helps ghosts move on?

The Mediator began under the pen name Jenny Carroll, which she used for its first four books while working with other publishing houses.

Mia's periwinkle state dinner gown in The Princess Diaries was inspired by the crown princess of which country?

Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria was the model, and the designer finished the Renaissance-style dress with an 18-carat diamond ring.

The Princess Diaries held its premiere, followed by a princess-themed tea party, at which Los Angeles theatre?

El Capitan hosted the screening, where the director led the audience in a chant praising the G rating before costumed Disney princesses joined the party.

Which actor, later Zod in Smallville, plays Mia's fiancé Andrew Jacoby in The Princess Diaries 2?

Callum Blue plays the Duke of Kenilworth, and both he and Mia come to see that there is no romantic spark between them.

Which jeweler loaned The Princess Diaries the real diamonds that Julie Andrews wears in the film's final scene?

Harry Winston lent half a million dollars' worth of diamonds, so a security guard followed the actress at all times and saw the jewels returned each day.

Before the ball in The Princess Diaries, Mia plans to flee to which state until a birthday letter stops her?

Colorado stays unvisited once she finds the letter her father wrote for her birthday, and she sets off for the ball in the rain instead.