Entertainment
These 6 Movies Show The Perks Of Being A Princess
In real life, being a princess means abiding by a ton of rules and having to be "on" like, all the time. In fantasy film-land, though — while the long-standing princess trope has historically been kind of problematic and not always accurate — these 6 princess movie moments make royal living look pretty great. Exotic pets! Bottomless champagne! Teams of tiny woodland creatures that dress you every day! So fun!
Clearly, some on-screen princess perks are more believable than others. Most of us likely grew up with visions of magic carpets, fairy godmothers, and talking silverware at our service — which sucks, because those things don't really exist. On the other hand, if you're lucky enough to become an actual princess one day, there are plenty of IRL perks that most definitely do not suck.
Take, for example, the British royal family. They get to travel the world, they own multiple vacation estates, and it was recently reported that Meghan Markle's wardrobe (OK, technically, Markle's only a Duchess, but still ) costs more than $1 million, royal expert Katie Nichol told Entertainment Tonight. $1 million, by the way, that she doesn't even have to pay for herself. It's a charmed life.
Since finding a single Prince Harry-type out in the wild is rare, though, you might as well keep dreaming about being royalty. And if you're going to dream about being a princess, you might as well let your dreams be as fantastical as these 6 princess movie moments.
1'Marie Antoinette' — "I Want Candy" (& Champagne & Clothes)
Before she became the Queen of France at the ripe old age of 19, Marie Antoinette was born an Austrian princess. Her royal heritage is what led her to the Palace of Versailles, and even though she was technically a literal teen Queen (not a princess) when her indulgent rebellion took place, the "I Want Candy" scene in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette is too good not to include.
After finding life at Versailles to be increasingly dull — in addition to enduring whispers of her inability to sexually satisfy her husband, King Louis XVI — Marie Antoinette (played by Kirsten Dunst) finally decides to ball out of control. In the extravagant scene, Marie "basically ate very expensive [pastry], bought every piece of cloth she wanted, drank a lot of champagne and she gambled all of the money of the monarchy," according to Coppola.
Irresponsible? Maybe. Ostentatious? Off the charts. But, it also looks like it would have been a whole lot of fun. The IRL Marie Antoinette ultimately met an untimely end, but at least she got to live a little while she was alive.
2'The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement' — Mattress Surfing
On the opposite end of the "perks of being a princess" spectrum is The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Instead of throwing a no-expense-spared-style bridal shower party, Princess Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi AKA Princess Mia (played by Anne Hathaway) decides to treat herself and her friends to some good ol' fashioned, wholesome, royal fun.
A fancy, formal dinner, perhaps? Nope. Some equestrian activities around the well-manicured grounds? Yeah, right. Princess Mia and her ladies go mattress surfing down a slide built atop the palace's grand foyer staircase. And it. Looks. Awesome.
What makes the activity so, so awesome (aside from the fact that the custom-made slide is multi-level) is that there's a constantly flowing, endless amount of mattresses to use. There's no waiting for someone to take their turn and then drag it back up the stairs — the stack of mattresses is always flush, which makes for maximum turn-arounds/maximum fun.
3'Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope' — Who's The Boss?
Look, Princess Leia (played by the late Carrie Fischer) has been, and always will be, one of the OG boss b*tches. She commands the rebel forces, takes matters into her own hands, and is seriously skilled with a blaster pistol.
One of the best scenes where we see her wielding her royal authority, though, is when she meets Han Solo and Luke Skywalker for the first time in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
Han and Luke were tasked with rescuing Leia after she was kidnapped and held captive by Darth Vader on the Death Star. After Leia is liberated from her cell, things don't go quite as they'd planned, which ends up provoking Han's sassy side — and Leia is not having it.
"I don't know who you are or where you came from," she says to Han, "but from now on, you do as I tell you. K?" Bow down.
4'Sleeping Beauty' — Three Wands Are Better Than One
Having one fairy godmother (ahem, Cinderella) is cool or whatever, but Sleeping Beauty aka Princess Aurora had THREE — count 'em — THREE fairy godmothers to make sure she was always on point.
When a normal baby is christened, they get normal godparents. When Princess Aurora was christened, though, she got three-times the godmothers — sisters Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather — and each of them came with their own super useful gifts and strengths.
It's like their only purpose in life was to follow her around and help her out of sticky situations. Granted, Aurora probably never learned how to do anything by herself, but having three emergency-net fairies by your side isn't a bad royal privilege to have.
5'The Little Mermaid' — The Girl Who Has, Everything
"Look at that trove! Treasures untold. How many wonders can one cavern hold?" Well, a lot. As the youngest of King Triton and Queen Athena's daughters, Ariel had gadgets and gizmos aplenty. She had whozits and whatzits galore. You want thingamabobs? She had twenty, at least.
Instead of delegating a single drawer to junk like most mere mortals, though, the little mermaid had an entire, multi-level cave room to house all her "dinglehoppers" and "banded bulbus snarfblatts." That's basically the equivalent of having like, an entire Kardashian-Jenner-style closet for shoes, or purses, or just Birkin bags.
Even though she had to give up her life under-the-sea to be with Prince Eric in the end, she probably got to recreate her treasure trove — and then some — after moving into their palace. Princess perks squared.
6'Aladdin' — Tiger Style
Princess Jasmine was bold, brave, and fierce, so it's only fitting that she'd have a pet that mirrored her strongest characteristics: Rajah, the tiger. Princess Jasmine had a pet tiger, and that is for sure a benefit meant only for royals — or, like, Siegfried and Roy. That didn't exactly end well, though, so maybe it should just be for royalty moving forward.
