The Princess Diaries

The Princess Diaries is a series of epistolary young adult novels written by Meg Cabot, and is also the title of the first volume, published in 2000. The series revolves around Amelia 'Mia' Thermopolis, a teenager in New York City who discovers that she is the princess of a small European principality called Genovia. The books are noted for containing many popular culture references, which include singers, movies, and fads in modern culture.

This article is about the novels. For the 2001 film, see The Princess Diaries (film).

The Princess Diaries
AuthorMeg Cabot
Original titlefirst volume
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Genreyoung adult novel
PublisherHarperTrophy
PublishedMay 30, 2000
No. of books11
OCLC47228587
Followed byThe Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight
WebsiteThe Princess Diaries

Meg Cabot quotes the series' inspiration on her website stating: "I was inspired to write The Princess Diaries when my mom, after the death of my father, began dating one of my teachers; they later went on to get married just as Mia's mom does in the book! I have always had a 'thing' for princesses (my parents used to joke that when I was smaller, I did a lot of insisting that my 'real' parents, the king and queen, were going to come get me soon, and that everyone had better start being a LOT nicer to me) so I stuck a princess in the book just for kicks... and VOILÀ! The Princess Diaries was born."[1]

The latest book in the series, The Princess Diaries, Volume XI: Royal Wedding was published in 2015. A spin-off series for tweens featuring Mia's half-sister, From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess was released in May 2015.

Series description
Plot summaries have been moved to their individual volume pages.

The story of Mia Thermopolis' adolescent turmoil as an average teenager and, as she later finds out, a princess of royal descent (her father), is chronicled in her on-going journal, where she explores topics of teenage angst, romance, and heartbreak as she lives and learns from them. The main series follows Mia from her freshman year of high school to her graduation, with a two-year jump between the ninth and tenth books and an eight year jump from the tenth to eleventh.

Setting
Genovia
'The Princess Diaries' location
Flag of Genovia
Created byMeg Cabot
GenreYoung adult fiction
Information
TypeParliamentary Monarchy
Notable locationsPyrus (capital)
New Pyrus (largest city)
Population64,486
Other name(s)Principality of Genovia
MottoThe whole body works
AnthemGenovia, the land I call my home
Language(s)English and French
CurrencyGenoves (LKM)

The series is set primarily in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Some books take place in Genovia, a European country. Genovia is a principality between France and Italy ruled by Mia's father, Prince Philippe Renaldo, and by Mia's grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi.

Characters

Mia Thermopolis

Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi is the protagonist of the series. She is the product of a college romance between Helen Thermopolis, a painter, and Philippe Renaldi, the prince of Genovia.

Having spent most of her life in Greenwich Village with her mother, Mia attends Albert Einstein High School, a private school in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Mia chronicles the main aspects of her life in various personal diaries, through which she also later develops her talent for various forms of writing. She prefers to be called Mia, although her best friend Lilly often bestows upon her nicknames such as BL (Baby Licker), POG (Princess Of Genovia), or PIT (Princess In Training).

Mia is known for her sometimes shy and down-to-earth personality, though on occasion Mia shows herself to be quite sarcastic and sly. Mia also speaks to her self described flat chest, 5-foot-9 height, upside-down-triangle-shaped hair, and extremely large feet. She also has a tendency to over-analyze things and worry too much. Mia's spends her afternoons throughout the series with her grandmother (Grandmere) in princess lessons, which attempt to teach Mia the finer points of being a princess. These lessons range from making more princess-like Mia's sense of fashion, food, and relationships, and also inform about royal duties such as her visits during school breaks to Genovia and the events she must attend and speak at as a royal throughout the year as well.

Mia develops an interest for writing during the series. Later in the series, Mia writes her own novel called Ransom My Heart, though she composes many poems, lists, and even screenplays throughout her years of writing in her diary. Mia, having been raised almost exclusively by her very liberal and feminist painter mother, is very socially conscientious; She is a vegetarian and also tries to use her fame to raise awareness for good causes, including donations to Greenpeace with the money her father pays her to take princess lessons from her grandmother. Between the tenth and eleventh books, Mia goes to college and establishes a youth community center.

Mia's friendship with Lilly Moscovitz is a focal point of the series. Though they often clash due to Mia's insecurity and Lilly's forcefulness, they remain best friends until major conflicts arise in the later books of the series.

Another central plot line of the books is Mia's relationship with Michael Moscovitz, Lilly's older brother. Their relationship survives obstacles throughout several books of the series, such as their age difference and Mia's (often overwrought) anxieties, as Mia works out how to effectively manage romantic relationships as a maturing adolescent.

In Disney's "The Princess Diaries" 2001, Mia, who was portrayed by Anne Hathaway is aged 16, has a license to drive, and owns a 1965 Mustang. She has similar qualities, but her father is dead, and her last name is Renaldi instead of Renaldo, and she lives in San Francisco instead of New York.

Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldo

Clarisse Marie was formally known as the Dowager Princess Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldo.

Clarisse is the dowager princess of Genovia and Mia's paternal grandmother. Mia refers to her as "Grand-mère" (French for "Grandmother"). As a young woman, she married Prince Rupert Renaldo and had one son. She habitually omits Mia's mother's surname "Thermopolis" from her granddaughter's lengthy list of names and titles, much to Mia's annoyance. She speaks French most of the time, but she can also speak English; however she disdains English as a vulgar language. She is almost always accompanied by her miniature poodle, Rommel, who is notable for having a severe case of OCD that causes him to lick his own fur off. She smokes often and enjoys drinking sidecars. She is not hesitant about lying or manipulating others in order to get her own way.

She and Mia don't see eye to eye: Clarisse is concerned with attracting publicity to Genovia and ensuring Mia does not embarrass her country while Mia prefers to focus on politics. Though she and Mia butt heads often, she does care for her granddaughter and gives her advice about love and relationships that Mia takes with a grain of salt due to her grandmother's cold nature. For example, when Clarisse was married to the king of Genovia, she led him to believe that she was only interested in his status and money and never once said "I love you", in order to keep her husband on his toes. Mia also mentions that her father is terrified of his mother because she would lock him in the palace dungeons whenever he misbehaved (although when she informs him that he gives the appearance of being a little bit scared of Clarisse in Princess in the Spotlight, her father replies that he is not scared of his mother and that she really isn't as bad as Mia thinks; in his view, Clarisse "just needs proper handling").

While in New York to give Mia her princess lessons, the dowager princess resided in the Plaza Hotel, and was dissatisfied with other quality luxury hotels she was placed in during Princess On the Brink, when the Plaza was being remodeled.

Lilly Moscovitz

Mia's best friend since kindergarten, Lilly is a highly intelligent and opinionated person who has her own public-access television show, titled Lilly Tells It Like It Is, in which she discusses political and social issues. By the end of the series, her TV show is picked up by a network and is apparently very popular in South Korea.

Mia admires Lilly's bravery and unwillingness to be pushed around by others, though Lilly knows her insensitivity and forceful personality can cause her to be disliked. Mia and Lilly often enjoy discussing popular culture, but Lilly's strong stances often cause her and Mia to clash, especially when Mia feels Lilly is becoming too critical of her. Nevertheless, Lilly's blunt attitude is what often keeps Mia from over-analyzing things, such as her relationship with Michael, Lilly's older brother. Mia was initially afraid to share her crush on Michael with Lilly, but in fact, Lilly was one of the conspirators who helped Mia and Michael get together in Princess in Love.

Lilly is not considered to be very pretty; Mia often describes her face as being "squashed in like a pug's". However, she has a well-developed figure, which earns her several romantic suitors, including Boris Pelkowski, Mia's cousin Hank, Jangbu the immigrant busboy, J.P. Reynolds, and Kenny Showalter. Boris is Lilly's first boyfriend, but the relationship ends when she begins seeing Jangbu in Princess in Pink. In Party Princess, Lilly hooks up with J.P., but he dumps her in Princess On the Brink. Lilly becomes angry at Mia when she finds out that Mia kissed J.P., and refuses to speak to her any more, going so far as to start a website called 'ihatemiathermopolis.com'. Lilly ignores Mia's attempts to make up until she finds out that Mia is planning to lose her virginity to J.P., when she tells Mia about his lies and plans to use Mia's fame to his own advantage. Lilly also helps indirectly repair Mia and Michael's relationship. The girls make up and become best friends again; they are still close by the events of Royal Wedding, with Lilly now attending Columbia Law School.

In the 2001 Disney Movie, Lilly, portrayed by Heather Matarazzo, is portrayed as intelligent, confident, and socially conscious. Her talk show is called "Shut Up and Listen". She is then a student at Berkeley. In The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, Mia appoints Lilly as her royal secretary.

Michael Moscovitz

Lilly's older brother, and Mia's main love interest throughout the series. Mia states that she has been in love with Michael since the day he came over to give Lilly a school project when they were in the first grade and he was in the fourth. From the end of the first book to the third, Mia has an unrequited crush on Michael, which he finally reciprocates in Princess in Love. Their relationship continues through Mia's sophomore year and Michael's first year at Columbia University, but their relationship becomes slightly strained when Michael tells Mia he would like to have sex, while Mia would prefer to wait until her prom night. Michael respects Mia's wishes but when Michael gets an offer to move to Japan, he believes it would be easier for their relationship as he is "tired of taking cold showers". Mia proposes sex in order to keep him from leaving, but is upset to find out that he slept with Judith Gershner before they began dating, and the two break up. Michael believes Mia is overreacting and attempts to reconcile with her before leaving for Japan, but is hurt to find her sharing a kiss with J.P. Mia attempts to reunite and work out the distance situation but Michael decides that it is best they remain "just friends" and they begin a regular email correspondence. When Michael returns from Japan after an absence of almost two years, he flirts with Mia during her interview for the school paper. Mia notices that Michael still looks incredibly hot and realises that she does still, indeed, love him. The two eventually kiss, despite Mia having a boyfriend, and Michael declares that he still loves Mia and will wait for her. They reunite on Mia's prom night and have sex.

Michael has brown eyes and thick, dark hair and is tall. He is extremely handsome, nice, funny, smart, and manly, despite staying cooped up writing songs or on his computer the whole day. Mia insists that he is the third best-looking guy at AEHS after Josh Richter and Justin Baxendale and describes his nose as aquiline, mouth as "eminently kissable", and neck as aromatic due to an intoxicating blend of Tide from his shirt collar, his Gillette shaving foam, and Ivory soap.

Michael is described as romantic and talented. Though he often clashes with his younger sister, Michael and Lilly are in fact close siblings and friends. He used to run his own webzine, Crackhead, but had to disband it after an editorial stating the merits of Linux over Windows, which caused a loss of advertisers and funds. Shortly after this, Michael starts a band called Skinner Box (a name suggested by Mia) with a few friends, including Boris Pelkowski.

Michael loves Mia just as she is, though her neurotic behavior and insecurity frustrate him. In fact, Michael is the one who often feels insecure in their relationship, because he knows Grandmere does not think he is an appropriate consort, and all the gossip magazines would much rather prefer to see Mia date a fellow royal or celebrity like James Franco or (as Mamaw suggests) Zac Efron. He moves to Japan to develop the CardioArm for this reason, believing it would prove to the world that he is, in fact, worthy of dating a princess. Michael returns to New York a multi-millionaire and the president/owner of his own robotics company, Pavlov Robotics, named after his dog. Michael donates a robot arm to Genovia from his company for free even though the waiting list is long, helping Mia's father win the election. Mia realizes that she is still in love with Michael, but tries to convince herself otherwise. When she and Michael kiss on a coach ride, however, she writes, "I can't do this to J.P. I just can't. Oh my God, though, I love Michael so much." When J.P. and Mia split due to J.P using her and lying to her, she and Michael reunite, spending the night together.

Tina Hakim Baba

A student at AEHS, Tina is the daughter of a Saudi Arabian oil sheik and a British former supermodel. Because of her father's status, she has to have the protection of a bodyguard, Wahim, which isolates her from the other students until Mia sits with her after a fight with Lilly in the first novel. The three girls quickly develop a solid friendship, and Tina eventually uses her generous weekly allowance to support Lilly's public-access television show. She first goes out with Dave Farouq-El-Abar from another school, 'Trinity', and after he breaks up with her, she begins dating Boris Pelkowski. After Mia and Lilly's estrangement at the end of the eighth novel, Mia comes to see Tina as her best friend. Tina constantly reads romance novels, making Mia consider her an expert in romance. Though prone to imaginative flights of fancy and often a little silly, Tina can be extremely acute about both academic and social matters. She is very loyal to Mia, who often consults her for sensitive advice rather than the harsher Lilly. Tina also believes that she must remain pure, because she dreams that one day she will marry Prince William, and to do so, she must remain a virgin, though she admits to having slept with Boris by Forever Princess. She becomes a medical student at New York University, and has broken up with Boris by the beginning of book eleven, though they eventually get back together.

Secondary characters
  • Lars van der Hooten: Mia's very protective Swedish bodyguard. He voices his mind in a way that is annoying when he thinks Mia is being particularly ridiculous, but goes along with her schemes anyway. He also turns a blind eye to Mia and Michael when they make out, for which Mia is grateful. He gets on very well with Michael (especially in the first book when Lars seems to know that Michael likes Mia), never offers any opinion on Lilly, and becomes friends with Tina's bodyguard, Wahim. Lars also likes Mia's French teacher Mademoiselle Klein. He is known to be a 'big softie' deep down inside.
  • Tina Hakim Baba: A student at AEHS, Tina is the daughter of a Saudi Arabian oil sheik and a British former supermodel. Because of her father's status, she has to have the protection of a bodyguard, Wahim, which isolates her from the other students until Mia sits with her after a fight with Lilly in the first novel. The three girls quickly develop a solid friendship, and Tina eventually uses her generous weekly allowance to support Lilly's public-access television show. She first goes out with Dave Farouq-El-Abar from another school, 'Trinity', and after he breaks up with her, she begins dating Boris Pelkowski. After Mia and Lilly's estrangement at the end of the eighth novel, Mia comes to see Tina as her best friend. Tina constantly reads romance novels, making Mia consider her an expert in romance. Though prone to imaginative flights of fancy and often a little silly, Tina can be extremely acute about both academic and social matters. She is very loyal to Mia, who often consults her for sensitive advice rather than the harsher Lilly. Tina also believes that she must remain pure, because she dreams that one day she will marry Prince William, and to do so, she must remain a virgin, though she admits to having slept with Boris by Forever Princess. She becomes a medical student at New York University, and has broken up with Boris by the beginning of book eleven, though they eventually get back together.
  • Helen Thermopolis: Mia's mother. She has a career as an artist and spends most of her time in her studio, and becomes pregnant with Frank's son and Mia's half brother Rocky in the second book. According to Mia, she is very pretty and her neck smells of Dove (soap), turpentine and coffee, but according to Mia's dad, her neck smells of freesias. She clearly wants the best for her daughter and is very carefree.
  • Frank Gianini: Mia's algebra and homeroom teacher. He dates her mother, Helen, and marries her when she becomes pregnant with Mia's half-brother, Rocky. He plays the drums, which annoys the neighbors. He is unfazed by his stepdaughter's fame, and treats her the same as every other student during class; he also "has a thing about cell-phone usage during class time", as Lana finds out in Princess in Waiting. Mia grows to appreciate his after-school algebra review sessions, and though their relationship begins awkwardly, Mia and Mr. G seem to get along well after the seventh installment. He passes away from a heart attack before the eleventh book, and Mia names her community center after him.
  • John Paul "J.P." Reynolds Abernathy IV: Initially known as "The Guy Who Hates It When They Put Corn In the Chili," J.P. meets Mia via Grandmère's school musical in Party Princess. He joins Mia's friend group soon after, and begins to date Lilly at the end of the book. J.P. is first described as having "broad shoulders, floppy brown hair, and surprisingly blue eyes," though several characters later state that Mia and J.P. look good together because they are both so "tall and blond." He breaks up with Lilly in book eight, and kisses Mia after her breakup with Michael. They grow closer in book nine, with shared interests in musicals and writing, and begin dating after he confesses his love for Mia. They break up in the last book when Mia finds out that he used her to further his playwriting career, and lied about saving his virginity for her. By Royal Wedding, he is an unsuccessful screenwriter and novelist, and continues attempting to reconcile with Mia. Michael later discovers that he is RoyalRabbleRouser - an Internet blogger posting vicious comments about Mia - and has him reported to Interpol.
  • Boris Pelkowski: A Russian violin virtuoso, and Lilly's boyfriend until book five. His habits include tucking his sweater into his pants, breathing through his mouth, and playing the violin in Gifted and Talented class, when everyone else wants him to be quiet. After Lilly dumps him, he starts dating Tina Hakim Baba. During the summer before sophomore year, he lifts weights, gets laser eye surgery and becomes (by Mia's standards) a hottie. Boris is a "say it like it is or say nothing at all" sort of guy. He becomes friends with Michael after joining his band, and in the ninth installment, it appears that they remain in contact, as he implores Mia to respond to Michael's emails so that he won't think she's 'forgotten' about him. By the eleventh book, he has become a popstar known as 'Boris P'. Tina breaks up with him when she finds photos of him with another girl, but they get back together at Mia and Michael's wedding when he proves that they were photoshopped.
  • Josh Richter: Lana Weinberger's boyfriend until the fifth book. He is on the crew team and is co-valedictorian. Mia describes him as the most attractive boy in school; he is very tall and muscular and has "electric" blue eyes. At the end of the first book, Josh takes Mia to the Cultural Diversity Dance, where he kisses her on the entrance steps of her school. Realizing that he used her to enter the media spotlight, Mia dumps him afterwards and tries to avoid him, even though this is difficult because of their adjacent lockers.
  • Lana Weinberger: A popular junior cheerleader with long blonde hair, a peaches-and-cream complexion, baby blue eyes and a voluptuous figure. She dates Josh Richter from the start of the series until the summer break between the fifth and sixth books, when they split up after he goes to college. Lana has a younger sister, Gretchen, who starts at AEHS in book eight and has a very similar personality. Lana is very spiteful towards Mia and constantly taunts her until a major shift in book nine, when she offers the olive branch after Lilly and Mia's friendship ends. They become good friends, with Mia noting that Lana is actually a nice but misunderstood person, though she is sometimes frustrated by Lana's shallowness.
  • Shameeka Taylor: One of Mia's friends, she has an overprotective father. She is athletic and the most attractive of Mia's friends, but also sensible, and headstrong, joining the cheerleading team because she is tired of letting Lana push her around. After she joins the cheerleaders, Lana claims that the African-American Shameeka was put on the team to "fill our freak quota". Nevertheless, Shameeka becomes quite popular, apparently leaving Mia's group in books seven and eight while remaining on friendly terms, but returning in book nine when Lana and Trisha become friends with Mia. In book eleven, Mia mentions that she now works in marketing for Vera Wang.
  • Ling Su Wong: An Asian American artist friend of Mia's with illegible "artist handwriting". She admires Mia's mother Helen, mainly because they are both talented artists. Mia thinks she is very pretty; in the first book, she is apparently asked out seven times. In book seven, she is the treasurer for Mia's school government until they go broke. She concentrates more on academic matters rather than things such as prom and dating, though Mia likes her despite her nerdiness. In the tenth book, she goes to prom with Perin, and they become a couple by the eleventh book.
  • Prince René of Italy: First seen in the fourth novel, René is Mia's distant cousin. Clarisse tries to fix them up, but fails because of their mutual lack of interest. He is described as devilishly handsome; Mia notes that he has a "impressing" six-pack, accentuated by the tiny Speedos he enjoys wearing on the beach. His exploits include playing strip-tennis with a government official's wife, strip bowling with Lilly and the other royals, entertaining topless sunbathers in the pool house, disappearing with a prime minister's eighteen-year-old daughter, and photo-copying his nether-region in the palace administration office. After being deposed from his ancestral palace, which is bought by a shoe designer, Rene resides at the Palais de Genovia. In the ninth installment, René impregnates Contessa Trevanni's niece, Bella, and they are suddenly married; although the circumstances sound unfavorable, their marriage seems happy. In the tenth book, he runs against Mia's dad for Prime Minister of Genovia, but loses.
  • "Mamaw" Shirley Thermopolis and "Papaw" Thermopolis: Helen's mother and father from Versailles, Indiana, whom she constantly feuds with. Nevertheless, they keep in touch, and are portrayed in the second novel as perfect stereotypes of the "small-town" American lifestyle. Helen tries to contact them as little as possible, due to their disapproval of her decision to keep Mia and her liberal upbringing.
  • Hank Thermopolis: Mia's handsome cousin, who has spent most of his life in Indiana with his grandparents. When they visit Helen and Mia in Manhattan, he disappears with Lilly Moscovitz. Mia thinks they are in love, but he merely confesses to Lilly his secret desire to become a model, and Lilly helps him sign up with Elite Model Agency and land a contract with Calvin Klein. His Hoosier drawl then disappears. From then on, he stays in New York and becomes a famous underwear model.
  • Kenneth "Kenny" Showalter: Mia's first boyfriend. Kenny is good at biology and chemistry, and a fan of anime. He wants to discover a cure for cancer when he becomes older. It is hinted that his feelings for Mia are still romantic even after they break up. In book six, he pretends to have a "perfect" girlfriend named Heather, but later admits that he invented her to make Mia jealous. Kenny later forms a much more requited and equal relationship with Lilly, who is more similar to him than Mia is, and they end up going to Columbia together. Like Mia, Kenny is tall, blond and skinny, and Mia thinks he is pretty cute, but finds the idea of kissing him revolting.
  • Perin Thomas: A new student at AEHS introduced in book six. At first, Mia can't figure out whether Perin is a boy or a girl. She turns out to be a girl and eventually joins Mia's friend group, though she is again mistaken for a boy in Grandmère's musical, in which she is given a male role. Perin is one of Mia's 'nicer' friends, and is also surprisingly strong and well-mannered. In book ten, it is implied that Perin and Ling Su are romantically involved with each other, though this is not confirmed until the eleventh book, when they are shown running the Frank Gianini Community Center with Mia.
  • Trisha Hayes: Introduced in book six, one of Lana's cronies who helps terrorize Mia, but later befriends her at Lana's whim. Like Lana, Trisha is a pretty, popular mean girl, though Mia comments that Geometry teacher Mr. Harding once made her cry over her isosceles triangles.
  • Judith Gershner: A friend of Michael, whom Mia suspects of having romantic feelings for him. She later becomes the cause of Mia and Michael's breakup in book eight when it is revealed that he lost his virginity to her, but did not tell Mia about it. She is known for being able to clone fruit flies.
  • Karen Martinez: An overly critical English teacher who continually demands more from Mia's writing, though this may be an excuse to personally pick on Mia; Mia and J.P. decide that it is simply because she doesn't like their writing style. Tina thinks she is very pretty, comparing her to Maggie Gyllenhaal, and often comments on her clothes, but turns against her after Mrs. Martinez gives Mia a B in English in book six. Later, after Mia makes an awesome speech about why she should be elected student body president and is later elected, Mrs. Martinez congratulates Mia for her speech, saying she was right about popular culture having its place just like high culture; she then apologizes to Mia for making her feel that the things Mia enjoys writing about were less than more serious subjects, as they weren't.
  • Rocky Thermopolis-Gianini: Mia's half-brother, the son of her mother, Helen, and her algebra teacher, Mr. Gianini. Mia is incredibly over-protective of him, so much that Helen seems to be irritated that Mia thinks her mother is incapable of raising her second child. Lilly has also expressed that she thinks Mia is over-protective of him, repeatedly calling her a baby-licker in book six. Rocky is very cute but slightly overweight.
  • Sebastiano Grimaldi: Mia's second cousin, and second in line to the throne of Genovia after Mia. He is an up-and-coming fashion designer who designs some of Mia's gowns, and often has trouble pronouncing multi syllable words (example: "butt" instead of "butter"). He once took photos of Mia trying on dresses, but apologizes by making her a nice dress for the Non-denominational Winter Dance, which turns out to be the best night of Mia's life. In the tenth book, it is revealed that he becomes a famous fashion designer, and even has a line of jeans in Walmart.
  • Ruth and Morty Moscovitz: Michael and Lilly's parents, both psychoanalysts. They separate in book seven, but begin to rekindle their relationship in book eight. As shown in the seventh installment, they tend to focus too much on their own lives and concerns. When they do broach sensitive subjects with their children, they usually psychoanalyze them as well, a habit that has a very bad effect on Lilly, who inherits her intelligence and hobby of analyzing people from them. Michael, who is more perceptive, avoids their attention by keeping more to himself.
  • Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison Renaldo: First introduced in book eleven, Olivia is Mia's biracial 12-year-old half-sister, the daughter of Prince Philippe and Elizabeth, an American pilot. After her mother's death, she was raised by her aunt and uncle, who used Olivia's child support money for their personal means, and lives with them in Cranbrook, New Jersey, until Mia finds her. Like Mia, she keeps a diary which is used for the series spin-off, From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess.

Volumes

Illustrated by Chelsey McLaren:

  • Princess Lessons, March 2003
  • Perfect Princess, March 2004
  • Holiday Princess, November 2005
  • Ransom My Heart by Princess of Genovia Mia Thermopolis

Errata

On April 6, 2006, Cabot announced a mistake on the back cover of her new book, Party Princess. In New Zealand and Australia, the picture on the back features Georgia Byng instead of Cabot. She said, "Don't worry. The copies of Princess Diaries 7 with Georgia Byng's picture on the back were pulled from shops, and swapped for copies of the book with the correct author's photo (mine) on the back."

In December 2006, Cabot announced that a mistake had been made in the front cover summary of Valentine Princess. Since the book chronicles Mia glancing at her old diaries, the characters Boris and Tina were not dating, rather Boris and Lilly. On the book flap, however, it says Boris and Tina are a couple. Cabot has announced that this has been fixed by the publishing company. Tina was dating Dave Farouq El-Abar at the time of books one and two.

In the tenth book (Forever Princess) Mia is writing a novel for her senior project, though she keeps it a secret from everyone but Michael, until the end of the book. At the end however she reveals this to Tina and J.P. Tina reads it instantly and thinks it is about Mia and Michael; J.P. doesn't read it and this upsets Mia, which is part of the reason they break up. At the end of the book, Mia receives an offer to get it published. (When Mia shares this news with Michael, they celebrate and this leads to a kiss, which proves that they are still in love.) Meg Cabot published "Mia's" book Ransom My Heart that can be bought in bookstores under the author name Princess of Genovia Mia Thermopolis.

Awards and nominations

Adaptations

In 2001 and 2004 respectively, two films based on the novels were produced by Walt Disney Pictures, The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. Cabot has thanked the films many times in interviews and on her website because she believes that they helped boost her book sales, as well as making her the success that she is today.

Meta-references
  • Mia makes references in-universe to a movie made about her life. These relate to changes made for the real movie adaptations, including her father's death, differences in Grandmere's character, and a break-up with Michael in the sequel. Lilly complains that in the movie, the portrayal of her is mean and untrue, and Tina Hakim Baba was not allowed to be in it as her overprotective father forbade it for security reasons.
  • Mia also makes references to the other Princess books: in the fourth book, Mia says that there are already three or four unofficial biographies out there, and that one made the bestseller list for a few seconds. The original The Princess Diaries novel did make the bestseller list.
  • The eighth novel mentions Samantha Madison and Jessica Mastriani, two heroines from other Meg Cabot books (All-American Girl and 1-800-Where-R-You, respectively).

See also

References
  • Cabot, Meg (2001). The Princess Diaries. New York, New York. HarperTrophy. ISBN 0-380-81402-1.
  • Cabot, Meg (2006). The Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party Princess. New York, New York. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-072453-6.

Footnotes
  1. The Princess Diaries, Vol I, Meg Cabot
  2. FAQS Meg Cabot Website.
  3. "Meg Cabot Blog". May 2, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  4. "ALA |2001 Best Books for Young Adults" Archived August 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "ALA |2001 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers" Archived June 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  6. "The Princess Diaries, Volume I" Archived January 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Young Adults' Choices for 2002" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 15, 2013. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  8. "Volunteer State Book Award Winners 1978–present" Archived June 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Past Winners of the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award" Archived October 2, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
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