The Disney Princess Club: Actual Princess, or Just Heroine?

Snow White

Story: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Year: 1937

Princess: Yes

Justification: Snow White was born a princess. In the Disney version we never see her mother, and instead just know of her stepmother– the Queen. Due to that, as viewers it is a little questionable for us if her father married into the royal family after his wife (who had Snow White) died, or if the Queen married into the royal family. Well, based on several resources, it has reaffirmed my knowledge that Snow White is, indeed, a full-princess.

Cinderella

Story: Cinderella

Year: 1950

Princess: Yes

Justification: Cinderella grew up in a non-royal family with her father, stepmother, and two stepsisters (until her father died, that is). If Cinderella did not marry Prince Charming ("the Prince" is Snow White's boo), she would have no right to the throne in any sense. Therefore, because she married into royalty, she is technically a princess, even if not a full 100% princess.

Aurora

Story: Sleeping Beauty

Year: 1959

Princess: Yes

Justification: Disney's third princess - Aurora - is indeed a full-blown princess. Her parents are King Stefan and Queen Leah, and, in the end, she marries Prince Philip. Therefore, there is no question of her claim to the throne.

Ariel

Story:The Little Mermaid

Year: 1989

Princess: Yes

Justification: Oh Ariel, the 16-year-old who believes she is no longer a child and truly loves Prince Eric. Thankfully Disney did not stay true to the original story, so not only did the extremely painful transformations avoid the big screen, the painful heartbreak at the end of the story was avoided as well (thanks Disney for getting hopes up for true love at first sight!).

Anyways, she is one of the seven daughters of King Triton and Queen Athena, who rule (or ruled, in Queen Athena's case) Atlantica. So even though she may not necessarily have first claim to the throne of Atlantica, she is definitely an actual princess.

Belle

Story:Beauty and the Beast

Year: 1991

Princess: Yes

Justification: "Once upon a time in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle." No, the prince is not Belle (if you didn't know that you need to go pick up a VHS [yes I said VHS] and watch this 1991 classic). Based on the opening line of this movie, it is known that Adam (the Beasts' actual name) is a prince. Therefore, the fact that Belle marries Prince Adam means that she is, in fact, a princess (even if she may not be a full-fledged princess).

Jasmine

Story: Aladdin

Year: 1992

Princess: Yes

Justification: Princess Jasmine is the daughter of the Sultan. Even though as an American I may not necessarily immediately associate "sultan" with "king," Merriam-Webster states that a sultan is "a king or sovereign especially of a Muslim state." Agrabah is a fictional Muslim state (I assume, but please email me if I'm wrong), and so, technically, Jasmine's father– the Sultan - is king of Agrabah. Due to that, Jasmine can be deemed a princess.

Pocahontas

Story: Pocahontas

Year: 1995

Princess: No (even though I know I get push-back for that opinion)

Justification:Okay, so it is known that Pocahontas is the daughter of a Native American chief. Yes, the chief is generally the leader of a tribe, but that does not mean they are kings. Based on what I learned reading up on the differentiation between kings and Native American chiefs, not only was the concept of a tribal chief being the same as a king a heavily European-based concept, but often tribes had more than one tribal chief (again, please tell me if I am mistaken if you are Native American and have more knowledge on this subject than a European white girl who loves pumpkin spice). However, a king is defined as "a male ruler of a country who usually inherits his position and rules for life."

Now, you may be thinking, "Okay, so maybe she wasn't technically born a princess, but what about her marriage?" Well, a few things. First, if you believe that she married John Smith, you would actually be wrong. Instead, she married John Rolfe (based on the real husband of Pocahontas –John Rolfe). Regardless, neither of those men were royalty. John Rolfe was instead just someone who worked for the king– he was not directly related to the king (in both the movie and real life, according to my sources). Therefore, to call Pocahontas a "princess" is a mistake. Is she a heroine? Definitely. Is she a strong independent woman? Of course! Do those two things combined automatically make her a princess? Not in the slightest. If that were the case, there would be a lot more princesses running around in this world.

Mulan

Story: Mulan

Year: 1998

Princess: No

Justification: I don't care how much you disagree with me or how much you fight with me, I will not change my opinion on this matter. Why? Because Mulan is NOT a princess. She is the daughter of a war-hero (so there is already no relation to the emperor), and then she marries a general. She does not marry a prince and has no inheritance to the throne. She is a heroine of China, and she saved the country from the Huns. Like Pocahontas, she is a fierce heroine, but that does not automatically make her a princess in the traditional sense.

(I once read that Disney's "princesses" are actually just female heroines, but if that were truly the case, there are many females that are missing from the list)

Feel free to look at these interesting facts about who Mulan was based on, if you so please.

Tiana

Story: The Princess and the Frog

Year: 2009

Princess: Yes

Justification: Even though this beloved southern belle started off her big screen debut as a hard-working American female who just wanted to open her own restaurant, she does end up marrying a prince (Prince Naveen). Even though Naveen may not necessarily act like a prince all the time, and even though his parents cut him off from their royal funds, that does not make him any less of a royal. Therefore, Tiana can be dubbed a princess (albeit not a naturally-born princess).

Rapunzel

Story: Tangled

Year: 2010

Princess: Yes

Justification: Oh Rapunzel, what wouldn't any girl give to have magic hair? Well here's the thing, if we go by Disney's version of this fairy tale, Rapunzel is a princess who was kidnapped from her parents at a young age. If we go by the original Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale, she is not a princess. Well, let me rephrase that. She was not born into royalty in the original version but instead marries into royalty (after many shortcomings of life along the way, including pregnancy, suicide attempts, and blindness). Thankfully, Disney has always had a way of turning highly gruesome and not-kid-friendly stories into beloved tales we know and love today.

So getting back to the point.

Disney's version: Rapunzel is born a princess. Original version: Rapunzel marries into royalty. Either way, she's a princess.

Merida

Story: Brave

Year: 2012

Princess: Yes

Justification: "A princess does not leave her weapons on the table."

For everyone that has seen Brave, you know that there is a sequence where her mother - Queen Elinor - continuously tells Merida what a princess "does" and "does not" do (with more focus on the latter). Her father, King Fergus, is of little help to Merida when it comes to these situations, which is not necessarily what such a tomboyish girl needs. Due to Merida's constant annoyance with her mother, the rest of the plot of Brave is born (if you haven't seen it I won't spoil it for you, but you need to go watch it this instant. After all, who doesn't love the Scottish accent?).

Regardless of if you've seen this Scottish animated beauty or not, Princess Merida rightfully deserves to be in the famed hall of Disney princesses.

Elsa

Story: Frozen

Year: 2013

Princess: Yes (and later becomes queen)

Justification: Arendelle. The land that has been fraught with disaster and sadness since the death of King Agnarr and Queen Iduna. Princess Elsa closed the doors of the castle to outsiders, thus leaving her sister - Princess Anna - alone in the castle with no one to play with. Even though the story gets its plot pushed forward with the crowning of Elsa as the Queen of Arendelle, that does not mean that she was not a princess. Because of that, Else definitely belongs in the hall of princesses (I mean, after all, if we were required to change the Disney princess guide as soon as each one became queen, there would be very few actual princesses in the list).

Anna

Story: Frozen

Year: 2013

Princess: Yes

Justification: Anna is the sister to Princess/Queen Elsa, and therefore, she is a princess. I kind of already went through this when going over Elsa, so I'm not about to repeat myself.

Moana

Story: Moana

Year: 2016

Princess: No

Justification: Similar to Pocahontas, Moana is the daughter of a chief - not a king, not an emperor, not a prince. In the movie, Moana tells Maui that she is not a princess due to the fact that she is the daughter of chief. Even though Maui retorts that she is a princess because she, "Wears a dress and has an animal sidekick," that does not automatically make it so. It's likely that Disney wanted to be able to expand their definition of "princess" rather than just change them to "Disney heroines".