In June 2024, I finished reading the first 11 books in The Princess Diaries series and it got me thinking about the differences between the books and the films. This listicle was written back then and I have no idea why I didn’t end up publishing it, so here it is! And I know this has been written a thousand times already, but I wanted to write my own version with more detail!
It might not surprise you to know that The Princess Diaries is one of my favourite films. In fact, I consider it to be a perfect coming-of-age comedy—the casting, acting, screenwriting, directing, cinematography, mise-en-scene, and so forth, are all incredible. I have since read the entire book series (bar the newer The Quarantine Princess Diaries) written by Meg Cabot, on which the film is based, and there are some things I have occasionally wished we could’ve seen play out in the film with Anne Hathaway’s version of Princess Mia. Despite this, I wouldn’t change a thing. All the changes made for the film version were excellent decisions, but I want to discuss how the books differ from the two films because they’re pretty interesting.
The following contains spoilers for the entire The Princess Diaries book series.
Mia is blonde
Mia is described as having dishwater blonde hair in the books, which is neither curly or straight, but somewhat wavy. She also keeps it fairly short due to it growing into a “triangular” shape when it gets longer. The dramatic makeover Paolo gives her results in a platinum pixie which, she says, makes her look like a “q tip,” which was hysterical to read about. She’s not a huge fan of her new hairdo, but everyone compliments her on it. Imagine if Hathaway had been blonde?! That would’ve been wild! Although everyone criticises the makeover scene in the film, I adore it.
Home is NYC
The film takes place in San Francisco, which is perhaps a prettier backdrop for a film like this, but in the books Mia lives in New York City—which makes much more sense for the trendy loft she lives in with her artist mother and her cat Fat Louie. The books frequently refer to well-known New York landmarks as Mia is out and about. The film would’ve had an entirely different vibe if it were set in The Big Apple, that’s for sure!
Princess Clarisse Renaldo is savage
In the films, Julie Andrews plays Mia’s grandmother and she does a fabulous job. She’s very proper, as you would expect from a Royal. In the books, however, Clarisse is very different. She chain smokes and drinks at least six sidecar cocktails a day. It’s a wonder that her getting acid reflux isn’t mentioned until Royal Wedding, book 11. She also has tattooed eyeliner, shaved eyebrows, and occasionally references her many ex-lovers whose hearts she broke. But my favourite thing about Clarisse is that she was always coming out with iconic one-liners that made me laugh out loud (thankfully, Lilly gives us plenty of those in the films). She also gave Mia plenty of grown-up, but good advice. I would have loved to have seen this chaotic version of Clarisse in the films, but it’s understandable why Disney modified her. Andrews’ Clarisse is a gift and a very comforting character.
Prince Philippe Renaldo is alive
That’s right, Mia’s dad is alive in the books. In the film, Philippe died in some undisclosed accident, although he had never been a part of Mia’s life anyway. In the books, though, he’s very much alive and is actively in Mia’s life. He did, however, have testicular cancer which prevented him from producing another heir, but he’s currently in remission. This was, of course, too adult for a Disney film, plus they wanted Andrews to play Clarisse and for her to have a bigger role. It makes me sad that he isn’t in the film universe, but it’s for the best.
Mia has a baby brother
Mia’s mother, Helen, still marries Mia’s algebra teacher, Frank Gianini, in the books, but they have a kid together who they call Rocky. In the second film, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, there’s a flash of Helen holding him as a baby, but in the books we get to see how neurotic Mia gets while her mother is pregnant and once Rocky is born, and how she interacts with and worries about him. It’s pretty cute, actually!
Mia has multiple boyfriends
Mia has a crush on Josh Richter in both the first book and film. When he finds out she’s a princess, he asks her out, which turns into a terrible date that ends in the popular mean girls stealing her clothes while she’s changing on the beach. In the books, he kisses her in front of the paparazzi, just like in the film, who he called as a publicity stunt, so she dumps him and spends the rest of the night with Michael—her other love interest! But Mia also had more boyfriends in the books as she dated Kenny Showalter and J.P. Reynolds-Abernathy. Mia goes through a lot of self-growth when she’s dating J.P. This character was also introduced in a funny ways as Mia wrote a short story about him called The Guy Who Hates It When They Put Corn in the Chilli, and there’s a whole book with a subplot of her trying to prevent this story from being published in the school’s newspaper.
Michael is endgame
In the first film, there’s some cute yet awkward flirting between Michael and Mia, but in the second film she marries Nicholas, who doesn’t exist in the books! (The first film deviates somewhat from the books, but the second doesn’t follow any of the books at all.) One of the best things about the books is reading the love story between Michael and Mia that spans throughout. They do break up for a while, though, over something stupid, while Michael is living in Japan for some years to work on a robotic arm that can perform heart surgery—something else that wasn’t in the films! But they get back together in the end once Mia has pulled herself together, and Royal Wedding is about them!
Mia and Lilly have a huge fight
Mia and Lilly fall out in the film, but it’s not for very long. In the books, however, they fall out for a very long time, lasting throughout books 9 and 10. This was because J.P. was originally dating Lilly, but then broke up with her and started dating Mia. Lilly then starts the website IHateMiaThermopolis.com and posts about all the embarrassing things Mia does. Lilly is mean in the film, but she’s much worse in the books and is way more judgemental. She’s a very interesting character, though, with psychiatrist parents, and I did miss her presence when she and Mia were fighting. However, this is when Mia goes through a lot of self-growth which was even more interesting to read. It was like, finally Mia!! It was good to see her stand up for herself.
Mia has a diverse friend group
Mia only seems to have one friend in the film, but in the book she has loads of friends, and it’s a diverse group at that. In addition to Lilly, there’s romance-obsessed Tina Hakim-Baba, the daughter of an oil sheikh who also has a bodyguard, cheerleader Shameeka Taylor, artist Ling Su Wong, androgynous Perin Thomas, and violin-playing Boris Pelkowski, who Mia kinda hates actually—but Boris dates two of Mia’s friends over the course of the books.
Mina and Lana become friends
Lana Weinberger is the popular cheerleader who bullies Mia, which also happens in the books—but she’s not as vindictive as she’s portrayed to be in the film. Despite their differences, Lana and Mia actually become friends in the books after Lana thanks her for speaking at the annual Domina Rei Gala, which she nominated Mia for. They go shopping together because, as Lana says, they’re going to have to put their differences aside if they’re both going to be in Domina Rei someday—which Clarisse desperately wants! And so after Lana extends an olive branch, Mia learns that Lana isn’t so bad after all, once you get to know her, and accept that people are different. It was a pretty random thing to happen, for sure. There’s also no Anna or Fontana in the books.
Lars the bodyguard
In the books, Mia has her own bodyguard called Lars van der Hooten, but in the film he was changed to Joy (portrayed by Hector Elizondo), who is Clarisse’s head of security and Mia’s limo driver. It’s sad that Lars isn’t in the films, but I love Joe so much and we get to see him and Clarisse fall in love which is so beautiful. Joe is also so good to Mia, as is Lars btw. They’re nice dues.
Mia has a half-sister
In Royal Wedding, Mia finds out she has a half-sister called Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison Renaldo. Philippe proposed to Olivia’s mother, Elizabeth, but—much like Helen—she did not want to live in a palace and lose the freedom of a normal life. Philippe then decided to keep them a secret. When Olivia was two years old, Elizabeth died in a jet-ski accident, and Olivia was sent to live with her aunt Catherine and Uncle Rick. Olivia is 12 when Mia learns about her existence and they meet for the first time. And Olivia has her own book series, also written (and illustrated) and Cabot, for middle graders!
There’s so much more story
I mean, obviously, right? There’s 12 books so of course there’s way more story. This is why I highly recommend reading the books if you’re a fan of The Princess Diaries. They may be Young Adult (ages 12 and up), which makes some books more annoying than others due to Mia being a literal teenager (she was a tad younger at the beginning of the books than in the first film), but the majority of them are actually great! They’re all so funny and it’s really rewarding to see Mia’s wonderful character development in the last few books. But I loved to read about all the other things that happen—such as Mia running for school president so Lilly can take over, Mia being depressed and having therapy, Mia discovering the story of her ancestress Princess Amelie who only ruled for 12 days, and Mia writing her own romance novel (a real novel Meg Cabot actually wrote which you can actually read btw!)—plus all the moments of friendships, dating, and so much more.
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