''The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement'' is a 2004 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film and the sequel to 2001's ''

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 who discovers ...

''. Unlike the first film, this film is not based on any of the books. Most of the cast returned from the first film, including

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Awar ...

Héctor Elizondo Héctor Elizondo (born December 22, 1936) is an American character actor. He is known for playing Phillip Watters in the television series ''Chicago Hope'' (1994–2000) and Ed Alzate in the television series '' Last Man Standing'' (2011–2021) ...

Heather Matarazzo Heather Christina Marie Matarazzo (born November 10, 1982) is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was Dawn Wiener in the film ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' (1995). She played Lilly in ''The Princess Diaries'' (2001) and '' The Princess Dia ...

, and Larry Miller.

Garry Marshall Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 – July 19, 2016) was an American filmmaker and actor. He started his career in the 1960s writing for ''The Lucy Show'' and ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' before he developed Neil Simon's 1965 play ''The Odd Co ...

returned to direct and

Debra Martin Chase Debra Martin Chase (born October 11, 1956) is an American motion picture and television producer. Her company, Martin Chase Productions, is affiliated with Universal Television, a division of NBCUniversal Television Group. It was affiliated with ...

and

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

to produce. New characters include Viscount Mabrey (

John Rhys-Davies John Rhys-Davies (born 5 May 1944) is a Welsh actor best known for portraying Sallah in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise and Gimli in ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. His other roles include Michael Malone in the 1993 series ''The Untoucha ...

), Lord Nicholas Devereaux (

Chris Pine Chris Pine (born August 26, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' reboot film series (2009–present), Steve Trevor in the DC Extended Universe films ''Wonder Woman'' (2017) and ''Won ...

, his film debut), and Andrew Jacoby (

Callum Blue Daniel James Callum Blue (born 19 August 1977), known professionally as Callum Blue, is an English actor. Best known for his roles on the Showtime series ''Dead Like Me'' and ''The Tudors'', as well as his roles as Zod in the American televis ...

). Despite having a worldwide box office gross of $134.7 million, the film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. A sequel is currently in development.

Plot

Five years after

the first film ''The First Film'' is a 2015 British documentary film about cinema pioneer Louis Le Prince, made by David Nicholas Wilkinson. It argues the case that Le Prince, rather than the Lumière brothers, was the true inventor of moving pictures, making ...

, Mia Thermopolis graduates from Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, returning to Genovia. There, she awaits her grandmother, Queen Clarisse's,

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

. Dancing with all eligible bachelors at her 21st birthday party to find a husband, she meets a dashing young gentleman named Nicholas, and the two become mutually attracted. During the evening, Mia's tiara falls off, caught by Member of Parliament (MP), Viscount Mabrey, who secretly plans to steal the crown. During the Parliamentary session the next morning, Mia hears Mabrey revealing his nephew, Lord Devereaux, to be the next male heir to the throne. By law, Mia can only be Queen if she marries within the month. Clarisse invites Lord Devereaux to stay at the palace, and Mia is shocked to discover he is Nicholas. Her best friend, Lilly Moscovitz, surprises her with a visit. Together, they look through potential husbands. Mia eventually chooses Andrew Jacoby, Duke of Kenilworth, and days later, they are engaged. Mabrey plans to have Nicholas seduce Mia so the engagement will fail. Joe tries to persuade Clarisse to publicly pursue their feelings for each other as her reign as queen is coming to an end. Mia has to ride sidesaddle for a ceremony but is inexperienced, so Queen Clarisse provides an

ancestral An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

wooden leg decoy so it seems she's doing so. When Mabrey spooks Mia's horse with a rubber snake, Joe inadvertently tears off the wooden leg. Humiliated, she flees to the stables, where Nicholas fails to comfort her. At a garden party, Mia and Nicholas quarrel about her relationship with Andrew. As they argue, he kisses her. At first, she kisses him back but then backs away. Pursuing her, they fall into a fountain. Queen Clarisse tells Mia that her behavior with Nicholas has to stop. At the Genovian Independence Day parade, seeing some boys harassing a little girl, Mia abruptly halts the parade to help. Learning the girl, Carolina, and the others are orphans, she has a vendor give them all tiaras and lets them walk with them in the parade. Everyone is impressed, while Mabrey sees it as a political maneuver. Nicholas is also struck by Mia's care for Genovia and begins doubting taking over the throne. Mia later declares the conversion of a royal palace into a temporary children's center. At Mia's bachelorette slumber party, princesses attend from around the world. They mattress surf and sing karaoke. Meanwhile, Nicholas tries to stop his uncle from pursuing the throne as Mia is doing well as a ruler. Mabrey realizes Nicholas has fallen for her, but believes Mia will never love him. Mabrey encourages him to pursue her, later revealing to his surly and mistreated housekeeper Gretchen he plans to let this ruin Mia's chances of becoming queen. Manipulating Nicholas, he makes him believe it was his late father's wish for him to become king. Nicholas helps Mia succeed at hitting the target as she is practicing for her

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

rites. He tells her he is leaving, but asks to see her once more before he goes. She declines, as she is under close guard. That night, Nicholas convinces Mia outside her window, to sneak out. By a lake, they share secrets, dance, and eventually fall asleep. They awaken to find a man filming them. Mia thinks Nicholas set her up, while he insists he had no idea. The scandalous footage is already being broadcast before she returns. Disappointed, Andrew kisses Mia to see if there is a romantic spark between them. There isn't, but they do not call off the wedding for the good of Genovia. The wedding is the following day, and Mia's mother, Helen, comes with her new husband Patrick O'Connell and their newborn son named Trevor. Nicholas decides against attending, until Gretchen tells him Mabrey engineered the televised scandal. Before the wedding, Joe tells Mia that Nicholas is innocent. Walking down the aisle, she suddenly stops and runs out of the church. Queen Clarisse follows and Mia says she doesn't want to be forced to marry. Clarisse encourages her to follow her heart, something she never did, costing her Joe, the love of her life. Returning into the church, Mia points out to everyone that her unmarried grandmother has ruled Genovia for many years, asking the members of parliament to reconsider the law, asking them if they would force the significant women in their lives to marry without love. Mabrey again suggests his nephew be named King instead, but Nicholas appears, refusing the crown. Mia proposes the law on royal marriages be abolished, and the Parliament unanimously assents. Clarisse proposes to Joe and they are promptly married. A week later, Mia is preparing for her

when Nicholas arrives. Professing his love on bended knee, they kiss. The next day, Queen Clarisse steps down, and Mia is crowned "Her Majesty Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, ''Queen'' of Genovia", with all in attendance in the palace. An

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...

shows the Genovian Parliament now allows female members, one of whom is Charlotte (Clarisse's

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...

). In a final scene, Queen Mia officially opens a new children's home with Carolina.

Cast

Mia Thermopolis ''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 who discovers ...

as Queen Clarisse Renaldi *

as Joe *

as Viscount Mabrey *

as Lilly Moscovitz *

as Nicholas Deveraux *

as Andrew Jacoby *

Caroline Goodall Caroline Cruice Goodall (born 13 November 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. She was nominated for AFI Awards for her roles in the 1989 miniseries ''Cassidy'', and the 1995 film ''Hotel Sorrento''. Her other film appearances include ' ...

as Helen Thermopolis O'Connell *

Meredith Patterson Meredith Ann Patterson (born November 24, 1975) is an American musical theatre and television actress. She is best known for her Broadway performances such as Peggy Sawyer in 2001 Revival of "42nd Street", '' The Boy Friend'' and '' White Christ ...

as Lady Elissa *Kathleen Marshall as Charlotte Kutaway *Joel McCrary as Prime Minister Motaz *

Kim Thomson Kim Ellen Thomson (born 30 October 1959) is an English actress who has appeared on stage, television and film since the early 1980s in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Early life Thomson was born on 30 October 1959, altho ...

as Elsie Kentworthy *

Tom Poston Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

as Lord Palimore *

Raven-Symoné Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman-Maday () (née Pearman; born December 10, 1985), also known mononymously as Raven, is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She has received several accolades, including five NAACP Image Awards, two Kids ...

as Princess Asana * Larry Miller as Paolo Puttanesca *

Matthew Walker Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

as Captain Kip Kelly *

Shea Curry Shea Curry is an American actress, who portrayed the lady's maid Brigitte in '' The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement'' (2004). Curry appeared in Broadway's ''The Little Prince'' at the Promenade Theatre, New York. She received a Garland A ...

as Brigitte *Anna A. White as Brigitta *Cassie Rowell as Olivia *Erik Bragg as Lionel *

Sean O'Bryan Sean Michael O'Bryan (born September 10, 1963) is an American film and television actor from Louisville, Kentucky. He attended and graduated from St. Xavier High School. Career He co-starred with William Ragsdale on the series '' Brother' ...

as Patrick O'Connell * Scott Marshall as Shades *

Abigail Breslin Abigail Kathleen Breslin (born April 14, 1996) is an American actress. She rose to prominence with the comedy-drama film '' Little Miss Sunshine'' (2006), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at ...

as Carolina *

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

in a cameo appearance *

Jonny Blu Jonny Blu is a singer/songwriter who was born and raised in Los Angeles but made his professional debut in China. He entered the music scene in Hong Kong and became the first Caucasian pop star in the Chinese music world. From his first Mandarin ...

as himself *

Spencer Breslin Spencer Breslin (born May 18, 1992) is an American actor and musician. He is the older brother of actress Abigail Breslin. Beginning at the age of three, Breslin acted in over 50 commercials. He is best known for his roles in the feature films ...

as Prince Jacques *

Tracy Reiner Tracy Reiner ( Henry; born July 7, 1964) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in '' When Harry Met Sally...'', ''Masque of the Red Death'', ''A League of Their Own'', and ''Apollo 13''. Early life Reiner was born Tracy Henry on ...

as Lady Anthony *

Paul C. Vogt Paul Calvin Vogt (born December 16, 1964) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his work as a cast member on the sketch comedy programs ''Mad TV'', ''The Big Gay Sketch Show'', and ''The Rerun Show''. Life and career Paul C. Vogt was ...

as Lord Crawley * Paul Williams as Lord Harmony *

Anna Netrebko Anna Yuryevna Netrebko (russian: Анна Юрьевна Нетребко; born 18 September 1971) is an Austrian operatic soprano with an active international career and performed prominently at the Salzburg Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna ...

as herself *

Hannah Schneider Hannah Schneider is a Danish musician and composer signed to Sony/Mermaid records in Denmark and Lojinx in the UK. She has released three albums and toured in Europe and America. Schneider is the granddaughter of famed ‘cellist Mischa Schnei ...

as Princess Hannah *Jane Morris as Gretchen *Charlee Corra Disney as Princess Charlee *Aimee Adams Hall as Princess Aimee *

Nadège August Nadège August (also credited as Nadège Auguste) is an American actress, producer, and podcast host. Biography August was born in Brooklyn, New York, but was raised in Haiti from the ages of eight to fourteen. In 2001, she made her feature fil ...

as Princess Nadege *Claudia Katz Minnick as Freda Kout

Reception

The film opened in 3,472 theaters in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and grossed $23 million in its opening weekend. It grossed $134.7 million worldwide—$95.2 million in North America and $39.6 million in other territories.

Critical response

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that 26% of 120 critic reviews are "fresh" (positive), and the average rating is 4.57/10. The site's critical consensus is that "Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews bring charm and elegance to the movie, but there's not enough material for them to work with in this sequel." At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has an average score of 43/100 from the 31 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". The film's writer, Shonda Rhimes, later said that she treasured the experience if for nothing else – the opportunity to work with its star, Julie Andrews. Andrews was later cast as the voice of Lady Whistledown in Rhimes' 2020 series, ''

Bridgerton ''Bridgerton'' is an American historical- romance streaming television series created by Chris Van Dusen for Netflix. Based on the book series by Julia Quinn, it is Shondaland's first scripted show for Netflix. It revolves around the epony ...

''.

Soundtrack

The song, " Your Crowning Glory", a duet between Queen Clarisse (

) and Princess Asana (

) was the first time Andrews had sung in public or on screen since she had throat surgery in 1997.

Sequel

In March 2016, Garry Marshall announced plans for a third ''Princess Diaries'' film, with Hathaway reprising her role. When Marshall died in July 2016, the project had been shelved indefinitely. In August of the same year, Hector Elizondo discussed development of the third installment stating, "I know Anne would like to do it. I know Julie would like to do it. I would like to do it. So we're on board, it's a question of when and a question of getting a good story. I'm ready! It's time to go back to Genovia!" In May 2018, Anne Hathaway stated that she would still like to appear in a third ''Princess Diaries'' film. By January 2019, she confirmed that a script is completed and that she and Andrews are currently on board to co-star in the film and producer Debra Martin Chase will return. She further stated that the film will not enter production until "it's perfect". On November 15, 2022, it was revealed that Disney was moving forward with a third ''Princess Diaries'' film. Though she is not confirmed to appear, the company is reportedly interested in bringing Hathaway back.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Princess Diaries 2, The The Princess Diaries 2004 films 2004 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films American sequel films 2000s English-language films Films about princesses Films about weddings Films directed by Garry Marshall Films scored by John Debney Films set in Europe Films set in palaces Films set in a fictional country Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Wiltshire Walt Disney Pictures films 2000s American films