The Princess Diaries Rankings And Opinions

For a story that began with a frizzy-haired teenager learning she’s secretly royalty,
The Princess Diaries has built a surprisingly long-lasting empire. From Meg Cabot’s
diary-style novels to Disney’s glittery film adaptations starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews,
Mia Thermopolis has gone from awkward high schooler to certified pop-culture royalty.

Today, the franchise is bigger than ever: the original 2000 novel has grown into a multi-book universe,
two feature films have become sleepover staples, and a third movie is officially in development with
Anne Hathaway set to return to Genovia under director Adele Lim.

So if you’ve ever found yourself debating which movie is superior, which book really captures Mia’s
chaotic brain, or where an upcoming threequel might land, consider this your unofficial tour through
the kingdom. Let’s rank the movies, spotlight beloved books, and dive into the fandom’s most passionate
opinionswith a little royal snark along the way.

How These Princess Diaries Rankings Were Crowned

Before the royal court starts sending angry letters, here’s how these rankings were put together:

• Critical response: Review aggregator scores and top critic reactions.
• Audience love: Long-term fan affection, cult-classic status, and rewatch value.
• Story strength: Character growth, emotional beats, and how well the Genovian fairy tale holds up.
• Cultural impact: Memorable quotes, iconic scenes, and how often people still reference it in 2025.
• Book faithfulness (for the novels): How well each entry captures Mia’s voice, humor, and growth.

This isn’t a lab report; it’s more like a group chat between overinvested fansjust with slightly better
grammar and fewer all-caps rants.

Princess Diaries Movies: Ranked from Crown Jewel to Guilty Pleasure

#1: The Princess Diaries (2001) – The Undisputed Crown Jewel

The original 2001 film is where most people met Mia Thermopolis: a shy, catastrophically awkward teen
in San Francisco who finds out she’s heir to the throne of Genovia. Directed by Garry Marshall and
based (loosely) on Meg Cabot’s first novel, the movie turned Anne Hathaway into a star and brought
Julie Andrews back to the Disney castle for the first time since Mary Poppins.

Critics were mixed at the timeRotten Tomatoes currently shows the film hovering just under the
“fresh” line with about half of critics recommending itbut even the more skeptical reviews tend to admit
it’s “bumpy but endearing” and powered by Hathaway’s breakout performance.
Audiences, meanwhile, embraced it: the movie grossed over $165 million worldwide on a relatively modest
budget, making it a bona fide sleeper hit.

Why it ranks first:

• Perfect wish-fulfillment setup: The “normal kid discovers they’re royal” trope has existed
  forever, but Mia’s clumsiness and self-deprecating humor keep it grounded instead of cheesy.
• Iconic scenes: The makeover reveal, the frozen brain from the corndog, the
  “I’m still me” speechthese are burned into the collective millennial memory.
• Julie Andrews as Clarisse: She doesn’t just play a queen; she is the blueprint for
  every movie monarch who came after.
• Rewatch value: It’s endlessly quotable, endlessly GIF-able, and somehow still comforting even
  when you can recite half the dialogue from memory.

If you only watch one Princess Diaries movie (which would be a little tragic, but okay), this is the one.

#2: The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) – The Over-the-Top Comfort Watch

The 2004 sequel moves the action fully to Genovia and leans hard into fairytale politics. Mia is now
a young woman preparing to take the throne, only to discover an old law that says she has to get
married in order to be queen. Enter arranged engagement, scheming parliament, and a frustratingly charming
rival heir: Lord Nicholas Deveraux, played by a baby-faced Chris Pine.

On paper, critics were not impressed. The sequel’s critic score sits around 25% on Rotten Tomatoes,
compared with the first film’s roughly 49%a big step down in the eyes of reviewers.
But the audience score tells a different story: viewers give it considerably more love, and it’s become one of
those comfort movies people put on when they want castles, gowns, and zero surprises.

Why it comes second (but is still beloved):

• It’s cheesy. On purpose. The plot is pure fairytale logicbut that’s also the point. It’s a
  royal rom-com, not constitutional law.
• Chris Pine’s Nicholas: He starts as an antagonist and becomes a genuinely swoon-worthy
  romantic lead, which fuels a thousand internet debates about which romantic pairing is “right” for Mia.
• Shonda Rhimes wrote the script: Before Grey’s Anatomy and Bridgerton took over TV,
  she was scripting Genovian drama, and you can feel her flair for big emotional declarations underneath the
  slapstick.
• Box office power: Despite lukewarm reviews, it still made over $134 million worldwide and has
  stuck around in the cultural conversation, which is more than a lot of early-2000s sequels can say.

Think of Royal Engagement as the sparkly tiara that maybe doesn’t match every outfit, but
you still refuse to throw out.

Wild Card: Where Will The Princess Diaries 3 Land?

As of late 2025, The Princess Diaries 3 is officially moving forward at Disney. Anne Hathaway has
confirmed her return as Mia, and Adele Limbest known for her work on Crazy Rich Asians and
Joy Rideis attached to direct. Production teams have even been spotted “castle shopping” in Europe,
reportedly scouting locations in the Czech Republic.

Because the movie isn’t out yet, it doesn’t get a spot in the rankingsbut it’s already influencing fan
conversations. The likely addition of Olivia (Mia’s younger half-sister from Meg Cabot’s later books) and the
question of whether familiar faces like Robert Schwartzman’s Michael will return have fans nervouslyand
excitedlyrefreshing news feeds.

Let’s be honest: if the threequel nails Mia’s adult life, honors Garry Marshall’s legacy, and keeps the
franchise’s gentle, goofy heart, it could easily challenge the first film for the crown.

Fan-Favorite Princess Diaries Books: A Quick Ranking

While the movies get most of the mainstream attention, longtime fans know the books are where Mia’s voice
truly lives. Meg Cabot’s series now spans more than a dozen core novels, novellas, and companion titles,
following Mia from high school chaos all the way to adulthood and beyond.

Here’s a ranking of standout titles that fans often single out as their favorites:

#1: The Princess Diaries (Book 1)

The original diary is still the gold standard. We meet Mia as a neurotic, idealistic, deeply self-critical teen
navigating algebra, boys, and suddenly being told she’s heir to a European micro-kingdom. The epistolary format
makes everything feel intimate and hilariously overdramatic in the best possible way.

#2: Princess in Love (Book 3)

This is where the romantic stakes really kick in. Mia’s crush life finally collides with reality, and the
book balances swoony moments with Mia’s tendency to spiral over every tiny social cue. Readers often cite this
as the point where they fully shipped Mia with a certain boy-who-plays-in-a-band.

#3: Princess Mia (Book 9)

By this stage, the series gets more emotionally complex. Mia is dealing with heartbreak, anxiety, family
pressure, and her responsibilities as future ruler. It’s a turning point where the character feels less like a
cartoon princess and more like a young woman figuring out who she wants to be.

#4: Royal Wedding (2015)

After the original run supposedly ended, Cabot returned with Royal Wedding, an adult novel that follows
Mia as a grown woman preparing for marriage and juggling full-on royal life. It’s pure fan service in the best
way: you get closure, nostalgia, and a sense of how Mia’s neuroses translated into adulthood.

#5: The Quarantine Princess Diaries (2023)

This later entry takes place during a global pandemic, catching up with Mia as she navigates lockdown from a
palace perspective. It’s meta, weirdly relatable, and shows how the series keeps evolving with the times without
losing Mia’s signature voice.

You could shuffle the middle rankings depending on whether you favor early teen drama or later-life royal
complications, but most fans agree: the first book and the revival novels are essential reading.

Biggest Fandom Opinions and Debates

1. Movie Mia vs. Book Mia

Book Mia lives in Manhattan; movie Mia lives in San Francisco. Book Mia’s dad is alive; movie Mia’s father has
passed away. Book Mia’s personality is even more anxious and intensely introspective than her on-screen
counterpart.

Many readers feel the books offer a sharper, more satirical look at fame, politics, and adult hypocrisy, while
the films smooth those edges into Disney fluff. Both versions workthey just tell slightly different stories
about the same girl.

2. Michael vs. Nicholas: The Eternal Ship War

The films make things tricky by emphasizing different love interests in different entries: Michael Moscovitz in
the first movie, Nicholas Deveraux in the second. Online, you’ll still find fans insisting that Mia and Michael
are endgame, while others argue that Nicholas’s growth arc makes him the better match.

The books tip the scale toward Michael, especially by the time Royal Wedding rolls around. The movies,
meanwhile, keep things more open and fairy-tale. No matter where you land, this debate will probably explode
again the moment Princess Diaries 3 drops a trailer.

3. Is Genovia a Realistic Monarchy? (Short Answer: Absolutely Not, and That’s Fine.)

Every so often, someone points out that Genovia’s political system is…let’s say “loose.” Parliamentary votes
based on love lives, succession laws that change mid-wedding, and a population that appears to consist mainly
of adoring extras.

But honestly, that’s the charm. Genovia isn’t meant to be a case study in constitutional monarchy; it’s a
sparkly stage where Mia works out her values. The politics are there to set up jokes and emotional choices,
not to withstand a civics exam.

Why The Princess Diaries Still Matters in 2025

The world has changed a lot since 2001, but the core of The Princess Diaries still hits: a girl learns
that she’s more capable, more powerful, and more worthy than she ever allowed herself to believe.

A few reasons the franchise continues to resonate:

• It treats awkwardness as normal. Mia doesn’t wake up graceful just because she’s royal;
  she learns to function while still tripping over things.
• It values integrity over image. Whether it’s movie-Mia using a speech to defend her
  country or book-Mia ranting about environmental issues in her diary, the story repeatedly argues that
  character matters more than aesthetics.
• It grows with its audience. The books age up with readers, and now the promised third
  film looks poised to reflect what it means to be a grown woman trying to do the right thing under
  public scrutiny.

In a media landscape full of darker reboots and gritty remakes, The Princess Diaries continues to
offer something rare: sincere, gently funny stories about growing into yourself without losing your softness.

Experiences and Reflections: Living With The Princess Diaries

Ask a group of fans how they first encountered The Princess Diaries, and the stories start sounding
delightfully similar.

Someone will mention watching the first movie at a sleepover, curled up in a pile of blankets while everyone
yelled during the makeover scene. Another person will talk about discovering the book in a school library and
realizing, with a mix of horror and relief, that they too kept an overwrought mental monologue running at all
times. For many people, Mia was the first fictional girl who articulated her anxieties the same way they felt
themdramatic, repetitive, and very, very funny.

As fans got older, the relationship with the series changed. The early movies became comfort background noise
something you put on while doing laundry or scrolling your phone, knowing that however messy the first act gets,
the ending will always be emotionally tidy. The later books, especially Royal Wedding and
The Quarantine Princess Diaries, began to land differently. Suddenly, Mia’s worries about public
responsibility, burnout, and balancing love with work didn’t feel like distant adult problems; they felt weirdly
familiar.

There’s also the generational handoff happening now. People who grew up with the first film are old enough to
show it to younger siblings, cousins, or their own kids. Watching it with fresh eyes, many realize how gentle
the story is compared to more frantic modern teen media. The big “scandals” in Mia’s worldan embarrassing
makeover, a leaked photograph, an awkward speechare tiny by internet standards, but emotionally huge to her.
That scale makes the movies and books a safe place to process real-life feelings without getting overwhelmed.

Online, fans trade rankings not just of the movies and books, but of specific moments: best Genovian parade,
most chaotic driver’s lesson, top Julie Andrews eyebrow lift. TikTok edits and Instagram reels keep resurfacing
clips from the films, whether it’s Mia sliding on the bleachers or Clarisse practicing her wave with a hairbrush.
Those micro-moments work because they’re about specific, recognizable emotionshumiliation, pride, affectionwrapped
in royal aesthetics.

The anticipation around The Princess Diaries 3 taps into that same emotional throughline. Fans aren’t just
curious about the plot; they want to see who Mia became. Did she stay idealistic? Did she burn out? Is she still
overthinking everything? The idea of catching up with her feels less like watching a sequel and more like
checking in on a friend you haven’t seen since high school.

That may be the most powerful thing about The Princess Diaries as a whole. Underneath the tiaras and
palace staircases, it quietly argues that it’s okay to grow, to change, to mess up publicly, and to still be
worthy of love and responsibility. Whether you’re ranking the films, arguing about the best book, or planning
a rewatch marathon before the threequel, you’re participating in a fandom built on something surprisingly
wholesome: the belief that awkward, anxious people can still become the heroes of their own story.

And if you happen to do it with frizzy hair, shaky knees, and a speech note card that falls into a fountain?
WellMia did it first.