From cinemas to reality TV, the idea of the princess has never been more popular. The world fell in love with Princess Diana, and now Australia has its own fairytale princess: Princess Mary. Tweens (kids aged between 8 and 13—no longer a kid but not yet a teenager) are riveted by the actor Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, Ella Enchanted). Disney brings together seven of their female characters and dubs them princesses, with corresponding merchandise for little girls. The media often uses the term to refer to females who have made an impression on our hearts. We have watched as Australia’s Princess of Pop, Kylie Minogue, battled with cancer, and have followed the grief and heartache of Princess Bindy (Bindy Irwin) as she spoke at her father’s funeral. Our interest with the idea of princesses is such a part of our society, when Granada Productions called for women between the ages of 18 and 30 to be groomed for a reality television show called Australian Princess, more than 4,000 women applied.1
