There’s a “World of Princesses” at the Ambassador Theatre here in Dublin. I realize it’s probably ridiculous, but every time I see it I get pissed off. “For every girl who’s ever wanted to be a princess,” it says, and yes, okay, fair enough, I too wanted to be a princess at times. But it still just annoys the crap out of me, because every time I see it I think “I’m betting it doesn’t address–for example–Diana’s anorexia, Masako’s depression, male-only primogeniture, “Waity Katie”, as Kate Middleton was nicknamed as they waited to get married so nobody could accuse them of making Charles & Diana’s mistakes, or the scrutiny that even in liberal Norway was put upon the commoner who their crown prince had the audacity to fall in love with, because she was a single mother and the kid’s father had been convicted of some kind of drug-related offense–”
And those are just the princesses I know something about in the real current world, nevermind historically getting married off at birth or before to old men in order to secure a treaty, and–*strangled noises*
I’m so with you on all of this. It’s a horrible gig in reality and not that great in fairy tales either. I also think “what about all the girls that want to be pirates or the worlds greatest swords woman or an F1 race car driver or the greatest magician or the chick who totally saves the day while riding a dragon and traveling through time?” I never wanted to be a princess myself I leaned a little more in the riding a dragon direction.