The Princess Diaries

The next day, Lilly is angry that Mia can’t help her record the episode for her TV show. When Mia explains that she has to spend time with her grandmother, Lilly asks why Mia hasn’t introduced her to any of her grandparents. Mia knows that if Lilly meets Grandmère, she will find out that Mia is a princess. In fact, Lilly would “probably want to interview [Mia], or something, for her TV show,” and the last thing Mia needs is her “name and image plastered all over Manhattan Public Access” (123). Later on Saturday, Mia returns home in a rage. Grandmère took Mia to her stylist, Paolo, who “takes unfashionable, frumpy people” and “makes them stylish” (126). Paolo cut Mia’s hair very short, dyed it blond, and gave her fake fingernails. Mia didn’t protest because she has “a fear of confrontation” and “didn’t want to hurt his feelings, or cause a scene” (128). Still, she is very unhappy and feels like Grandmère is “turning [her] into someone else” (129).

Mia confronts her father, and he offers to pay “one hundred dollars a day, in [her] name” (132) to Greenpeace if she continues with the princess lessons. Mia decides that this is fair, and “Greenpeace will have to hire [her] after [she] graduate[s]” (132) if she donates that kind of money.