Meg Cabot reveals how The Princess Diaries characters would handle a royal Oprah interview
What would Princess Mia do?
It's a mantra for a subset of millennial girls who fell in love with heroine Mia Thermopolis in the pages of Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries series (and on screen as brought to life by Anne Hathaway in a breakout role).
And it's undoubtably a question that many were wondering while watching Oprah Winfrey's interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry about their exit from the British royal family, the emotional strain they faced that led up to it, and more stunning revelations. After all, Princess Mia did offer Meghan Markle exclusive advice on her wedding day (courtesy of EW).
In response to the big interview, Cabot even referenced her novel on social media — and the infamous princess lessons Mia is forced to endure with her chain-smoking, sidecar-swilling grandmother, Clarice, the Queen of Genovia (a far cry from Julie Andrews' gentler film version).
"And on top of everything else, they didn't even give her princess lessons," Cabot tweeted, commenting on the lack of preparation and formal guidance Markle said she received from the royal family.
But now, Cabot tells EW exactly how the Genovian royal family would handle just such an interview with Winfrey, particularly the narcissistic Queen Clarice. "[Grandmère] would love it," Cabot says with a laugh. "I mean, come on, she loves publicity. And poor Genovia gets no publicity, as you might have noticed. No one ever talks about it."
"Of course, [Michael and Mia] wouldn't say the things that Harry and Meghan said because none of that's true for Genovia," she adds. "[Grandmère] would be thrilled. She would probably be, like, trying to push them down so that she could sit in the seat between them and be interviewed by Oprah herself. That would be her dream come true. She'd be like, 'Oprah, did you know?' She'd be so excited."
Might we get to see what that would look like in print? Last year, Cabot started posting the Corona Princess Diaries on her blog as a diversion for readers stuck inside at the beginning of the pandemic.
Cabot tells EW she does plan to "write something with" Princess Mia again in the future, but that it would be for charity rather than posted directly to her blog.
So we'll all just have to wait for Mia's next diary entry and practice our curtsies in the meanwhile.
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