Kenny Showalter
| Genovia | |
|---|---|
Flag of Genovia
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| The Princess Diaries location | |
| Other name(s) | Principality of Genovia |
| Created by | Meg Cabot |
| Genre | Young adult fiction |
| Type | Parliamentary Monarchy |
| Notable locations | Pyrus (capital) New Pyrus (largest city) |
| Population | 64,486 |
| Motto | The whole body works |
| Anthem | Genovia, the land I call my home |
| Language(s) | English and French |
| Currency | Genoves (LKM) |
The Princess Diaries is a series of epistolary young adult novels written by Meg Cabot, and is also the title of the first volume, published in 2000. The series revolves around Amelia 'Mia' Thermopolis, a teenager in New York who discovers that she is the princess of a small European principality called Genovia.
Meg Cabot quotes the series' inspiration on her website stating: "I was inspired to write The Princess Diaries when my mom, after the death of my father, began dating one of my teachers; they later went on to get married just as Mia's mom does in the book! I have always had a 'thing' for princesses (my parents used to joke that when I was smaller, I did a lot of insisting that my 'real' parents, the king and queen, were going to come get me soon, and that everyone had better start being a LOT nicer to me) so I stuck a princess in the book just for kicks... and VOILÀ! The Princess Diaries was born."
The books are noted for containing many popular culture references, which include singers, movies, and fads in modern culture. Many critics have taken unkindly to this form of storytelling. In response, Cabot added an English teacher in the book, Princess in Training, who criticizes Mia's writing, telling her that it relies too much on "slick pop culture references." By the final novel, this has allowed Mia to progress and grow as a person.
The latest book in the series, The Princess Diaries, Volume XI: Royal Wedding was published in 2015. A spin-off series for tweens featuring Mia's half-sister, From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess was released in May 2015.
The story of Mia Thermopolis' adolescent turmoil as an average teenager and a princess of royal descent is chronicled in her on-going journal, where she explores topics of teenage angst, love, and betrayal through an opinionated eye. The main series follows Mia from her freshman year of high school to her graduation, with a two-year jump between the ninth and tenth books.
The series is set primarily in the Manhattan borough of New York City (although the first film is set in San Francisco). Some books take place in Genovia, a fictional European country. The Genovia described in the books differs significantly from the Genovia depicted in the films: in the former, Genovia is referred to as a principality between France and Italy ruled by Mia's father, Prince Philippe Renaldi, similar to Monaco; in the latter, Genovia is a kingdom located between France and Spain, similar to Andorra, and is ruled by Mia's grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi.
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Wikipedia