The Princess Diaries is a 12 book series, starting when Mia Thermopolis is 14 years old with the most recent book featuring Mia in her late 20s. And, too many people don’t even know that The Princess Diaries moves are actually based on books! On their own, they’re fantastic films but as adaptations of the books they really weren’t very faithful. Here are some of the biggest differences from the books!

This will contain SPOILERS for the entire Princess Diaries book series.

Setting

The Princess Diaries books are set New York. Mia loved New York and the setting is pretty important. However, the movies changed the location to San Francisco for some reason. 

In the books, Mia wouldn’t ever really be happy leaving New York City for good so she splits her time between New York and Genovia, rather than uprooting her entire life. Except for in the final book which is set during covid lockdowns as most people are forced to stay in the same place.

Mia’s Dad

Mia’s dad is alive in the books! He has testicular cancer which results in him become sterile, which means that Mia is forced into becoming his heir even though she is technically illegitimate. And, in the book he’s the Prince of Genovia because the principality doesn’t actually have a King or Queen.

In the movies, it’s pretty clear that Mia didn’t have much of a relationship with her dad before he died. However, in the books Mia spends every summer iwth him in France and is involved with other areas of her life. 

Plus it’s pretty clear he never truly got over Mia’s mother.

Mia’s Grandmother

Mia’s grandmother, Clarisse, is still in the books but she was never queen (Genovia doesn’t even have a queen!) and she is very different. She’s rude, she’s mean, she swears all the time (but only in French!), she always has a cocktail on her, and she has a horrible little dog called Rommel. 

I completely understand why they would change Grandmere’s character for the movie since they got Julie Andrew’s to play her! 

Mia’s Friends

Mia is actually nowhere near as unpopular in the books. She’s definitely not popular and the popular kids don’t like her, but she actually has a pretty big group of friends outside of Mia!

At the beginning of the series she is friends with Lilly Moscovitz, Shameeka Taylor, and Ling Su Wong. Mia has been friends with Lilly since they were young. Shameeka and Ling Su are more background characters, they don’t appear as much as Mia’s other friends.

In the first book she also makes friends with Tina Hakim Baba. When Mia has a falling out with Lilly, Mia decides to sit with Tina at lunch. She previously thought Tina was a freak because she has a bodyguard following her around since her dad is an oil sheik and her mother is a former model so they’re scared for her being kidnapped. 

Although Lana is a bully at the beginning of the series, just like in the movies, Mia actually ends up becoming friends with her later in the series! This happens after Mia has a big falling out with Lilly after she ends her relationship with Michael and begins dating Lilly’s ex-boyfriend.

Michael Moscovitz

Michael Moscovitz is Mia’s main love interest throughout the series. In the books, Michael is super-smart and actually considered the third best looking guy at school. Mia and Michael begin the series as friends but it’s pretty clear they both have feelings for each other. Michael attempts to ask Mia out multiple times but she misses it everytime. They eventually get together and definitely have their problems, including break-ups, but they do end up together. We even see them get married and have twin babies.

Mia is not forced to find a husband to become queen but she does get her Royal Wedding with Michael.

Diversity

I’m not going to pretend this is the most diverse book series ever. It was, after all, published starting in the year 2000. However, it was considerably more diverse than the movies! 

Mia’s friend group is pretty diverse, plus she has a transgender neighbour called Ronnie. Ronnie was a very minor character and the way the books talk about her wasn’t always done in the best way but it was something that you wouldn’t find in most books for teenagers at the time. 

Overall

So, overall the series is actually pretty different. However, one of the biggest things that caused all of these changes is the fact that we just spent so much more time with Mia in the books! 

They’re both fantastic in their own right but are definitely very different and if you’ve never read The Princess Diaries book series then I’d definitely recommend giving it a go!