Heartbreaking casting update for The Princess Diaries 3, confirmed by Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews addressed her future in The Princess Diaries 3 — and it’s not the fairy-tale answer you were hoping for.
Bit of disappointing news for those who grew up on tiaras and Genovia: Julie Andrews has announced she won’t be back as Queen Clarisse in The Princess Diaries 3. After over two decades as everyone’s favourite royal grandmother, Andrews is officially hanging up the crown, and she’s explained why.
The Princess Diaries 3 has yet to reveal a UK or US cinema release date.
Julie Andrews steps aside
Andrews, now 90 years old, chatted to TODAY.com on 10 August and was fairly upfront about the reasons she’s stepping away. First, the story for this third instalment has changed direction (they’re apparently moving on from her character) and at her age, she feels it’s simply time to move on. Nothing dramatic, just a natural passing of the torch.
Here’s how she put it in the interview:
I'm not going to be in it. I think the story is slightly different, and I'm not quite sure how they're dealing with that. But it's too late for me to do it. I think the story has to continue in Princess Mia. It's her story. It's not really mine.
This won’t be much comfort to fans who consider Andrews an absolute mainstay of the franchise. She was a huge part of the first Princess Diaries film back in 2001, and its 2004 sequel, where she navigated the tricky territory of introducing Mia to royal life (plus all those etiquette lessons – which, let’s be honest, never really stuck with Mia). But all good things etc.
Mia takes centre stage
As for the third film, the focus is most definitely on Anne Hathaway’s character, Mia. That’s not exactly a shock – Mia was the whole point of the books and, well, the films. First time out, she was an awkward teenager in San Francisco before discovering she’s heir to the Genovian throne, with Queen Clarisse as her no-nonsense mentor. The second film upped the stakes, with Mia dodging an archaic law about marriage before she can be queen – and managed to get that changed, incidentally, thanks to Chris Pine’s Nicholas waving the love-interest flag.
Now for film three: plot details are thinner than a ceremonial sword, but since Mia is already meant to be ruling Genovia, the reasonable bet is the story will go all in on her. No word yet on when the film will land in cinemas, so fans are stuck waiting for an official date to mark in the diary.