Secret Princess Aesthetic
Remember the early 2000s Secret Princess Aesthetic? Books like The Princess Diaries and movies like What a Girl Wants or The Prince & Me featured an ordinary girl who finds out she’s a princess, or falls in love with a guy who’s (OMG!) a prince. It’s still a popular trope in young adult books and popular culture, but the Secret Princess Aesthetic has been updated in the 2020s. Let’s take a look back and then see where the Secret Princess Aesthetic is today!
First off, did you take my quiz and find out your 2000s Movie Aesthetic? I recommend it, but you can love ALL the aesthetics and switch them up, Taylor Swift style!
The 2000s Secret Princess Aesthetic is just one of the aesthetics that the quiz might have paired you with, and this post will discuss the 2000s books and movies that inspired it!
Books and Movies With a Secret Princess Aesthetic
I’m going to look at the movies that inspire the aesthetic, and then look at Y2K YA books and 2020s YA royal romance novels that update the trope for the current day!
2000s Contemporary YA Books With a Secret Princess Aesthetic
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
The classic and original! Mia Thermopolis discovers that she’s actually a princess! Cue makeover sequences and princess lessons!
the Commoner marries the royal YA books
Check out this post for my full list, but here are a few YA Contemporary books about regular girls who fall in love with a royal guy.
In Romancing the Throne, two sisters at an elite boarding school battle for the attention of a prince, and in Truly Madly Royally, a regular girl meets a prince on a summer program.
2020s YA Books With a Secret Princess Aesthetic
LGBTQ Royal romance
The popularity of Red, White and Royal Blue (2019) brought some books that featured same-sex couples. In Red, White and Royal Blue, an adult title, the son of the US President falls in love with a British prince, and in the 2019 YA title Her Royal Highness, a girl at a Scottish boarding school falls in love with Flora, her roommate. Who is an actual princess!
YA Royal romance that’s Not in europe!
The Tokyo Ever After (2021-2022) duology is the non-Western royal romance we never knew we needed! The book follow Izumi Tanaka, Japanese American living in a small, mostly white, northern California town. One day Izzy discovers a clue to her father’s identity… and he’s none other than the Crown Prince of Japan.
two recent secret princess titles with suspense!
Royal Blood by Aimée Carter (2023), which I reviewed recently, is the first in a new YA series about a troubled teen who learns that she is actually the out-of-wedlock daughter of the King of England himself! When she becomes the main suspect in a murder investigation, things really heat up!
The Royal Game (2024) by Linda Keir is an adult novel about an American pop star who is engaged to the heir to the throne. She starts digging into the tragic death of his mother (think Princess Diana) uncovering troubling questions.
2000s Movies with a Secret Princess Aesthetic
Of course, The Princess Diaries was a 2000 book made into a 2001 movie, and it’s a timeless Y2K classic and a perfect example of the 2000s Princess aesthetic: ball gowns, makeovers, tiaras, and more.
Here are two other movies:
What a Girl Wants (2003) starred Amanda Bynes as a normal girl who learns that her father is a wealthy and titled British politician. The Prince & Me (2004) is a hate-to-love romance about an American college student who meets, hates, then falls in love with a Danish prince.
What are your favorite books and movies with a Secret Princess Aesthetic? Tell me in comments!
