While me and my boyfriend were on our vacation in Portugal, we went on a daytrip to the wonderful place of Sintra. We entered this enormous park, built around this colorful and magical castle. They told us that all the colors are original – the catsle was truly designed like that and must therefore have been quite special at the time in 1836.
Walkin around and inside the Palace Pena, wearing my pink princess skirt, made me feel like I was in some kind of a fairy tale. This was like no other palace I had ever seen. All the magnificent details, the vivid colors and the assimilation with nature. Palace Pena is built on the top of a hill, and you can tell how it is carved out of stone – Some walls had stones sticking out of them, in their natural form. So beautiful!
I could not help but think how it would have been, to live there surrounded by all this beauty and colors. I thought about when I was a little girl and had this phase where I dreamt of being a princess. I thought about my little sitters and nieces and how so many little girls, also have their princess dreams.
But why do we all aspire to be princesses, why not be a queen instead? She is higher in the hierarchy and does have a bigger influence, right! So why be a princess when you could be a queen!!
But why want to be royal in the first place? To be a princess you have to be born into the royal family, or to marry into it. I do not know about you, but I would probably feel quite miserable if my fate was decided for me at birth, and that I could not choose my own lifestyle, education and career paths of my own. The princesses back in the day, living in Palace Pena, probably did not do much other than look good and walk around being bored, feeling trapped.. dreaming of adventures regular girls were having.
Luckily the princesses of today have gotten fiercer than when I was a child. Take for instance Disney’s Snow white from 1938. She is described as “a young princess; the Fairest of Them All, who, in her innocence, cannot see any of the evil in the world”. Her role is to be innocent, beautiful and she is not capable of taking care of herself – the prince needs to rescue her. Today we have Disney’s Princess Moana from 2016. She is a strong-willed daughter of a chief of a Polynesian village, who builds her own boat and sails out, in the hope of saving her Island people. Can you tell the difference?
I also feel as if the real princesses today make a great effort in charity and wold peace initiatives – using their power and attention to a good cause. Take for instance last friday, where I attendet the welcoming ceremony of CBS. One of the speakers was Crown Princess Mary, who spoke as an ambassador for CSR and focused on the issues we are facing globally in the fashion industry. She is definetely a good example of a modern princess, who uses her power and influence to make the world a better place! Weither it is the disney princesses or the real-life princesses of today, they are certainly not playing the same role as back in the 1990’s. Yet all the little girls from all times, all want to be princesses. I am just happy to see this princess image change, so that the little girls out there know the importance of being independent, and that there is no use in waiting for a “rescue”.
But last question is – why do they still have to be princesses?….. If they were “regular girls” they would be much easier to identify with, right? And not to mention that almost everywhere, democracy has taken over from the monarchy. So if it is power and influence that is attractive, the little girls of the world should furthermore aspire to become politicians! haha!
Did you have a princess dream as a girl, and what kind of princess was she? Do little boys want to be princes to? If not, why not? I would love to hear from you! And isn’t the Palace Pena amazing???!
Thank you for reading!
PALE MIST
Pale Mist 