So I was reading Cinderella Ate My Daughter, which is a key text for this series of articles, and came across what I consider to be a Good Point. One feature of princesses, and not a good feature, is that they tend not to have close female friends their own age. This doesn’t affect the scoring thus far, as Leia and Buttercup are no exceptions to this rule. For that matter, neither does today’s subject.

Princess Elizabeth
Fictional Source: The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch

There’s a certain kind of fictional princess that’s, you know, spirited and no pushover and maybe kind of tomboyish. This type has become dominant enough in pop culture that it doesn’t get any extra points on my scale; it’s kind of the default. Elizabeth is a good example of it. However, I give Munsch credit for being ahead of the curve here; he wrote the book in 1980.

Far as I can tell, Elizabeth is a legitimate princess who fits the conventional definition of the word; that’s 1 point. No skills that I can see. She’s certainly not just an accessory for a hero, and ends the book happily single; that’s 1 more point. The first sentence of the book describes her as “beautiful”, so nothing there, but the dragon burns most of her glamour off of her, which is a plot point, and she isn’t bothered by it in the least, so I’ll give her a half point of credit for that. She certainly does do useful stuff; she overcomes a dragon through trickery and rescues the prince, all by herself. That’s worth 3 points.

Overall Score: 5.5

I’m a little surprised she scored this high, but hey: you come out on top ahead of a dragon and you deserve it.

Rankings:

Princess Leia Organa (7)
Princess Elizabeth (5.5)
Princess Buttercup (-3)