The Prince

The Prince is a major character in Disney's 1937 animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A hopelessly romantic royal from a faraway kingdom, the Prince befriends the princess Snow White during her time as a scullery maid. Their courtship is forcibly interrupted by the machinations of the Evil Queen, leaving the young lovers in search for one another.
==Background==
===Development===
The Prince was the first "realistic" human male that the Disney animators attempted to bring to life. It was found that the Prince was the hardest of all characters to animate. For this reason, his role in the film was minor; he only makes two appearances in the film. The character was mostly rotoscoped from Louis Hightower's live-action performance. The Prince was partly animated by Milt Kahl, who would later be given similarly difficult tasks in the animation of Prince Charming in Cinderella and Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty.
It was originally planned that, jealous of the Prince's affections for Snow White, the Queen would have him brought to her, and she would have him locked in her dungeon. As the Witch, she would have made the skeletons in the dungeon get up and dance. She would have left the Prince in the dungeon, and he was to escape in the manner of Errol Flynn, enabling him to reach Snow White and break the spell. After escaping, the forest animals were to tell him where to go; however, only the horse was to understand, causing the Prince to take the long route and arrive too late to save Snow White. The idea was abandoned when it was realized how difficult it was to animate the Prince convincingly, and the character only appeared when he needed to further the story, which centered primarily around the relationship between Snow White and the Queen.
However, comics released to promote the film include such scenes; the Witch locks up the Prince and tells him what her plans are for Snow White, telling him that she will win his affections, while the Prince is defiant. Later, as the animators became more experienced at animating human characters, a similar concept was used in Sleeping Beauty, in which Maleficent has Prince Phillip captured and taken to the Forbidden Mountains, where she shows him visions of the future she has planned for him.
Sketches were made for the sequence in which Snow White sings "Someday My Prince Will Come" depicting Snow White and the Prince dancing in the clouds, while small, star-like creatures cavort around them. However, the idea was reused, to an extent, in Sleeping Beauty, in which Prince Phillip and Aurora dance together; their surroundings transform into clouds, presumably to reflect their happiness together.
===Personality===
The Prince is a young man of eighteen, possessing a magnificent voice. He is agile and a skilled wallclimber, scaling the wall of the castle with no trouble. He is very charming and romantic with Snow White, serenading her under the castle balcony. He is unbothered by Snow White’s tattered clothes, which had been imposed by the jealous Queen to deface the young princess. Rather, he displays grace and kindness to Snow White, courting her in song. Like Snow White, he seems to enjoy contact with animals, particularly doves. The Prince also shows courage and determination, as he tries to find Snow White all over the country. Moreover, this young man is very much in love with the princess because he is the only one who can wake her from the Sleeping Death by placing Love's First Kiss on her lips.
===Physical appearance===
The Prince has short, dark brown hair with a full fringe and blue eyes. His overall outfit is a royal blue sleeveless tunic with a gold trim and a cream-colored belt where he keeps his dagger in a sheath. Beneath his outfit is a white long-sleeved shirt, bluish-gray pants and cream-colored boots with light brown folded cuffs. He also wears a dark red cape that reaches to his knees with a black strap at the front which is connected to his cape.
In its initial appearance and his first meeting with Snow White who works as a scullery maid, he wears a matching royal blue beret with a large white feather on the right side to match his primary outfit before it was discarded to search for her whereabouts.
In the present artworks and merchandise, the Prince's hair became lighter brown, his sleeveless tunic became blue and his pants are medium blue turning his outfit into shades of blue.
==Appearances==
===Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs===
One day, the Prince was passing by Snow White's castle on his horse, when he heard a beautiful voice singing "I'm Wishing". As he climbed the castle fence wall to investigate, he saw a girl dressed in rags singing into the well, performing a duet with her echo. This was Princess Snow White, who was being mistreated by her stepmother, The Evil Queen. She's startled as the Prince suddenly joins in. She runs into the castle, and watches as he sings "One Song". The two express their love for each other. Watching from above is the Queen, who angrily closes the curtains of her window in jealousy.
When the Queen arrives, disguised as an old hag, to poison Snow White, she, knowing of the romance between the girl and the Prince, fools her into believing that the Poisoned Apple is a magic wishing apple, capable of making her greatest desire a reality. Snow White wishes to live with the Prince and, taking a bite, falls to the floor, taken by the Sleeping Death. Though the seven dwarfs succeed in chasing the Witch to her doom, Snow White remains uncured; the dwarfs place her in a glass coffin and take her to a clearing in the forest.
Meanwhile, the Prince had been searching for Snow White following her mysterious disappearance from the castle. During his travels, he learns of a maiden that lies in a glass coffin and visits the vigil's location in the forest. He recognizes the maiden as Snow White and sorrowfully sings a reprise of "One Song" as he places one last kiss on his seemingly deceased love. To the surprise of the Prince, and surrounding seven dwarfs, Snow White awakens from her curse through "true love's kiss" and warmly embraces her prince. Reunited, the Prince and Snow White ride off to the former's castle to finally begin their lives together.
===Other appearances===
In the live-action film, Flubber, the Prince made a cameo appearance on the monitor of Weebo the Robot.
Like other Disney characters, the Prince received many cameos in House of Mouse, but for him, they were always non-speaking. He was usually seen at a table with Snow White.
==Video games==
===Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep===
When Aqua comes to Dwarf Woodlands she encounters the Prince at the castle as he desperately tries to find Snow White. When she tells him that she was cursed by the Wicked Queen and is in a deep sleep, he asks Aqua where he can find her, and she tells him to go to the Dwarf's Cottage, where he will find her in a glass coffin. After this, he makes his way to the cottage and when he finds her, he kisses her and she awakens and together they ride off on his horse.
The Prince and Snow White were shown in the end credits in the meadows picking flowers with the Dwarves.
==Musical==
The Prince appears in the 1979 Radio City musical where he was played by Richard Browne. While still a rather minor role, it is much more expanded than his film iteration. He has a scene in which he and The Huntsman inform the King of the Evil Queen's treachery, and even more significant he receives a new song called "Will I Ever See Her Again?" in which he wonders if he will find his Snow White in time.
==Printed media==
===Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen===
In this story, the Prince is still a minor character but plays a more expanded role. He is actually shown to have met the Evil Queen, prior to the events of the film.
===Mirror, Mirror (A Twisted Tale)===
His true name in this book is revealed to be Henrich. In this story, he is sent by his father to the neighboring kingdom to discuss business, but the Queen turns him away in an instant. After running into Snow White in the woods and meeting the dwarves, they devise a plan to overthrow the Queen. Together with Snow White, they manage to recruit a village of peasants to ambush the castle and overthrow the Evil Queen, and he helps Snow White reunite with her long lost father. When the Queen is unable to give Snow White the poison apple, she instead gives it to Henrich and he falls into a death-like slumber. After the defeat of the Evil Queen, Snow White awakens Henrich with true love's kiss. They start working together to rebuild the kingdom.
==Disney Parks==
===Disneyland Resort===
The Prince can be seen as an audio-animatronic in Snow White's Scary Adventures, seen riding off with Snow White during the ending scene.
In the original rendition of World of Color, the Prince makes a brief cameo appearance during the "So Close" sequence.
The Prince also appears Fantasmic!, where he and Snow White ride on a boat across the water during the princess-themed medley. In during which, Snow White sings "Some Day My Prince Will Come". In some showings, however, the Prince is absent. He has also made appearances riding the Mark Twain Riverboat during the show's finale.
The Prince appeared in Snow White: An Enchanting Musical, playing the same role he did in the movie.
===Tokyo Disney Resort===
At Tokyo Disneyland, the Prince accompanies Snow White and other royal couples during the princess-themed segment of One Man's Dream II: The Magic Lives On!
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
* In the original Brothers Grimm story, the prince plays a significantly smaller role than he did in the film, as he doesn't meet Snow White until after her sleeping death. In the film, the prince and Snow White first meet much earlier when the latter is still alive, and Snow White falls in love with the Prince before being revived from her Sleeping Death by the prince, which this plot point is heavily supported by Snow White singing the song "Someday My Prince Will Come". 
**Also in the original Brothers Grimm story, the prince saves Snow White from her Sleeping Death not by "love's first kiss". Instead, the prince buys the coffin from the dwarfs, and they help him carry it back to his castle (in some versions, the prince's servants assist in doing so). But one of the dwarves trips, causing the coffin to fall, which dislodged the piece of the apple from Snow White's throat. Snow White, who, surprised to meet him face to face after her revival, humbly accepts the prince's marriage proposal after he declares his love for her.
*In the comic version by Hank Porter, when the Prince surprises Snow White it is from behind a dummy she made. When she asks who he is and where did he come from; he responds, "Where I came from doesn't matter! The only thing that does matter is that I am here. As for my name, I like the one you gave me―Prince Buckethead―though perhaps it is more honest than flattering." This embarrasses Snow White since she did not know he was hiding behind the dummy she named "Prince Buckethead".Source
*At the 1938 Oscars, Shirley Temple mentions the name "Ferdinand" among others while presenting Walt Disney his awards. Many have interpreted that she was referring to the Prince, saying that Ferdinand is his name. However, she was not referring to the Prince, but rather to Ferdinand the Bull. As confirmed by Dave Smith, Historian of the Walt Disney Studio Archives, the Prince (along with fellow prince Prince Charming) was never given a name in the film and "Ferdinand" has never been used as one by the company.
**Disney Latino revealed through a video of Top 10 Romantic Moments the name of the Prince in Spanish is "Fernando",YouTube the Spanish translation of the name Ferdinand.
**Disney France once revealed in a TV-spot that his real name is Florian. That same TV-spot also gives Prince Charming's real name is Henry (or "Henri," as it would be in French), although Disney on Parade called him "Prince Alto August Ferdinand".
***The name "Florian" originates from this article. It was allegedly used by Disney when it started the Disney Princess franchise.Internet Archive Source
*There's a story that artwork and documents exist in the Walt Disney Studio Archives that call the Prince "Frederick".Source
*The Enchanted Stables collection reveals his white horse is a mare named "Astor".Source This is re-confirmed in the Disney Princess book "Special Horses."
*Contrary to popular belief (caused by a mistake of the Internet), as revealed in The Art Of Walt Disney book, the Prince was intended to be 18 years old.
==See also== 
*Prince Charming (Once Upon a Time)
*Jonathan (Snow White)
==References ==
es:El Príncipe
fr:Le Prince (Blanche-Neige)
it:Principe (Biancaneve)
pl:Książę (Królewna Śnieżka i siedmiu krasnoludków)
pt-br:O Príncipe
ru:Принц
vi:Hoàng tử
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