The Princess Diaries, Vol. IX: Princess Mia

**The Princess Diaries, Vol. IX: Princess Mia** is the ninth volume of the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot.

It was released in 2007.

## Book Description

A princess on her own...

Mia has been invited to speak at a gala for Domina Rei, an elite society of powerful businesswomen. But what could she possible have to say? Now that Michael has broken things off, Mia can barely get out of bed, and her parents are making her see a therapist. School, where Lilly still refuses to speak to her and Lana suddenly wants to be bff, is a total nightmare. Even J.P.'s efforts to cheer Mia up (he's being really sweet!) aren't helping. What's a royal to do?

Just when things couldn't get any worse, Mia uncovers an old family secret, a long-forgotten diary of a teenage princess of Genovia. It could be just the thing to help Mia write her speech - but it might also change the fate of the Renaldos forever.

## Opening Quote

*"Ah, yes, your royal highness," she said. "We are princesses I believe. At least one of us is."*

*Sara felt the blood rush up into her face. She only just saved herself. If you were a princess, you did not fly into rages.*

*"It's true," she said. "Sometimes I do pretend I am a princess. I pretend I am a princess so I can try to behave like one."*

A Little Princess*, Francis Hodgson Burnett*

## Timeline

Begins on Friday, September 10, 2005 and concludes on Saturday, September 25, 2005. It occurs during Mia's junior year.

This book begins the closest after it's predecessor of any of the Princess Diaries books - it begins only 2 hours after *Princess on the Brink.*

## Plot Summary

Mia calls the loft in the middle of Beauty and the Beast to see if Michael has called yet, but Helen tells her he hasn't. Mia wakes her up again when she returns home and Helen affirms that he still has not called but gives her envelope with a DR on it and tells her to call Grandmère when she opens it. The letter is from Nancy Weinberger inviting Mia to speak at a Domina Rei event. Mia calls Grandmère and tries to get out of speaking, but Grandmère tells her it's important and hangs up before she can argue.

Mia IMs Tina and tells her she worried about her relationship with Michael and hopes they are able to get back together. Tina asks if Mia is going to Lilly's party, but Mia says she was not invited and Tina reveals that Lilly said she never wants to talk to Mia again for stealing her boyfriend. Tina tells Mia that she and J.P. were on the cover of the post, as a couple (even though they aren't one). Mia finds 500 similar articles and a website titled IHateMiaThermopolis.com that is exactly what the name implies. J.P. calls Mia to see if she saw the article and they laugh about it. He also asks Mia about Lilly's party as he was not invited either. J.P. offers to throw a party separate from Lilly's, but Mia turns him down, as she wants to wait at home in case Michael calls. J.P. is surprised Mia would want to sound available if he calls but offers to come over and study with her, which she turns down. Helen comes in and asks why Mia isn't going out for the night, but Mia tells her she wants to stay in and study which makes Helen think she is sick. She tells Mia that she can't let her break up ruin her life and Mia screams at her that she might not even be broken up with Michael yet as he still might take her back.

The next day Tina IMs to see if Michael called but Mia tells her he hasn't. Tina tells Mia about Lilly's party and that Boris saw Lilly making out with one of Kenny's Muay Thai friends and that Perin threw up after eating too many maraschino cherries and Ling Su had to cut them up with scissors so they would go down the drain. J.P. calls and Mia tells him about Lilly's party and the Muay Thai fighter, which causes J.P. to laugh, though Mia is concerned about Lilly. Michael calls, having gotten Mia's e-mail and seen the article in the Post. He tells Mia that neither thing matters - after thinking about it the whole plane ride he thinks they would be better off as just friends. Not wanting for Michael to hear her cry Mia agrees before hanging up.

Mia stays in bed the rest of the day Sunday and Monday, even though Helen tries to get her to go to school. Mia tells her she thinks she is really sick, but Helen calls her bluff so Mia begs her to let her stay in bed. Tina comes by after school and is shocked to see the state Mia is in. Tina tries to tell Mia that she is better off broken up, but Mia doesn't want to hear it so she lies to Tina that she will come to school the next day to get her to leave. Mia remains in bed all day Tuesday and Tina comes by again, with Boris, to bring her her homework. By Wednesday Mia has still refused to go to school and Helen comes in in the morning extremely angry and yells at Mia. When this has no effect Helen begins to cry and tells Mia she's worried about her as she didn't even react when Rocky tried to shove a dime up his nose. This also has no effect so Helen tells Mia that if she has to she will bring in the big dogs and call Phillipe, but Mia tells her to go ahead as she has now decided to move to Genovia to get away from her problems. This causes Helen to cry for real and she leaves the room. Helen calls Grandmère to come over in the afternoon. Grandmère comes by and to get her to leave Mia agrees to speak at the Domina Rei event.

Phillipe comes Thursday morning and orders Mia to get out of bed. When she doesn't Lars picks her up and carries her to the car where she is driven to the office of Dr. Knutz, an adolescent and child psychologist. Mia is anxious to take the intake assessment. Mia is immediately bothered by Dr. Knutz's cowboy-like tendencies and asks to leave. Dr. Knutz points out that Mia checked "Most of the Time" or "All of the Time" for most of her answers on her assessment. Mia tells him she's been a little down because of her life, but insists she's fine but Dr. Knutz calls her bluff and notes that she has stopped going to school and hanging out with her friends, which are classic signs of adolescent depression. Mia admits she might be a little down and Dr. Knutz tells her it's ok to admit she's depressed so Mia says ok and begins to cry. Dr. Knutz encourages Mia to open up and tell her what's going on. Mia ends up telling Dr. Knutz (almost) everything (as Phillipe was still sitting in) that has been happening since her breakup. She recalls a time she visited her grandparents in Indiana and mistakenly fell in a cistern and how she feels like she's at the bottom of that hole again. Dr. Knutz tells her that sometimes when you fall in a hole you need someone to help you out, but they can't help unless they know you're down in the hole. Dr. Knutz sends Mia away from her consultation and tells her to get her blood work done before coming to her first real appointment the next day. Mia asks him to prescribe her drugs, but he says he can't, as he is not a psychiatrist, and even if he could he doesn't believe she needs them as she is not suicidal. Mia insists she cannot go to school without drugs but Dr. Knutz tells her that Eleanor Roosevelt said to do one thing every day that scares you and he encourages her to do the same.

As they leave the office Phillipe tells her she can see another psychologist if she doesn't like Dr. Knutz, but Mia is too apathetic to object. Phillipe tells Mia that Dr. Knutz comes highly recommended by Principal Gupta. She asks if Grandmère knows she is in therapy but Phillipe assures her the only people that know are him, Helen, Mr. G, and Lars. Mia gets an e-mail from Michael but deletes it rather than reply.

Mia goes to school the next day and is surprised to find that her uniform does not fit anymore. During her physical she discovers she has grown an inch and gained 25lbs since the last time she got measured, which explains why her uniform no longer fits. At school Ling Su tells Mia she's sorry she can't sit with her at lunch and that she thinks she and J.P. are a cute couple, but Mia tells her they are not a couple. Lana and Trisha run into Mia in the locker room and Lana thanks Mia for agreeing to speak at Domina Rei, revealing that she is the one that recommended Mia speak to her mother, and apologizes for their not getting along over the years. After noticing that Mia's clothes don't fit Lana invites Mia to come shopping with her and Trisha the next day, which Mia agrees to. J.P. tries to ask Mia out for the next night, but she turns him down. Mia asks Kenny about Lilly and the Muay Thai guy but he changes the subject.

At her appointment Dr. Knutz asks Mia how her day of school went and Mia tells him about Lana to illustrate how bad it was, but Dr. Knutz thinks it is a good thing. Mia tells Dr. Knutz to watch the films based on her life to understand her relationship with Lana. Mia complains that the whole school thinks she's dating J.P.. Dr. Knutz asks Mia if she responded to Michael's e-mail and she tells him she didn't, as she didn't trust herself not to ask him to take her back, and Dr. Knutz agrees she made the right decision. Dr. Knutz asks if she plans to go shopping with Lana the next day and Mia says she does need new clothes and the idea definitely scares her, which Dr. Knutz says should give her her answer.

Dr. Knutz goes back to something Mia said the day before about her not deserving Michael and asks her to talk about it more so Mia explains that she always thought Michael would dump her for someone smarter eventually, so she beat him to the punch. Dr. Knutz asks Mia if Michael ever gave her any indication that he felt the same way and Mia admits that he did not. Dr. Knutz suggests that if Mia thinks that she is the one that is unworthy perhaps she too should do something to prove to him that she is. Dr. Knutz assigns Mia homework: to go shopping with Lana, think about what she was put on the earth for, and come back the next week for another appointment.

Tina asks Mia to go shopping the next day, but Mia turns her down as she has plans with Lana and Trisha. Tina instead asks her to spend the night which Mia readily agrees to. Mia borrows a pair of her mother's jeans the next day to go shopping with Lana. She tells Helen that she is supposed to do one thing every day that scares her and Helen agrees that shopping with Lana would scare her. Mia is surprised that she actually has a good time with Lana and Trisha. They ask if Mia is dating J.P. but she tells them she's not. She tells them that since her break up with Michael she just feels empty inside, which they don't think is weird. Lana tells her she felt the same way about Josh but she got over it and Mia will too. Lana and Trisha turn out to be great shoppers and Mia has a surprisingly good time.

Mia has all her purchases sent to the loft and when she returns from shopping her mother is furious with her. Helen call Phillipe, but Mia immediately tells him that she isn't taking any of it back. Phillipe tells her he's not angry, he's just yelling at her for Helen's sake so Mia pretends she has been yelled at. Helen apologizes for ratting her out but tells her not to lose her old friends with her new ones. Mia tells her not to worry and heads off to Tina's.

Mia and Tina trick Tina's siblings into going to bed early so they can marathon Drew Barrymore films. Boris and J.P. stop by to surprise them with ice cream and Mia is surprised she actually finds J.P. kind of hot but thinks that everyone suggesting it might be rubbing off on her. Boris and Tina begin to make out so Mia and J.P. excuse themselves to the kitchen. J.P. asks what Mia did that day and she ends up telling him about Lana and Domina Rei and mistakenly tell him she is in therapy, which makes her panic. J.P. tells her it's ok because most of the school is in therapy, including J.P.. Mia asks him if it works and he tells her it does so she asks how long it takes and J.P. just responds, "That bad, huh?" Mia tells him she's been a little down recently and he asks if it's about Michael and she just nods. J.P. puts his hand on hers and tells her it will get better. Mia begins to cry and tells him it's not just Michael - it's everything with Lilly - and J.P. hugs her and tells her it will be ok. Mia cries that Lilly won't even look at her and J.P. tells her that maybe it's a sign that Lilly wasn't as good of a friend as Mia thought and that while they were dating she told him she was jealous of Mia for being popular and well-liked, in addition to a princess. Mia tells J.P. that the whole school just sees her as a freak, but J.P. says they might have seen her like that previously, but she's changed and Lilly hasn't. Mia doesn't think she's changed but J.P. points out that she eats meat and hangs out with Lana. He is about to tell her something when Tina's parents come back and Tina rushes the boys out before they get to the apartment. Tina asks Mia what she and J.P. talked about as he told Boris there was something he had to tell Mia and Tina believes that J.P. is in love with her.

The next day Grandmère takes Mia to the Genovian Embassy Archive room to get inspiration for her Domina Rei speech. Grandmère wants her to look at writings from Grandpère, but Mia becomes interested in a portrait of Princess Amelie. Mia asks about Amelie and is told that she was a teenager who reigned for only 12 days during the bubonic plague. Mia asks for her writings but is told she kept only a journal, which Grandmère does not want her to look at. Mia calls Phillipe when she leaves the embassy and he has the translation of Amelie's journal and her portrait sent to the loft. Lana IMs Mia and tells her she hopes Mia had fun at Tina's and tells her that she and Trisha saw Lilly making out with a ninja. Michael e-mails again and updates Mia on his life, but Mia deletes his e-mail.

Mia's new uniform arrives and she is able to comfortably head to school. At lunch Lana and Trish join Mia, J.P., Tina, and Boris. Tina is shocked, but Trisha tells her to "take a picture, it will last longer" before complimenting her eye makeup. Lana asks for help with precalculus homework and Boris helps her while Tina teaches Trisha how to replicate her eye makeup. Lilly shoots the group a dirty look while Lana puts mini barrettes in Mia's hair.

Principal Gupta takes away Mia's journal after she is caught writing in it during class. Tina passes notes with Mia and asks her how and when she and Lana became friends and Mia explains about Domina Rei. Tina points out that sometimes Lana says mean things and seems to not know any better. Mia runs into Lilly in the bathroom but they don't say a word to each other. When Mia goes to retrieve her diary at the end of the day Principal Gupta tells Mia she is concerned that she has stopped talking to Lilly and is not participating in extracurriculars. Mia reminds Principal Gupta that it doesn't matter if she takes any extracurriculars because she is a princess and will get into college anywhere she applies. Grandmère calls from outside the school to take Mia to her fitting at Chanel for Domina Rei.

The next day at lunch Lana asks how long Lilly and Kenny have been dating, and Mia and Tina are shocked. Lana tells them that she saw Lilly and Kenny making out that night and Boris confirms it could have been Kenny he saw at Lilly's party. In chemistry Mia asks Kenny if it's true, but he changes the subject. J.P. begins talking to Mia and tells her that he loves her and his feelings came on slowly but he can't stand watching her so sad about Michael before Kenny interrupts yelling for everyone to get down and blows up the chemistry lab. J.P. throws himself over Mia and Lars grabs a fire extinguisher while the whole school evacuates and Mia, J.P., and Kenny are sent to the hospital. Kenny is suspended for knowingly creating an explosive.

Tina IMs Mia to make sure she is ok, but Mia tells her that J.P. told her he loves her. Tina jokes that J.P.'s eruption of love was what caused the explosion in the lab. She asks if Mia told J.P. she loved him back but Mia says she didn't because she still loves Michael. Tina asks what Mia is going to do about senior prom as she will need someone to go with and Michael clearly isn't going to. Tina tells Mia she's sorry that Michael left, but Mia will learn to love again and Mia asks her if she thinks Michael is ever going to get back together with her. Tina doesn't answer the question but asks her if she will even want to get back together with Michael or if she will have moved on to someone better by then. Mia says there is no one better than Michael but Tina points out she doesn't know that for sure. Tina reveals to Mia that IHateMiaThermopolis.com exists, but Mia already knew about it. Mia looks again and there are many, many more posts and she begins to cry, so she says goodbye to Tina.

Mia e-mails J.P. and tells him that she just isn't ready to date anyone, but if she was it would be him. He e-mails back that he will wait for her to be ready. Michael e-mails Mia about the explosion, joking about Kenny, but Mia deletes it. Kenny shows up in disguise to kiss Lilly before class. Tina asks Mia if she's decided what to do about J.P. but Mia tells her she hasn't. Lana and Trisha get Mia to skip class so they can get Starbucks and they ask if she is dating J.P. now that he's saved her life. She tells them she still isn't ready, but they encourage her to use J.P. as a rebound guy.

Mia reads Amelie's journal and learns that when she was four years old she was sent away to live and be educated in a convent. Amelie had a happy life there with the nuns and her cat, Agnès-Clair. After her parents and brothers died of the bubonic plague Amelie returned to the palace as the rightful heir to the throne, however her father's brother, Francesco, had already taken on many of the duties of the crown

Amelie spent much of her rule in the library and drafted an executive order which her evil uncle Francesco discovered and burned, along with all the books in the library. Amelie told Francesco he didn't care about the people of Genovia, only money, but he told her she was just a girl who didn't know what she was doing. Amelie closed the borders of Genovia and had cats brought in, noticing that there was no disease where there were no rats, and had Francesco thrown out of the palace. Francesco returns and tells Amelie that by banning exporting she was bankrupting the country and would go down as the worst ruler of Genovia (which, ironically, Francesco did), but Amelie stood strong. Amelie noticed her first pustule developing but kept it secret from Francesco, drafting another copy of her executive order that Francesco burned, having it witnessed. She cryptically wrote in her diary that she hid it "close to her heart" before having her diary and official portrait sent back to the convent where she grew up. Amelie died alone in the palace of the bubonic plague.

Mia accidentally knocks Amelie's portrait over in her room and the back comes off, revealing the executive order Amelie drafted and Mia begins to translate it. It reveals that Amelie granted the Genovian people the right to elect a prime minister, turning Genovia from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy. Mia shows the document to Phillipe and Grandmère but Grandmère freaks out that they will no longer be royal, which Mia explains is not the case as they will still be ceremonial royals like in England. Phillipe agrees that the document made sense for the time and Mia encourages him to run for prime minister, but he tells her that the document is invalid as it did not get parliamentary approval. Mia tells Phillipe that it could be an executive order as parliament was all dead or dying at the time and the monarch is allowed to approve an order in times of distress. Phillipe tells Mia that the document is over 400 years old and they do not have to reveal it to parliament but Mia is upset that the country has been living a lie for the last 4 centuries. Phillipe tells Mia the document was written by a scared teenage girl who was trying to protect people that have long been dead and Mia begins to cry, saying that if it had been written by a male ancestor he would honor it and they are keeping Genovians from freedom. Phillipe points out that Genovians do not pay taxes and have never complained about their lack of freedom. Mia tells him that isn't the point - the point is that Amelie left a legacy and Phillipe is willing to throw it away the same way Francesco was, but Phillipe leaves and Grandmère tells Mia she never should have bothered with Amelie's journal.

At school Mia goes up to Lilly to ask her for help with the Amelie situation but Lilly asks Mia why she is even talking to her. Mia tells her again that she needs her help but Lilly interrupts her yelling "Oh. My. God!" and slamming her fist on the table. Lilly yells at Mia for breaking Michael's heart, stealing her boyfriend, and then having the audacity to ask Lilly for help with her dysfunctional family. Mia tries to explain but Lilly screams at her for always playing the victim and never taking responsibility for anything. She accuses Lana and the rest of Mia's friends of using her, saying that she was Mia's only real friend and she treated her badly. Lilly screams that Michael couldn't wait to get away from her and admits to running IHateMiaThermopolis.com before storming out of the cafeteria.

Mia's friends all surround her and assure her that what Lilly said is not true, but Mia goes off to the 3rd floor stairwell to cry, skipping G&T. Boris comes after her and tells her he's been looking everywhere for her and that what Lilly said isn't true - Michael did not break up with her because he was sick of her and he knows it, though he can't tell her how he knows. Mia thanks Boris for being sweet but he tells her he's not being sweet, he's telling the truth and she should e-mail Michael back. Mia asks if Tina told him she hadn't e-mailed Michael and Boris hesitates before saying she did. Mia says she isn't ready to e-mail Michael back yet and Boris tells her that's ok but she needs to as soon as she thinks she's ready so Michael doesn't think she hates him. Boris walks Mia back to G&T and makes sure she is ok before slipping into the supply closet to practice.

Mia skips class again to get Mani-Pedi's with Lana and Trisha in a color she knows Grandmère will hate. Mia tells Dr. Knutz about Princess Amelie's executive order and her father ignoring it, but he is confused as the films based on Mia's life indicate that Genovia is already a constitutional monarchy, but Mia tells him that is just one of many things the films got wrong. Dr. Knutz tells Mia about a horse on his ranch named Pancho that is a pushover and lets all the other horses push him around, Mia tells him she already knows she's insecure but doesn't understand how it relates to Amelie and her father. Dr. Knutz points out that Mia doesn't fight back - she isn't with her father, she didn't when Lilly stopped being friends with her, and she didn't when Michael told her he wanted to be just friends. Dr. Knutz tells Mia that nothing is going to change for her until she starts doing something every day that scares her and Mia tells him she knows this but she doesn't know what she's supposed to do. Dr. Knutz tells her it's not about what she's supposed to do it's about what she wants to do. Mia tells him she wants to do the right thing and Dr. Knutz tells her to be more like Amelie and less like Pancho. Before Mia leaves he tells her to bring Phillipe and Grandmère to her next session.

Mia goes to Grandmère's to get ready for Domina Rei, and Grandmère is upset about her nail polish and her insistence on talking about Amelie. Mia meets Nancy Weinberger at Domina Rei, but Lana drags her away to a chocolate fountain to look at the boys that are serving. Mia goes to give her speech but decides to tell Amelie's story and reveal her document. Grandmère cries hysterically, which everyone mistakes for passion. After the speech Phillipe spends a half hour yelling at Mia for ruining all of their lives. Mia shuts him up by telling him he can discuss it next week in therapy with her and Grandmère. Mia calls Phillipe out for checking that he only feels love has passed him by "a little of the time" on his assessment when he recently admitted to her that he was in love with Helen and lost out. Phillipe explains to her that he doesn't spend time pining over Helen, he just occasionally wishes it had worked out between them and someday Mia will feel the same way about Michael, as true love might be waiting just around the corner.

Mia returns to the loft and J.P. is waiting outside for her as he saw her speech and wanted to make sure she was ok. He apologizes for stalking her and it starts to snow and suddenly Mia doesn't feel as depressed anymore. Mia interrupts J.P. by throwing her arms around him and kissing him. J.P. asks Mia if he can see her the next day and Mia says yes and goes inside. She checks her computer and has a congratulatory e-mail from Tina and an e-mail from Michael saying he watched her speech. For the first time in a long time Mia laughs at something Michael has written and instead of deleting this e-mail she writes him back.