Prince Charming

**Prince Charming** is the tritagonist of Disney's 1950 animated feature film, *Cinderella*. As his name suggests, he is the prince of a faraway kingdom, known for his dashing and handsome air. On the night of a royal ball, Charming falls in love with a mysterious maiden. Before he could learn her name, the maiden flees the castle, leaving only a glass slipper behind. The enamored Charming thus vows to use the slipper to find and marry his true love.

## Background

### Development

In earlier drafts of the screenplay, the Prince originally played a larger role and had more character development than what he ultimately received in the final version of the film (the third film would rectify this, however). In one abandoned opening, the Prince was shown hunting a deer, but at the end of the sequence, it was to be revealed that the Prince and the deer were actually friends playing a game. In an abandoned alternate ending, after the Grand Duke discovered Cinderella's identity, she was shown being brought to the castle to be re-introduced to the Prince, who is surprised to learn that the woman he fell in love with was merely a modest servant girl instead of a princess, but the Prince's feelings for her were too strong to be bothered by this, and he embraced her. He also had a solo number at one point, entitled "The Face That I See in the Night", in which he sang about how he couldn't stop dreaming of the mysterious girl who stole his heart at the ball.

### Personality

Prince Charming was actually and finally given a true personality in the franchise's final installment. He showed himself to be humorous, vital, and enjoy ballroom dances. He was also revealed to be a romantic, once expressing that all he wants is love as true as the one his parents had shared. His love for Cinderella was so powerful that, little by little, it was able to free him from Lady Tremaine's mind-manipulation spell, and even compel him to jump right out of the castle window to rescue and propose to Cinderella.

Though elegant enough both mentally and appearance-wise, he appears to be quite a swashbuckler, as shown when he challenges his father, the King, in friendly sword fights, and when he is seen racing on a horse to save Cinderella in *A Twist in Time*. He's also shown to have a rebellious side, in both the original film and *A Twist in Time*, having disobeyed his father's wishes or orders on several occasions, mostly as a result of his love for Cinderella. Additionally, in the original film, he was shown unamused by his father's attempt at matchmaking when he threw a ball in hopes of having one of the invited, young women catch his son's eye, romantically. As such, he was seen yawning sarcastically, rolling his eyes, and glaring at his frustrated father at the start of the iconic evening.

Interestingly, despite his position in power and royal status, he is far from shallow and is shown to be rather accepting of those around him, no matter their position or background, and seems to judge people more on their personalities and overall character. As seen in the original film, none of the women gushing over him caught his eyes. It wasn't until he spotted Cinderella, a maiden wandering aimlessly about the palace, paying no attention to the high profile prince, did he become romantically invested in the evening at hand. As seen in *Dreams Come True*, he supported Cinderella's wishes to abolish peasant discrimination by inviting the village townsfolk to the king's royal banquet, finding her nontraditional way of doing things perfect.

### Physical appearance

Prince Charming has a structural and muscular body with broad shoulders. He has fair skin, dark brown hair, and brown eyes. His outfit consists of a cream royal jacket, red pants with a gold stripe, golden belt, black boots, and opera gloves.

In *Cinderella II: Dream Come True*, Prince Charming retains wearing his main outfit but in a minor color change; his royal jacket is dark blue and his pants are white.

In *Cinderella III: A Twist in Time*, Prince Charming gains two normal outfits throughout the film. When celebrating their first anniversary with his wife Cinderella while riding a horse before changing to his original outfit cast upon by the Fairy Godmother, he wears a brown formal vest with a white long-sleeved button shirt with a matching white tie on the front, olive pants and brown boots.

After he was convinced by Jaq and Gus to find Cinderella who is about to depart the ship and later proposes to her after they reunite together, he wears a white long-sleeved collared shirt, red pants with a gold stripe, golden belt, and black dress shoes. He is not seen wearing his opera gloves while wearing this outfit. He also carries a dagger on the left side of his waist which he uses to slash the ship's sailing cloth to make a successful landing on the ship in order to reunite with Cinderella.

During his remarriage with Cinderella and protecting both her and Anastasia from the wand's spell casts by Lady Tremaine, Prince Charming maintains his royal outfit as his pants is white to match his royal jacket and has a brown sword sheath on the right side of his belt where he keeps his royal cutlass and a matching white boots. Like his normal outfit, he is not seen wearing his opera gloves.

### Abilities

* **Expert Swordsman:** Prince Charming has an excellent sword and fencing skills. The sword that Prince Charming wields as seen in *A Twist in Time* is a royal cutlass which serves as his primary weapon. Before he reunites with Cinderella to remarry her, he carries a dagger.
* **Horse Riding:** Prince Charming is able to ride a horse well, even at high speed in difficult circumstances.

## Trivia

* Not only is the Prince's name never revealed, he is never actually referred to as "Prince Charming" in any of the films. His name was only mentioned in merchandise and, more recently, *Kingdom Hearts* and *Prince Charming's Regal Carousel*.
	+ Disney France revealed in a TV spot advertising the Blu-ray/DVD release of Cinderella that Prince Charming's real name is Henry (or "Henri" in French).
		- Interestingly, when Cinderella's story was adapted for Season 7 of *Once Upon a Time*, Cinderella marries a man named Henry.
	+ However, in 1971's *Disney on Parade*, they say that his name is Prince Alto August Ferdinand.
* As with Cinderella, the Prince's hair color has been altered by being lightened from its original dark brown to a lighter brown shade in merchandise depictions that have him alongside Cinderella.
* In the Season 6 episode "The House Meets the Mouse - Part 1" from *Full House*, Steve plays this character, despite the fact that D.J. swears it was him.
* Prince Charming is one of the few Disney feature film characters to be mentally manipulated by an antagonist.
* There is a homage made for Prince Charming in *The Princess and the Frog* as Tiana is seen in Charlotte's room with a prince doll that resembles him wearing his outfit from the second movie.
* While he inherited his coloring from his father, the Prince (facial-wise at least) takes more after his mother in looks.
* In the 1971 episode of *The Wonderful World of Disney*, a live-action remake of the ball scene from the 1950 classic is presented. Notably, in this version, the Prince's name is spoken aloud, "His Royal Highness Prince Otto August Ferdinand". He dances with Cinderella. After a brief animated sequence showing the glass slipper scene, he is seen again marrying her.
* In earlier drafts of the screenplay, the Prince originally played a larger role and had more character development than what he ultimately received in the final version of the film. In one abandoned opening, the Prince was shown hunting a deer, but at the end of the sequence, it was to be revealed that the Prince and the deer were actually friends playing a game. In an abandoned alternate ending, after the Duke discovered Cinderella's identity, she was shown being brought to the castle to be reintroduced to the Prince, who is surprised to learn that Cinderella was actually a modest servant girl instead of the princess he thought she was, but the Prince's feelings for her were too strong to be bothered by this, and he embraced her; the Fairy Godmother was to reappear and restore Cinderella's ball gown for the closing shot. Walt Disney himself reportedly cut the alternate ending because he felt it was overlong and did not give the audience its "pay off", but the scene would later be incorporated in the video game *Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep*.
	+ In the final version of the film, Charming has a small role as the majority of Cinderella's scenes focus on her with the mice, Lady Tremaine, or the Fairy Godmother.
* The second of Prince Charming's two royal outfits is later shared by Prince Eric from Disney's *The Little Mermaid*, where he wears this outfit to marry a disguised Ursula named Vanessa in his hypnotized state and later his marriage to Ariel after defeating Ursula and rescuing her at the end of the movie as well as he and Ariel christened their daughter Melody and her 12th birthday in the sequel.
	+ Interestingly, his current voice actor, Christopher Daniel Barnes is known for voicing Prince Eric in the original film.