Prince florian

**The Prince** is the romantic interest of the titular character in Disney's 1937 animated feature film, *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*.

## 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.

### 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.

## Trivia

* 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".[1]
* 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.
	+ Despite this, many Disney fans still believe that the Prince's name is Ferdinand.[2]
	+ Disney Latino revealed through a video of Top 10 Romantic Moments the name of the Prince is "Fernando",[3] 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.[4]
* There's a story that artwork and documents exist in the Walt Disney Studio Archives that call the Prince "Frederick".[5]
* The Enchanted Stables collection reveals his white horse is a mare named "Astor".[6] This is re-confirmed in the Disney Princess book "Special Horses."
* Disney sometimes markets the Prince as **Prince Florian** for Disney on Ice.[7][8]
* While the Prince has a dagger, he never uses it.
* The Prince was intended to be the deuteragonist, but the difficulty found in animating him forced Disney to reduce his part significantly.
* Contrary to popular belief, as revealed in *The Art Of Walt Disney* book, the Prince was intended to be 18 years old.