Prince Phillip

**Prince Phillip** is the deuteragonist of Disney's 1959 animated feature film *Sleeping Beauty*. The son of King Hubert, he is a dashing, wisecracking prince who was betrothed to King Stefan’s daughter, Aurora, as a means of unity. The alliance becomes endangered when Phillip instead falls in love with a “peasant girl” in the forest, unaware that she is actually Aurora.

## Background

### Development

Phillip was the first Disney prince to be given a proper name and a developed character. He is said to have been named after the prince that Americans knew of best at the time, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Elizabeth II. The idea of him being captured by Maleficent was a discarded idea originally meant for the Prince from *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*, as the animators at that time had problems drawing a realistic human male.

### Personality

Phillip is known to be brave and heroic. On the other hand, he appears to be fairly easygoing. At times, he is able to subtly persuade people to do as he wants. Examples include Phillip bribing his horse with food so that he could find the source of the singing he heard, and manipulating his father into agreeing that he should marry the girl he loves rather than the princess to whom he is betrothed.

### Physical appearance

Phillip has a slim, but fairly built physique, fair skin, brown eyes, and brown hair which was blond when he was younger. He is several years older than Aurora, as he was a pre-adolescent while she was still an infant.

Phillip is generally seen wearing a sleeveless grayish-tan tunic over a black turtleneck shirt, dark brown pants, and black boots. He also is seen wearing a red cape and hat at times. Phillip also carries a dagger sheathed at his left hip, but never uses it during the events of the film. His light brown socks beneath his boots are similar to the short boots worn by commoners.

He later gains a sword and a blue long shield with a white cross design given by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather as his melee weapons to defeat Maleficent.

In the end of the film where he had a waltz with Princess Aurora and in later merchandise, Phillip wears a formal version of his first outfit; a black high-neck tunic with a red short puffy sleeves and a gray turtleneck underneath, dark blue pants and black boots. He also retains the red cape from his first outfit.

## Trivia

* Prince Edward's animated form in *Enchanted* is based on Prince Phillip's design.
* Phillip is the first Disney Prince to be given a proper name.
* He was named after Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, since he was one of the few real princes familiar to the animators.
* Unlike the first two princes from *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* and *Cinderella*, Phillip is a more active character and has more speaking lines. In fact, he is the first Disney Prince to be an active character.
	+ Phillip is also the first Prince who takes an active role in defeating the main villain when he kills Maleficent, who assumes the form of a giant dragon. In *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*, the evil queen falls off a cliff to her death after being chased and trapped there by the dwarfs and in *Cinderella*, Lady Tremaine is left with her daughters at the château after Cinderella reveals the matching glass slipper to the Grand Duke and marries her prince. Like the first Prince, however, Phillip awakens his love interest from her sleeping curse by giving her a true love's kiss.
* Like Aurora, he is also mute for the second half of the film. Despite this, he still has more lines and screen time than the previous two Princes. However, Aurora has less dialogue and screen time than the previous two Princesses.
* In the original French story (not by Disney), the prince was from another family from the sleeping princess after the 100 years and that his mother was from a race of ogres and had been married by the prince's father for her wealth.
* In the original *Disney Princess: Follow Your Dreams*, Aurora was going to celebrate Phillip's birthday. In this same movie, it was going to be revealed that his birthday is on August 18.
	+ It is unknown how many years older Phillip is than Aurora, but he seemed about 5-8 at the beginning.
* Prince Phillip (via the film *Sleeping Beauty*) is listed as an example of an ideal Paladin upon which to base one's character according to *The Complete Paladin's Handbook*, an *Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd Edition)* supplement. He was perhaps the only character in a Disney film to receive this honor until Joan of Arc was referenced in *Frozen*.
* The young Prince Phillip has blond hair, but the adult Phillip has brown hair. However, it is known that many Caucasian children are born with blonde hair, which changes color as they mature.
* Prince Phillip's mother is not seen or mentioned in the original film. His mother makes her first appearance in *Maleficent: Mistress of Evil* and is given the name "Ingrith".
* The role of Prince Phillip in *Maleficent: Mistress of Evil* was taken over by Harris Dickinson from Brenton Thwaites due to scheduling conflicts with the web series *Titans*.