The Prince & Me is a 2004 Romantic Comedy directed by Martha Coolidge, about the developing relationship between American premed student Paige Morgan (Julia Stiles) and Danish Prince Edvard (Luke Mably), a playboy who decided to attend college in Wisconsin in order to party as much as possible. Edvard, or "Eddie", orders his chaperone to help him keep his identity quiet, and hides it from his fellow students, including Paige. Despite a rather poor beginning, the two eventually get along, learn from each other, and fall in love. However, when Eddie's identity is inevitably revealed, drama ensues due to the clash between Paige's dreams of becoming a doctor and his responsibilities as a crown prince.
Despite barely being noticed when it came out, the film spawned a Direct to Video franchise. Sequels include:
- The Prince & Me: The Royal Wedding
(2006) - The Prince & Me: A Royal Honeymoon (2008)
- The Prince & Me: The Elephant Adventure (2009)
Not to be confused with The Prince And I.
This Film Contains Examples Of:
- Artistic License – Geography:
- To the point where you wonder why on earth they even bothered to pick Denmark instead of a fictional kingdom, since they clearly had no intentions of actually making it resemble Denmark in any way.
- They also seemed to think dairy farmers still milk their cows by hand.
- Down on the Farm: Paige lives on a Wisconsin dairy farm. Where they race lawn mowers despite having no other reason to own them. And still milk cows by hand.
- Idle Rich: Denmark's Prince Edvard shirks his princely duties (including opening a cabinet meeting) by instead racing his "mommy's" modified limo. Paige knows exactly who he is. He's a spoiled, little rich kid who sees college as a detour on the way to an easy life. No character. No accomplishments. Just a royal pain in the ass.
- Love Epiphany: Paige realizes she's in love with Eddie in the middle of an oral presentation.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: The university students have sex behind the library stacks.
- Not Under the Parents' Roof: Paige takes the (incognito) Prince of Denmark home from college to the Midwest for Thanksgiving. Her father says the guest room is down the hall from Paige's, right across from theirs- and they sleep with the door open.
- Of Corset Hurts: When Paige is being laced tightly into an elegant dress she asks Eddie's mother if she's supposed to be able to breathe in the dress who replies "No."
- Prince Charming: Eddie is a playboy royal who quotes Shakespeare like it's supposed to make any girl he recites it to fall for him.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: Paige, who gets engaged to a prince, wears a pink dress on the poster
- Rags to Royalty: The whole plot is that American medical student Paige falls in love with the young King Edvard of Denmark, and becomes a Cinderella who must find a way to prove her worth to the people of his country.
- Rebel Prince: Eddie goes to college to get away from his life as a prince.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: While pretending to be a normal college student, Prince Edvard has to learn to deal aspects of life he had no previous experience with.
- Sex Tourism: Eddie chooses to attend UW-Madison because it was featured in a Girls Gone Wild advertisement.
- Sexy Scandinavian: There's an American girl who falls in love with a handsome prince from Denmark. Even though all the actors are clearly American it still thrives on the erotic foreigner trope and the idea that Scandinavians are sexy.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Loosely based on Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (later Frederik X) who married an Australian commoner, Mary Donaldson.
