One morning, the Princess is the last one in the house to wake up and is woken by the Maid. Initially, the Princess is reluctant to get out of bed, but then she gets excited at the mention of breakfast. She gets cereal, and is initially excited, but it seems lame in comparison when she sees the Chef making pancakes for the Queen. She wants some too, but he maintains that they're not "healthy".
Soon after, the Princess goes into the King and Queen's bedroom to find the Queen eating breakfast in bed. At first, she's worried that the Queen is sick, but the Queen reassures her that she just wanted a change. The Princess also wants breakfast in bed for a change, but the Maid points out that the Princess has already had breakfast.
While brushing her hair at the sink, the Princess complains, "Not fair!", then notices the Queen's lipstick. She's about to try it on, when the Queen comes in and puts it on herself. The Princess wants lipstick too, but the Queen comes in and puts it on herself. The Princess wants lipstick too, but the Queen says it's for grownups only.
Later, the Princess isn't allowed chocolate before lunch, but the Queen is, which the Princess cites as unfair. She asks why the Queen has these special privileges, and the King replies, "Because Mummy's a Queen; you're a Princess". The Princess wants to be queen right then, but the Queen warns her that being queen is hard work. The King and Queen elaborate that queens need to decide dinner and shopping and sign papers, but the Princess is confident that she could do those things. She suggests doing a swap, and the Queen agrees.
When they swap, the Princess eats all the chocolate at once in spite of the King's warning, and the Queen fools around a bit in the Princess's room before taking Gilbert out to play. Next, the Princess and King agree to play checkers, and the Queen has a pretend tea party in the sand box. The Princess starts to find the checkers game boring and doesn't like how she's losing, so she asks for something else to do. The King suggests drinking tea, reading magazines, and knitting. She finds tea gross and magazines boring but agrees to give knitting a go. Meanwhile, the Queen has a ride on the space hopper and tries to climb a tree.
Later, the Princess has gotten tangled in her knitting wool and the Maid comes in, asking to check her shopping list. The Princess is illiterate but suggests adding a bunch of things to the list. Meanwhile, the Queen discovers she's afraid of heights, despite trying to claim she isn't. The Maid tells her that adding to the list is not allowed and she needs to read what's actually there. Then, the Queen is required to sign the Prime Minister's document and pass a recipe to the Chef, causing the Princess to scream and run into her room.
The narrator asks the Princess what she usually does when she finds something difficult, prompting her to ask for assistance. And with assistance, she does the tasks, and finds them easier but still gets the omelette recipe wrong. Feeling happier, she goes to tell Gilbert, but of course he isn't there. The Maid says that queens don't have teddy bears, making the Princess walk sadly outside.
She runs into the Queen and they discuss the positives and negatives of their professions, agreeing to swap back. Then, the Princess climbs the tree and helps the Queen get over her acrophobia. Then, the Queen says that the next morning, they can both have pancakes in bed. And they do.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Puss dons a crown at one point.
- Artistic License – Biology: The Chef tells the Princess that she can't eat pancakes because they're not healthy for her. In actuality, pancakes aren't any worse for a four-year-old than an adult.
- Character Tics: A notable use— when the Queen is acting as princess, she adopts the Princess's walk.
- Blinded by the Light: When the Maid opens the Princess's curtains, the Princess jumps under her blanket and Puss squints and covers his eye.
- Breakfast in Bed: The Queen eats breakfast in bed. The Princess also wants breakfast in bed, upon discovering this, only to be reminded she already ate breakfast.
- Department of Redundancy Department: When the Queen is adding to the Maid's shopping list, she adds "dolly" twice and "chocolate" three times.
- Does Not Like Spam: The Princess says, "Eurgh, yuck!" at the thought of drinking tea.
- I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: The King tells the Princess, who is acting as queen, that it "might not be a good idea" to eat all the chocolate at once.
- Not So Above It All: The Queen may be one of the most logical adults in the castle, but she still whines a bit when she's afraid, and at the end of the episode, she burps right after telling the Princess not to.
- Obviously Not Fine: The Queen declares she's not scared... while clinging to the tree trunk in fear.
- One-Episode Fear: The Queen showed no signs of acrophobia before this episode, and the Princess makes it go away.
- Say My Name: The Princess shouts, "GILBERT!!!" upon finding him gone.
- Sore Loser: Part of the reason the Princess doesn't like checkers (the other part being boredom) is that she's close to losing.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The Queen is afraid of heights until the Princess reassures her.
