MovieChat Forums > The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) Discussion > Queen Clarisse

Queen Clarisse

posted 18 years ago by erika_gomez
11 replies | jump to latest

I was just watching The Princess Diaries (1st one) for the umpteenth time and I came across something that I had noticed several times before, but had never remembered to post about here.

In the first movie, during the tea Mia and her grandmother have, when she is explaining to Mia that she is royalty, she says something like "I am royal through marriage, you are royal through birth, you can rule"

But during the second movie, it is implied that Queen Clarisse had to marry, just like Mia is being forced to, in order to be able to rule, so what's up?

Anyone have any clarification on this? I tried searching the other boards, but found nothing...

[–] drei85 18 years ago

I think she was just a Queen Consort, the actual ruling monarch was King Rupert... until he died, then he was a Dowager, and I guess Mia's father would have been the King and not just a dead prince. His portrait was with the kings and queens, but that could have been every member of their bloodline.

Anyway, perhaps when the king died, and the only eligible heirs to the throne (Mia, and Nicholas) weren't of age, they needed a regent, and since there was a perfectly living dowager queen, they made her Queen Consort who happens to be a Regent as well. So she was sort of ruling in the rightful heir's place until she could assume it.

Queen Clarisse had to marry just because it was an arranged marriage.

Dunno. It's a movie though, and different countries with monarchies probably have different protocols and laws about the succession and royalty in general.

For example, I was wondering why every woman in there wore a tiara, when they were guests to a Queen and a Princess. I think in some places, it is rude and insulting to wear your tiara if you're not the host Queen/Princess. I guess it's like telling them you're better than them or something.

[–] Ash-lee 17 years ago

From what I remember, Mia says something like, "Who would want to have an arranged marriage? ...Oh, you had an arranged marriage." And her grandmother replied that it worked out well for her. Clarice could've been the daughter of a Duke or another peer and had the marriage arranged between the fathers.

[–] oneevilsurfangel 17 years ago

I actually think Queen Clarisse says in the first movie .. you are royal by blood .. meaning Clarisse became Royal by marrying King Rupert and Mia has the royal blood in her leaving Mia as the only blood heir to the throne (without knowing about Lord Nicholas)

Queen Clarisse was not royal by blood and therefore did not have to have an arranged marriage to rule Genovia. I think her arranged marriage came from a different aspect, perhaps she was poor or something or it was mandatory in her family. She had stated that the law regarding women having to marry to rule or be queen had never been enforced.

I do agree about the tiaras though. It does seem like a real slap in the face for everyone to wear theirs.

[–] rachelrichard25 17 years ago

Ill try to make this as simple as I can:

Queen Clarisse probably came from a family, high in the society rank and her marriage to King Rupert was surely arranged when she was young or even before her birth. She did not possess royal blood but was royal because of her mariage to Rupert.

When he passed away, the new heir needed to take over. Her son died before he had the chance to rule, thus leaving the place open for the next ruler: Mia. Clarisse was able to rule in the meantime, because Mia needed to be 21 to be Queen.

Hope that clarifies a few things.

[–] tyshimah3 17 years ago

King Rupert, may he rest in peace!

"You Should NOT Do Magic, You Do NOT Understand"

[–] erika_gomez 17 years ago

Seems no one understood my original post.

In the second movie, it is implied that Queen Clarisse was also forced into a marriage she did not want (just like Mia is being pushed into one) so that SHE could rule, implying she was royal by birth, which contradicts that which she said in the first movie, in that she was royal by marriage.

She needn't have been pushed to marry in order to rule, since males needn't marry in order to do so, remember? So she couldn't have been pushed to marry King Rupert because he didn't NEED to be married.

So there was really no need for an arranged marriage.

Hope I explained myself now.

[–] iloveliztaylor 17 years ago

I don't think they were implying that she HAD to marry to RULE. It was a she had to MARRY period or something like that probably. A lot of royals even back when Clarisse would have been 20's/30's would have still had at least arranged meetings with possible future spouses.

King Rupert (may he rest in peace) would have had to marry eventually even now in Monaco for any of King Albert's children to rule he would at the very least have to marry their mother or his sister gets the throne(I'm figuring Monaco would be pretty close to Genovia.) I highly doubt Parliament would have let an illigmiat child take the throne of Genovia when the king could have married hence Rupert and Clarisse's arranged marriage. True he didn't HAVE to be married to rule but probably for any of his children to be able to take the throne he would have had to at least have been married to the mother at one point or even be married to them at the time of his death (depends on the country in some children still are illigitmized if the parents divorce)

[–] erika_gomez 17 years ago

That doesn't make much sense tho, and since Monaco is a Principality, not a Monarchy, I don't think the comparison is too sound.

Also, many many illegitimate children in several different dinasties have ruled before, so why not then?

Also, you're implying that King Rupert's and Queen Clarisse's son would have been illegitimate had they not married... Forgive me, but Queen Clarisse does not look to be one of -those- sort of people, you know? She seems the type to always have played by the rules, if you know what I mean and without going into any details.

And the point is, King Rupert could have chosen -anyone- to be his bride, regardless, since we've seen they pay no mind regarding the ancestry of the future Queen consort (look at Mia's mother).

I insist, I want someone with a sound argument who's seen both movies recently, since I just did again and I stand by my ground in reference to what I said before. They messed up while saying Queen Clarisse had to marry in order to rule.

[–] kim_olemissrebel 17 years ago

Ok let me see if I can answer what you are wanting to know. I understand where you are coming from in the first movie they do say Mia is royal by blood so she can rule, and in the second movie it is contraindicated by Parliament enforcing there rule that a queen must be married to rule.
As for Queen Clarisse she was not a queen before she married her first husband King Rupert. Back in those days and still occuring in some countries people often had arranged marriages(consider Prince Charles and the late Princess Di). Queen Clarisse probably came from a noble blood line( such as a lady, contess, duchess, etc). Usually a member of the royal family marries someone who comes from nobility. So yes Queen Clarisse had to be married to rule, she was only ruling because her husband had died, and Mia was not of age to rule.
Mia, on the other hand was royal by blood because her father was the son of the King (in other words Mia came from the royal line, Queen Clarisse did not). As far as them not caring about what type of family there possible future queen came from, in the movie it makes a reference to fact that Mia's father probably would not have been able to be King if he would have remained with Mia's mother. Also, consider in the movie the only people presented to Mia as marriage potential were people who came from a certain type of society.

[–] jacksparrowshottdaughter 17 years ago

so if mia married michael she couldnt of been queen?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I Love Captain Jack!

[–] BlackLaceBlueDenim 17 years ago

When and where in the movies did they say that Queen Clarisse got married just so that she could rule? That's not how it works in any royal family. The goal of marrying off the heir to the throne is not so that their SPOUSE can rule. The point of marrying off an heir is so that the heir and his/her spouse will have children, thus securing that the blood line and the dynasty will continue because there will be legitimate children to take over the throne once the ruling parent dies.

Queen Clarisse probably came from a noble Genovian family. She certainly was never poor, as she talks in the first movie about her first dinner party, where she knocked over a suit of armor and the spear went through the suckling pig. Girls from poor families don't have fancy dinners with suckling pig as a dish, or suits of armor in their homes besides.

As a Genovian noble, she, along with other eligible bachelorettes, was probably suggested to King (who may, at the time, have been Prince) Rupert as a potential wife. If he chose her as the woman that he wanted to marry, then there would have been nothing that she could have done about it. This is how other women (such as the late Princess Diana) came to be royals. The heir to the throne or the ruling monarch chose them specifically, and one can't exactly turn down a proposal from their king or crown prince. To do so would be to disrespect the royal family, and face the disgrace or even ruin of your own family. That's probably what Mia is referring to when she says "arranged marriage."

Then, after King Rupert died and the older prince (forget his name) decided to be a monk, Mia's father decided to take his place as king, which was all fine and dandy until he died, leaving only Mia as his heir. It was made obvious in the movies that Clarisse was only a temporary ruler (such a role is called Regent), someone to keep the throne warm until either Mia came of age and accepted her crown, or Mia rejected her crown and it passed to either Nicholas Devereaux or the Von Trokens.

To put it simply, Clarisse didn't get married "so that she could rule." She was never SUPPOSED to rule, and wouldn't have if her son had lived.

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