Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Royal Treatment
An easy-to-miss line in The Royal Treatment hints to the theory that the Netflix original movie is secretly set in the same universe as the beloved Disney classic The Princess Diaries. The new movie about a hairdresser who falls for her handsome client (who also just happens to be the Prince of the Kingdom of Lavania) has been doing big numbers for Netflix and is the latest in the streaming giant’s long line of royalty-infused romance flicks. However, there may also be a connection to Disney's iconic royal hit.
Netflix has made a cottage industry of movies about city women in their twenties who fall head over heels for sensitive princes who are themselves torn between true love and duty to their fictional countries. Movies like A Christmas Prince, The Princess Switch, and The Knight Before Christmas have all done major streaming numbers. But none have opened the door for a crossover between studios quite like The Royal Treatment, and it’s very exciting.
Izzy, disbelieving that her next client is truly the Prince of Lavania, jokes “Yeah, I’m the Queen of Genovia!” Attentive princess-movie watchers will note that Genovia is the name of the country in The Princess Diaries, of which Anne Hathaway’s character, Mia Thermopolis, learns that she is the heir. No further mention of Genovia is made, leaving open the possibility that the two worlds have indeed collided in The Royal Treatment.
It's entirely possible that the line is simply a reference to The Princess Diaries itself, given that The Royal Treatment is for the most part set in the real world (except for Lavania, which is not a real country). It’s not hard to imagine that Izzy, like many women her age, grew up with The Princess Diaries and knows the movie well. On the other hand, Netflix has been dabbling in shared universes, but typically ones that connect the streamer’s own royal rom-coms. The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again featured appearances from Queen Amber and King Richard of Aldovia from the Christmas Prince trilogy. It’s a stretch that the notoriously-proprietary Disney would allow one of its own titles to cross over into a competing brand.
Ultimately, the theory that The Royal Treatment is in the same universe as The Princess Diaries will likely stay just that; a theory. The Walt Disney company is too possessive of its library to ever lend it out to a competitor. For itself, Netflix seems to be doing just fine building its own shared universe of Princess romances. Lavania and Genovia may never truly get to coexist, but Aldovia and Belgravia are more than enough.
