One of my unabashed obsessions is the Christmas Prince movie series on Netflix. The trilogy (fingers crossed for unlimited future installments) answers the question, “What would a Netflix-produced version of a Hallmark Christmas movie look like?” And the answer to that, my friends, is that it looks glorious.
From 2017-2019, Netflix has released a new Christmas Prince around this time of the year. Sadly, 2020 will be sans a new addition. I haven’t been able to find anything concrete, but the safest bet is that it’s Covid-related. So with that in mind, I was left with no choice but to dive deeper into some of Netflix’s other offerings. And what I discovered was something wonderful: the Netflix Extended Cinematic Christmas Universe. Yes, these movies are connected, and in ways more ridiculous than you might imagine.
Cheesy-yet-extremely-watchable Christmas movies have become a staple of the streaming giant in recent years. But in addition to the Christmas Prince trilogy, we’re going to focus on three others: The Knight Before Christmas, The Princess Switch, and The Princess Switch: Switched Again (not straining any brain cells on the title there, but that’s part of the charm).
I’m not going to fully rehash all the plots for these movies, so I’ll just direct you to the Wikipedia pages: A Christmas Prince, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby, The Knight Before Christmas, The Princess Swith, and The Princess Switch: Switched Again.
And before I get into it, it should be pointed out that Netflix has acknowledged the interconnectedness of their movies. However, they don’t go far enough…
It all started in 2017, with the release of A Christmas Prince. It was horrible, terrible, predictable, yet awesome all at once. Some people couldn’t believe the movie even existed. It follows wannabe journalist Amber, as she goes on her first writing assignment to the fictional nation of Aldovia. She’s there to cover Prince Richard as he’s set to be crowned king following his father’s death. Through a series of it-could-only-happen-in-the-movies events, Amber is mistaken for Richard’s sister’s – Princess Emily – tutor. She moves into the castle and, of course, hijinks ensue. It was a cute, if ridiculous, movie. Something light and fun. And it was only the beginning.
Fast forward one year and Netflix gifts us The Princess Switch and A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding. The Princess Switch is a modern-day take on The Prince and the Pauper. Or perhaps you might prefer the the Olsen twins classic It Takes Two as a point of reference. Vanessa Hudgens plays dual roles as Chicago baker Stacy DeNovo and Margaret Delacourt, Duchess of Montenaro. In case you couldn’t tell from the movie’s ititle, the two…switch places. As for The Royal Wedding, its title is also obvious. But it also focuses a surprising amount on the plight of the Aldovian working class. Sure, why not.
The Christmas Prince sequel didn’t do anything to further the extended universe theory, but The Princess Switch picked up the slack. At one point, Kevin and Margaret (who at the time is pretending to be Stacy) settle in for a movie a night. And what do they choose? Why, A Christmas Prince of course! Only three movies in, and so far simply a fun nod to one of Netflix’s uber popular properties. Makes sense, nothing wrong with a little easy self-promotion.
Moving on to 2019 is when things start to get really interesting. In The Knight Before Christmas, one of the characters gives someone a gift, mentioning that it was picked up in *drum roll please* ALDOVIA. The pieces are starting to fall into place.
A few weeks later, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby comes out. In one brief shot of a map, we see that Aldovia borders one Belgravia, which is where The Princess Switch takes place. More groundwork being laid.
Then comes the most recent addition, this year’s The Princess Switch: Switched Again. And this is where things really go off the rails. In this sequel, Netflix adds one more Hudgens to the collection, as she also plays Margaret’s devious cousin, Lady Fiona Pembroke. At the end of the movie, a couple characters make a quick cameo appearance. And who would they be, you ask? Aldovia’s own Queen Amber and King Richard. Strange, right? Given that their movie appeared in the first Princess Switch and now they show up as real, actual people in the sequel.
Okay, so let’s recap first before getting into what all these connections might mean for the Netflix Extended Cinematic Christmas Universe at large.
The Christmas Prince movies exist in the Princess Switch world. Aldovia exists in the Knight Before Christmas world and Belgravia is a real country in the Christmas Prince world. This should also mean Belgravia is a real country in Knight Before Christmas. All this would lead us believe that these three series take place in the same universe.
And now for the really trippy one. With Queen Amber and King Richard’s appearance in The Princess Switch sequel, that would indicate – in the Netflix Universe – that the Christmas Prince movies are biopics of the real-life royal couple, played by the royal couple. And with their attendance with their newborn daughter Elleri, we would presume that the Christmas Prince movies were more or less filmed in real time. Which is…ridiculous (fitting…but still).
But now, as my main man Billy Mays would say, “But wait, there’s more!”
The worlds in A Christmas Prince and Princess Switch are, by all accounts, normal. Fictionalized versions of the real life we inhabit. But the inclusion of The Knight Before Christmas in the same universe throws that all out of whack. For those that aren’t familiar with this one, it concerns an English knight, Sir Cole, who travels from 14th century England to modern day Ohio by way of an old crone.
So if our theory holds true, this can only mean that magic – at least in some form – must exist in the Christmas Prince and Princess Switch worlds as well. This becomes even more interesting when you factor in the plot of A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby. You see, there’s a potential curse involved in that plot. And if magic is real, it would stand to reason that curses could very much be a real thing as well. So what comes off as a light, absurd plot point could actually be a lot more sinister than you might initially think. And if magic is in play for all of these movies, well that presents so many opportunities for any future installments.
And that’s still not all, folks.
As mentioned before, Vanessa Hudgens plays dual and triple roles in The Princess Switch and its sequel, respectively. And do you know who plays Brooke, the star of The Knight Before Christmas?
That’s right, Vanessa Hudgens! So that means there’s at least one more Stacy/Queen Margaret/Lady Fiona lookalike running around, waiting to be found. And that makes an even two-two split between those who are related (Margaret and Fiona) and those who are – seemingly – simply random, unexplainable coincidences (Brook and Stacy). But let’s circle back to that magic bit, shall we?
Let’s start with Margaret and Fiona. Sure, they’re cousins rather than siblings, but that’s at least a passable explanation for why they look identical. But Brooke and Stacy? Magic could be an easy, catch-all solution as to how that happened. Though that’s not my preferred reasoning. Well at least not magic by itself.
What if all four Hudgenses (Hudgi?) are in fact related? Whether Brooke and Stacy are long-lost sisters or cousins or whatever, there are lots of possibilities. Or perhaps only one of those two is related to Margaret and Fiona. Either way, there is tons of untapped potential for Netflix to mine for years to come on this idea. And magic could still play a part here. Even if they’re all related, there’s no practical reason for them to look so identical.
But you’ll notice that leaves Aldovia’s first family out in the cold, and we can’t have that. While there are no major clues as to what might happen if (hopefully *when*) the major Avengers: Endgame-esque crossover happens, you would have to think that the couple that started it all will have a major role to play.
I think it’s safe to assume that Netflix will only keep adding to the Hudgens army, and once it gets to maybe 5 or 6, someone is finally going to say “Enough!” and want to get to the bottom of why there are so many lookalikes out there. And when you need some investigating done, who else would they call on besides the blogger turned investigative journalist (?) turned queen turned queen/investigative journalist, Queen Amber of Aldovia.
There will be magic courtesy of the old crone. Maybe even some time travel to reveal there have been lookalikes wandering around for centuries. There will be almost too many princess switches to count, numerous attempts to steal the various thrones, with each attempt more ridiculous than the last. It will be chaotic and none of it will make any sense, but nobody will care because we’ll all be too busy having unimaginable amounts of fun.
Tags: A Christmas Prince, Netflix, Netflix Christmas, The Princess Switch, Vanessa Hudgens
