Princess Diana University (film)

 Plot 

Claire comes home from a long day of work at Pan's Pizza. Her little sister Emily Lou is watching the annual Royal Procession on TV. It involves princes and princesses from other kingdoms coming to the original Princess Diana University to learn their full potential. Commoners is also allowed in if they win the lottery that wins them a scholarship to be a lord advisor or lady royal, a prince or princess's most trusted advisor. Claire asks her sister if their mother and father are okay, but Emily Lou tells her the doctors just said their mother was "comfortable" and their father got "the Staple of Honor" from his boss. Claire wishes that their mom would get better, that their dad to have a high paying job, and wishes that Emily Lou could grow up in a better neighborhood, as the family lives in the poor part of Buckinghurst and have no money. Claire decides she will work hard for her family.

On the TV, Mr. and Mrs. Willows and their daughters watch as the lottery winner is picked, and it turns out to be Claire herself. Claire's shocked and confused by this, as she never entered, and Emily Lou reveals that she was the one who entered Claire (five to six times a day for an entire year). Claire's initially reluctant to leave her parents and sister, but Mr. and Mrs. Willows encourage Claire to go, as getting a position as a Lady Royal would change their lives forever. Claire ultimately leaves for the school in a carriage with a man named Benson. In the carriage, Claire's arm gets jogged as she tries to put on lipstick, smearing it on her face, and she knocks over a cup of tea.

At the school, she is greeted by Prince, a large dog that recognizes her, and his parents, King and Queenie. The headmistress of the school, Abigail Primrose, sees Claire on the floor with Prince and takes her to her locker, explaining things about the school along the way. Gabriella or Gabby, a small shimmery pink sprite meets Claire at the locker by bumping into her with a cupcake. Gabby is an assigned sprite to be Claire’s special personal assistant. Every student has one. Claire uses her magical locker to change into her school uniform, and Gabby takes her to her dorm room to get settled. Claire meets Princess DJ Kuki and Princess June, her new roommates, and Opal and Melody, their own personal assistants. They become good friends with Claire. They then head straight to Starlight Welcome immediately to get their training crowns.

At the welcome ceremony, Miss Primrose explains to the boys and girls that they will get real crowns once they have completed the semester with high expectations. A teacher named Dame Samantha Cole announces she will quit teaching after her children, Billy and Jessica Cole become the prince and princess of Gernania at the end of the semester. She explains that she has lived at the palace since her sister-in-law, Queen Elizabeth I, and her family died in a car crash. DJ and June discuss the legend that not all of the family died. They have a bowing and curtseying class after the welcome ceremony, and Claire gets distracted by June and DJ and bumps into Tessa. While Tessa develops a strong disliking for Claire, while Billy can't find the words around Claire. June and DJ tell Claire they will be her friends and that Claire can do anything Tessa can do.

Claire becomes pessimistic after seeing Jessica walking with a stack of 25 books on her head without a problem when she can't even balance one. Many girls have problems, but when Dame Samantha sees Claire's face, she becomes shocked. She tells Claire to get out of her class and tells her she doesn't belong there. Jessica, later on, makes her assistant, Cecelia, tuck a tablecloth into Claire's skirt, and Claire ends up being further embarrassed when she drags it off the table.

DJ and June try to cheer up Claire by telling her that Dame Samantha was once a lottery winner like her. However, no prince or princesses picked her to be their lady royal, not even Queen Elizabeth I. Claire receives a birthday care package from Emily Lou containing some letters and a drawing of a baby version of Claire being left on her parent's doorstep. Claire explains to her friends that she is adopted, and Emily Lou is their rainbow daughter after losing their older sister, Sadie, to a death event, 18 years ago. Miss Primrose comes to tell Claire some bad news but stops when she hears this.

The next day, at a ballroom class, Claire knocks over Princess Patricia, Jessica's friend, and is kept behind after class. Miss Primrose tells her that Dame Samantha wanted her expelled, but Miss Primrose knows about how Claire wants to become a lady royal to help her family, so she wants to personally tutor her. She tells Claire that being a prince or princess is about character and confidence. One without the other is a problem, and she tells Claire that no one can make her feel inferior without her consent. With help from Miss Primrose, Claire greatly improves her balance, grace, dancing, and more.

In the winter, the students are joined by young men at the male Pavilion of the Princess Diana University for a dance class. Claire gets partnered with Prince Arthur or Artie as he is called, and they joke with each other before dancing like they're at a party. Everyone else joins in, but Billy and Jessica. When they are done, the men leave, but Miss Primrose tells them they will come to the graduation ceremony at the end of the semester. This is because they will have to see Billy and Jessica, the future prince and princess of Buckinghurst, be crowned.

In spring, three days before the coronation ceremony where the princes, princesses, lord advisors and lady royals will be crowned, Miss Primrose announces that the boys and girls will get to go to the palace for a table manners class. Claire, June, and DJ go with their sprites to pamper themselves in the school spa, while Dame Samantha tells Cecelia to rip up their clothes. DJ and June tell Claire about Buckinghurst's magic crown, which lights up when put on the rightful heir to the throne. The girls go back to their room to find their uniforms in shreds. Without their uniforms, they will not be allowed in the class, and missing classes gives you an automatic fail. Claire refuses to let her and her friends fail, so she and their sprites fashion some new, personalized uniforms using fabric from the old ones. They get to the palace just in time and get to explore the first floor before the class.

When exploring, the girls see portraits of many Kings and Queens of the kingdom, but one portrait was the most unusual. The person in the portrait looks exactly like Claire but is actually Queen Elizabeth I when she was 18. Next, they see a family portrait with a baby Princess Sophianna, King and Queenie the dogs, and King Louis. June and DJ thought that Claire could be the baby in the photo because Princess Sophianna apparently died in the car crash when she was 4 months on April 25th. Claire was found on her adoptive parents' doorstep at that age, so they realize Dame Samantha, Billy, and Jessica are unfair to Claire because she is the rightful heir, but Dame Samantha wants Billy and Jessica to be the prince and princess. Billy and Jessica eavesdrop and become disturbed because their mother or their former caretaker, Lupe, never told them these things.

At the class, Dame Samantha explains her idea - which she says is Jessica's - is to bulldoze the poor areas of Buckinghurst and create parks to make the kingdom more beautiful. Claire is shocked and informs her that her family lives there, but Dame Samantha tells her she should leave immediately and move her family to a new home, not caring that they have no money. Claire tries to talk to Billy and Jessica, but Billy and Jessica don't say anything even though they are concerned about their mother's decision. Claire runs away, crying. She packs her bags back at the school but decides to stay and find the crown to prove she is the rightful heir and stop Dame Samantha, Billy and Jessica.

June and DJ want to help, so the trio plan and decide to go back to the palace that night before the coronation two days later to find the crown. However, before they can leave with a bag packed with tools, a fire alarm goes off. The students all go outside while Dame Samantha puts her jewelry in Claire's dorm room. Billy and Jessica find her and become suspicious, but their mother changes the subject by asking them why they have customized their uniforms like Claire's. They say it's because they like it. 45 minutes later, the students finally can go back to their rooms, but Claire and her friends are stopped by a guard, Dame Samantha, and Miss Primrose. They are accused of stealing Dame Samantha's jewelry, so the guard searches their room and finds necklaces.

The girls are to be detained until after the coronation ceremony, but while the guard takes them away to be arrested, Billy and Jessica stop him. They claim he will have to follow their orders in a few hours when they are the prince and princess, so Jessica orders him to give her his keys. He leaves, and they quickly tell Claire and her friends to find the crown because they want what's right for the kingdom. They tell them they will leave a window open on the third floor and run off, so their mother doesn't find them with them.

Claire, June, and DJ go to the palace, and Prince and his parents distract a guard for them. They use a rope to climb up to the third-floor window and take an elevator to the basement. June notices devices on the walls and recognizes them as laser alarms. There are invisible beams that will set off an alarm if they are broken, so Claire blows some makeup powder over them, and they become visible. June shows some impressive gymnastics skills by flipping to the other side, but Claire and DJ have to slowly make their way across with help from Gabby.

There is a keypad that needs a password to unlock a door, so they try the coronation date. It is incorrect, and so they use the password hint “The day it all fell into place” to figure out the real password. They try the date of the car crash, and it works. Inside the room are Dame Samantha’s possessions. Claire and her friends find the magical crown, but Dame Samantha finds them and makes Benson, her guard, take the crown. She changes the password; with DJ memorizing the tune of the buttons, she presses and locks them in the room.

They are stuck in the room for hours as the coronation begins, and Billy and Jessica become moments away from being crowned. Billy tries to make time while Claire and her friends figure out how to escape. DJ keeps humming the tune of the keypad buttons, and when June accidentally knocks a cover off a box of electrical wires, they wire up Claire's phone to the keypad to use Claire's phone buttons to enter the password from inside the room. DJ does the correct tune on the phone, and they escape. They arrive at the graduation ceremony just in time, and Claire makes a claim to the throne, saying she is Princess Sophianna. Emily Lou and her parents watched at home, shocked.

The royal judge, Scott Takamura, who crowns the princes, princesses, lord advisors, and lady royals, takes her seriously, but Dame Samantha tries to stop her. They fight over the crown before Jessica catches it and decides whether to give it to their mother or Claire. She gives it to Claire, and when she puts it on, it lights up, and she transforms to look like a proper princess. Dame Samantha exclaims that she killed Queen Elizabeth I and King Louis just so Billy and Jessica could be the prince and princess, so she is arrested, while the disappointed Billy and Jessica watch her get dragged away. Claire makes a quick speech, telling her people of Buckinghurst she is honored to be their princess. Miss Primrose tells her she can have time to pick a lord advisor and lady royal, but she quickly picks Billy and Jessica, and they are crowned.

In the evening, at the graduation party, everyone dances to the song "The Cupid Shuffle" which DJ DJs for. Even Miss Primrose dances and Artie comes to Claire again. He is unsure whether to call her Princess Sophianna or not, but she just wants to continue going by the name Claire. Next, Emily Lou and her parents come, and Claire welcomes them to their new home. Emily Lou then asks since Claire is a princess, does that make her one too, to which Claire replies, "there's a princess in every girl". She then introduces them to her new friends.