The world had to wait a very long time, until 2009, before Disney presented its first Africa-American princess – Tiana in The Princess and the Frog. Her aspirations were rather different from the princesses that came before.

“Her dream isn’t to have her prince and rule her kingdom, her dream is to open a restaurant,” says Condis. But not everyone approved of Tiana. “I heard from a lot of people in the African American community that there were serious concerns about the fact that we had our first African American princess and she spent much of the time on screen hopping around as a frog,” adds Rebecca Hains.

But despite the emergence of more empowered Disney heroines, they often don’t get the same coverage as their traditional counterparts – particularly in Disney’s merchandise.

“If you look at the Disney’s line of products, like lunch boxes and t-shirts, you see Belle, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty often standing together. Even though princesses like Pocahontas and Mulan are technically still part of the line they’re very rarely included in those type of products,” explains Condis.

We are family

Possibly the most modern princess princesses was Merida in 2012’s Brave, who stands apart from others because this animated princess film was the first to be co-directed and co-written by a woman. Merida is seen as part of a distinct lineage of Disney princesses.

“Merida from Brave, Anna and Elsa from Frozen, even Rapunzel from Tangled – they’re all spunkier, and they have ideals that don’t necessarily have to do with romance,” Rebecca Hains points out.