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Princess

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For other uses, see Princess (disambiguation)
Elizabeth Swann was lavished and attended to like a Chinese pirate princess aboard Sao Feng's flagship, the Empress.

Elizabeth Swann was lavished and attended to like a Chinese pirate princess aboard Sao Feng's flagship, the Empress.

"I'm having trouble recalling your name. Princess...Amenrah? No. Ah, I remember. Princess Amenirdis. Welcome to my humble vessel, Your Highness."
―Jack Sparrow to Amenirdis[src]

Princess was a title used by a female member of royalty, a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin princeps, meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter (or granddaughter) of a King or Queen of a royal family. In some cases, "princess" was used as a term of endearment to express love for a woman.

History[]

"Oh, don't play dodo bird with me, Fitz. I remember a number of occasions while we were sailing with nothing much else going on, and you were playing around with birds, talking to them all daintily, like you were some princess in a fairy tale. You even mentioned that your father was a sort of a birder, which I thought was an odd hobby for an aristocrat."
―Jack Sparrow to Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III[src]

By the Age of Piracy, princesses became well-known in royalty as well as fairy tales, myths and legends. During the adventures of young Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Barnacle, after Jack and the aristocrat Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III were arrested by Madame Minuit's Pirate Guard in New Orleans, the chief of the Pirate Guard told them that the holding cell was "a fairy princess castle" compared to the real prison down river.[1] Jack remembered a number of occasions while they were sailing that Fitzwilliam played around with birds, talking to them daintily, like he was "some princess in a fairy tale."[2]

Years later, when he was a merchant seaman pursuing a legitimate career for the East India Trading Company as captain of a merchant ship called the Wicked Wench, Jack Sparrow met Amenirdis, a princess from the magical island of Kerma who became a house slave named Ayisha under Cutler Beckett.[3] After returning to a life of piracy, with the Wicked Wench rechristened as the Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow met the Spanish princess Carolina, who was engaged to the governor of Florida.[4]

When Captain Hector Barbossa led the cursed crew of the Black Pearl in search of Aztec gold and blood to lift the Aztec curse, they heaped up all their plunder in the caves of Isla de Muerta. The treasure on Isla de Muerta included some of the most valuable pieces are jewelry stolen from wealthy passengers on ships the Black Pearl attacked, including a pearl string that once hung around the neck of a princess of Bavaria.[5][6] By this point in time, at least one ship was given the name Princess, namely one merchant vessel that young Will Turner sailed on from the crossing of England to the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea prior to being attacked by the crew of the Black Pearl.[7][8] Not long after the attack, when the British warship HMS Dauntless sailed through the same waters, one of the passengers, young Elizabeth Swann, noticed a parasol floating in the water, and wondered if it was lost by an English or Spanish princess visiting a colony in the New World.[9]

When Elizabeth Swann was taken as a pirate captive aboard the Empress, the flagship of Sao Feng, the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea, the Pirate Lord wasted no time in lavishing his attention and riches on his beautiful guest, selecting a magnificent traditional Chinese gown for Elizabeth, though she did need the help of handmaidens to get into it. When Elizabeth had first stepped on the ship, the maidens had attended to her every need, bathing her and dressing her in the gown in the Pirate Lord's cabin,[10] treated like a Chinese pirate princess.[11][12] Elizabeth still wore the gown as Sao Feng named her captain of the Empress and passed his lordship on to her before he died, leading her to don full pirate garb with the Chinese crewman standing behind her at the Fourth Brethren Court, where she became Pirate King.[13][14]

Notable princesses[]

Behind the scenes[]

The term "princess" was first used in the 2005 book Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies.[15] While the merchant vessel in the opening scene for the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was unnamed,[8] it was identified with the name "Princess" which only appeared in the 2006 German novelization by Wolfgang and Rebecca Hohlbein.[7] As a title, "princess" was first mentioned in Richard Platt's reference book Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide and Glenn Dakin's reprint The Complete Visual Guide,[5][6] as well as the book Jack Sparrow: City of Gold by Rob Kidd.[1] Princesses made their first appearance through the Spanish princess Carolina in Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean.[4] Amenirdis was the first historical princess introduced in the franchise, introduced in the 2011 novel The Price of Freedom by A. C. Crispin.[3]

Although the title "princess" does not appear in media relating to the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End,[10][13][14] there was one display of Elizabeth Swann as a "Chinese Pirate Princess" in an exhibit at the El Capitan Theatre.[11][12] However, the circumstances were based on the Pirate Lord Sao Feng mistaking Elizabeth as the sea goddess Calypso.[13][14]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

External links[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jack Sparrow: City of Gold, p. 28
  2. ↑ Jack Sparrow: Sins of the Father, p. 80
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Price of Freedom
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide, pp. 40-41: "Isla de Muerta"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, pp. 40-41: "Isla de Muerta"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fluch der Karibik, p. 139
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  9. ↑ Fluch der Karibik, p. 13
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, pp. 84-85 "Captain's Cabin"
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Elizabeth Swann | The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California decorated its theater for the showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. | Flickr
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 At World's End Costume worn by Keira Knightley News Photo - Getty Images
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  15. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies
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