After Henry died, his wife, Catherine de Medici married Gonsalvus off to the daughter of a court servant who was incidentally also named Catherine.Ĭatherine de Medici viewed Gonsalvus mostly as an “experiment,” which is, uh, not great (so much about the way Gonsalvus was treated throughout his life was incredibly not great) however, Catherine and Gonsalvus were married for 40 years and had seven children together. Henry educated him as a nobleman, calling him “Petrus Gonsalvus” - the Latin version of his Spanish name - and raising him in court. Because people are terrible, he was captured as a child and treated like an animal - he was kept in an iron cage and fed a diet of raw meat and animal feed - until he was “gifted” (say it with me: PEOPLE ARE NOT GIFTS) to King Henry II of France at the age of 10. We’re pretty sure that “Belle et La Bête” was inspired by the life of Petrus Gonsalvus (née Pedro Gonzalez), a man with hypertrichosis born in 1537 in the Canary Islands. There are a few differences - Gaston doesn’t exist, for example, although Beauty has several sisters who are equally awful to act as antagonists instead - but the core of the story is the same: A father shelters from a storm in a beautiful castle he transgresses in some way (in the Disney movies, it’s merely his presence that’s the transgression, while in the fairy tale, it’s because he takes a rose from the castle’s rose garden to bring to Beauty) the Beast says he’ll release him if one of his daughters takes his place Beauty/Belle does so her life in the castle is pretty rad, but eventually she needs to go home for some reason (to take care of her sick father in the movies, or simply because she’s homesick in the fairy tale) while she’s away, the Beast begins to sicken and die she rushes back to him he is redeemed by her love, which breaks the curse that made him look like a Beast they marry and they live happily ever after.īut there’s a real-life story behind this one, too. Then again, given that Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s “Belle et La Bête,” which published in 1740 in La Jeune Américaine et les Contes Marins, was written in French, the character’s name probably would have been Belle anyway, so… do with that what you will.Īnyway, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast actually cleaves pretty closely to de Villeneuve’s tale.

Here are the real stories behind 12 beloved princesses.īelle is only called Belle in the Disney versions of Beauty and the Beast she’s just straight-up Beauty in the original. If you look a little closer, there’s much more to these seemingly familiar tales than meets the eye - and to the often remarkable women who star in them. What’s more, as the decades move on, Disney began including sources beyond the standard white European ones: Folktales from China, episodes from world history, and even some clever modern riffs on classic tales. The stories as told by Frenchman Charles Perrault have made an appearance here and there, as have the Danish fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. Like many of Disney’s animated films, it was based on a German fairy tale popularized by the Brothers Grimm - but the Grimms weren’t the only ones who served as inspiration for the movies.

How familiar are you with the real stories behind your favorite princesses? Did you know that some of these Disney favorites aren’t just based on fairy tales, but also on the lives of people who actually existed? It’s true - and sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction.Īlthough the Disney Princess line wouldn’t officially be branded as such until the early 2000s, the very first Disney Princess movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was released in 1938. Disney’s big screen adaptations of fairy tales and folk stories have become as well-known as the original stories on which they’re based - and, in many cases, the Disney versions of the plots are even more well-known than their older counterparts.

Folktale examples in real life