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Anneliese
I'm savoring a first and last taste of freedom before getting married next week...to a total stranger.
Voiced by: Kelly Sheridan (English, speaking), Melissa Lyons (English, singing), Ilona Brokowski (German dub), Sanna Majuri (Finnish dub), Gisela (European Spanish dub), Luljeta Bitri, Odeta Katundi (Albanian dubs)
Anneliese is the princess of a bankrupt kingdom. In order to save her kingdom, she must marry a rich king, yet she is already in love.- Arranged Marriage: She is to marry King Dominick so that his wealth will save her kingdom.
- Bookworm: Her favorite pastime is reading science books in her library.
- Cassandra Truth: Neither the gate guard nor Madame Carp believe her when she says she is the princess.
- Damsel out of Distress: She is able to escape her kidnappers by having her cat pose as a scary ghost.
- Disappeared Dad: Her father is known to be dead, since her mother is said to be widowed.
- Dub Name Change: In the Polish dub her name is Anna-Lisa.
- Flower Motifs: Her favorite flower is Rosa centifolia, or the Provence rose, and said roses feature heavily in her outfits and even her writing, as she scents her letters with rose.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Like any other character Barbie plays, Anneliese has wavy blonde hair, and is a caring princess.
- Identical Twin: To tell her apart from Erika, she has blonde hair and a royal birthmark on her shoulder.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: No Barbie-played protagonist is complete without her signature blue eyes.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: She is very attached to her cat, Serafina. Unfortunately, this helps Nick and Nack lure her into a trap.
- Princess Classic: At the beginning, she's shown to have nearly every princess trope, from being scheduled to getting married to a prince to being the Damsel in Distress in need of someone to save her. However, she's revealed to be into math, geography, and geology in her first appearance and she manages to escape her captivity with some bedsheets and a "story" to distract her kidnappers. In the end, she becomes a Politically-Active Princess who creates a new mining industry with the geodes she found.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: She's a princess and her favorite dress is mostly pink.
- Rebellious Princess: She initially seems like she's set up to be this based on her verse from "Free," talking about wanting to fly away and do as she pleases, but this is ultimately subverted as she is determined to do her duty as a princess and go through with her Arranged Marriage for the sake of her kingdom.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's the hopeful Blue to Erika's feisty Red.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: As a princess, she was raised in the lap of luxury, and is a kind, generous person who's willing to forsake her own personal happiness for the good of the kingdom. When she's stuck at Madame Carp's, she insists on helping out with the sewing, despite not having a clue what she's doing, because it wouldn't be fair to leave all the work to Erika's coworker.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: The film is set in Britain, but there's no accent from Anneliese or Erika.
- The Smart Girl: Anneliese loves science, particularly geology.
Erika
Though I know I have so little, my determination's strong. People will gather around the world to hear my song!
Voiced by: Kelly Sheridan (English, speaking), Julie Stevens (English, singing) Ilona Brokowski (German dub), Willemijn Verkaik (Dutch dub), Eri Ito (Japanese dub), Luljeta Bitri, Odeta Katundi (Albanian dubs), Csondor Kata (Hungarian dub)
Erika is a poor village girl who must work as a seamstress in order to pay off her parents' debt. She would much rather be a singer.- Almost Kiss: With Dominick.
- Determinator: Erika keeps working hard so that she can earn her freedom.
- Flower Motifs: Erika is frequently associated with the blue rose.
- Identical Stranger: Resembles Anneliese dead-on to the point she has the same face. The only differences are her hair color and no birthmark.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: The only thing that sets her apart from Anneliese is she's a brunette instead of blonde, her hair parting is reversed, and she has no royal birthmark on her shoulder.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Because she's identical to Anneliese, she has matching blue eyes.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: She loves her cat, Wolfie, very much and even sings a song about not wanting him to change his dog-like nature.
- Limited Wardrobe: She only owns one dress. Justified, as she's poor.
- Love Epiphany: She realizes she's fallen in love with King Dominick while masquerading as Anneliese.
- Master Actor: She pulls off such a good impersonation of Anneliese, even the girl's own mother is fooled. Not bad considering Erika had only met her once before.
- Rags to Royalty: She marries King Dominick at the end of the story, becoming his queen.
- Parental Abandonment: We are never told what happened to her parents, though presumably they're dead.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's the feisty Red to Anneliese's hopeful Blue.
- True Blue Femininity: Her main dress is mostly blue, as is her princess dress, and her wedding dress has blue trim.
- Work Off the Debt: Erika is in debt because her parents borrowed money in order to feed her. Anneliese helps her out of it.
Julian
"There's nothing like some fresh air and a change of scenery."
Voiced by: Alessandro Juliani
Anneliese's royal tutor and best friend, as well as her secret love.- Brainy Brunette: Julian is a male example as he is very smart, educated and observant.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Implied with Anneliese.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: A kindhearted man with all the posh, gentlemanly behaviour who is Anneliese's tutor.
- Hot Teacher: He is Anneliese's tutor and is very handsome.
- Hot for Student: Granted, he is her tutor, not a teacher and they are close in age but Julien is head over heels for Anneliese.
- One True Love: He and Anneliese love each other very much.
- Rags to Royalty: He marries Anneliese at the end of the film, therefore becoming her future consort.
- Relationship Upgrade: Marries Anneliese in the end.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: The poor suitor to Dominick's rich suitor for Anneliese.
Dominick
"I wanted to meet you without all this-this ceremony. To get to know the real you."
Voiced by: Mark Hildreth (speaking), Mark Luna (singing)
A rich, young, and charming king. He is also very handsome and talented when it comes to playing instruments, and he can play the trumpet, the piano and the dulcimer. Like Anneliese, he hopes to find true love without any pretense. He soon falls head over heels for the disguised Erika.- Arranged Marriage: He and Anneliese were originally to have a political marriage but he ends up falling in love with Erika and Anneliese already had been in love with Julien.
- The Good King: He is the ruler of his kingdom and is a very kind, courageous and generous person.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: He has blue eyes and is a very kind person.
- King Incognito: He has a habit of using disguises. Erika even comments on it at one point when he "captures" her to help her get out of the castle's dungeons.
- Love at First Note: The moment he overhears Erika (still pretending to be Anneliese) singing, his heart is gone.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: He is the Rich Suitor to Julian's Poor Suitor to Anneliese.
- Uptown Guy: Erika's a pauper and he's royalty.
Queen Genevieve
"I want you to be happy. But it is our duty to take care of our people first."
Voiced by: Ellen Kennedy
Anneliese's widowed mother and the current ruler of the kingdom.- All There in the Script: She goes unnamed in the movie, however the credits and other supplementary material reveal that her name is Genevieve.
- Blind Without 'Em: She has trouble seeing without her glasses, a fact Julian exploits by hiding them from her while Erika poses as Anneliese.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: She wears an elegant purple gown.
- The High Queen: She's very regal and poised, befitting a monarch.
- Horrible Judge of Character: She trusts Preminger with important court business, yet she's completely unaware of his plot against her throne.
- Limited Wardrobe: Never changes her clothes once throughout the movie, possibly because of the bankruptcy of the kingdom. It even extends into the wedding with Preminger.
- Shipper on Deck: While she initially hopes her daughter will marry King Dominick, once she learns Anneliese is in love with Julian, she's incredibly supportive.
Preminger
Yes, before this chapter closes, I'll be big as Charlamagne!
Voiced by: Martin Short
Preminger is the main antagonist of the movie. His goal is to become the king of Anneliese's kingdom.- And Now You Must Marry Me: His plan is to marry Anneliese (and later, her mother) so that he can become king.
- Bad Boss: Preminger is the only intelligent member of the Terrible Trio, so he has to put up with the antics of his henchmen Nick and Nack, who are unbearably stupid to the point where they constantly irritate him.
- Big Bad: He's the one planning to take the throne of the kingdom, setting off the main plot of the film.
- The Bully: He talks down to Julian and even kicks Wolfie!
- Character Catchphrase:
- "How can I refuse?"
- He uses it frequently in the song of the same name and any other time he can. Variants include "how could I refuse?" and at one point, "how can you refuse?"
- Evil Brit: Has a very pronounced British accent and is a classically evil person who wants to usurp the throne.
- Evil Chancellor: A member of the royal court and quite willing to take over the throne through any means possible.
- Evil Is Hammy: Martin Short played him as if he was a character made of ham. The result is a villain who's very over the top as and when he needs to be, even in his Villain Song
- Kick the Dog: Well, kick the cat that thinks he's a dog, but he outright kicks Wolfie away from him in one scene.
- Evil Laugh: He snickers a deep one to himself as he dreams of taking the kingdom for himself.
- Obviously Evil: Frequently spouts evil laughter in front of Queen Genevieve.
- Named After Somebody Famous: His name is likely a reference to Otto Preminger.
- Rags to Riches: Implied; he states in his song that he is a peasant's son.
- Slasher Smile: The close-ups of his face as he smiles and his eyes gleam as he imagines his future power can be terrifying.
- Social Climber: His Villain Song mentions that he is the son of peasants and rose to a position of power through sycophancy and being a (temporarily) Indispensable Scoundrel as he longs to be king.
- Surrounded by Idiots: His two henchmen, Nick and Nack are nowhere near as intelligent as he is. How original.
- Terrible Trio: With himself, Nick and Nack.
- Villain Ball: Averted, as he captures Julian and attempts to kill him and Anneliese later right away.
- Villain Song: "How Can I Refuse?" features Preminger boastfully revealing his plot to his two henchmen before adjusting it once he hears news of Anneliese's planned marriage. He sings it again to convince the queen to marry him after subtly revealing his intentions.
- White Hair, Black Heart: A heartless villain in a powdered white wig.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: When his plans go awry, he tends to come up with a new plan pretty quickly or readjusts his existing plans to fit whatever came up.
Madame Carp
"What do you think I'm running here, a cabaret?"
Voiced by: Pam Hyatt
Madame Carp is a minor antagonist of the movie and Erika's cruel boss. Erika's parents took a loan from Madame Carp, which she is now stuck paying off.
- Bad Boss: She treats Erika and the other seamstresses terribly.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She claims that she and the princess are friends. Unfortunately for her, she mistook her "friend" for Erika, and showed her true colors.
- The Bully: She bullies her employees, overworks them and steals credit for their work.
- Evil Brit: She has a thick Cockney accent and is very cruel.
- Fat Bitch: A bit on the pudgy side and has a repugnant personality.
- Hate Sink: We can’t really hate Preminger due to his comedic quirks, but we can hate Madame Carp for being an absolute bitch with an extremely submicroscopic amount of likeable moments.
- Hypocrite: She reprimands her seamstress for being a "lazy cow" and not finishing an order despite the fact that Madame Carp was out in the town while her employee was working through the night by herself.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Loses her business after Anneliese makes good on her warning. To top if off, it's implied her abused employee takes her place as the royal family's dressmaker.
- Riches to Rags: In the end, she goes out of business after losing the royal family as clients.
- White Hair, Black Heart: A white-haired woman with the nastiest of hearts.
Nick and Nack
Voiced by: Brian Drummond (Nick) and Jan Rabson (Nack)
Preminger’s henchmen.- Bumbling Henchmen Duo: They are hilariously incompetent, but probably the most loyal persons in all the kingdom to Preminger.
- Hidden Depths: For a Bumbling Henchman Duo, Nick and Nack are surprisingly good background dancers and apparently managed to work and empty an entire goldmine by themselves.
- Minion with an F in Evil: The two are unbearably stupid to the point where it even irritates Preminger.
Serafina
I may be dainty, but I'm still a feline!
Voiced by: Kathleen Barr (English), Jannemien Cnossen (Dutch)
Serafina is Anneliese's pet cat. She falls in love with Wolfie.- Babies Ever After: Has a litter of kittens with Wolfie.
- Cat/Dog Dichotomy: With Wolfie, kind of.
- Cats Are Mean: Averted, she and Wolfie are very friendly cats.
- Neat Freak: She hates getting dirty. However, she risks it to get to the kidnapped Anneliese.
- Silk Hiding Steel: She's sophisticated and ladylike, but also very capable and courageous. She successfully makes it to the castle by herself to deliver Anneliese's message and is able to hold her own against Midas multiple times, helping defeat him in the end.
- Undying Loyalty: She sticks with her mistress through thick and thin.
Wolfie
A cat always lands on his feet. Even one that barks.
Voiced by: Ian James Corlett
Wolfie is Erika's pet cat. He acts like a dog, and he falls in love with Serafina.
- All Animals Are Dogs: He acts exactly like a dog and even barks.
- Babies Ever After: Has a litter of kittens with Serafina.
- Cat/Dog Dichotomy: With Serafina, kind of.
- Cats Are Mean: Averted, he and Serafina are very friendly cats.
- Chekhov's Skill: His dog-like sense of smell comes in handy when he tries to find a way to get to Serafina and Anneliese trapped in the gold mine.
- Heroic Dog: Or "Heroic Cat who behaves like a dog and barks like one". He wastes no time helping Serafina evade and fend off Preminger's pet poodle and tries to find a way to rescue the white cat, Anneliese and Julian from the gold mine.
