THANKS TO THE devotion of women’s magazines and television cameras, the Mary Donaldson fairytale is well known: Tassie girl meets spunky prince in a Sydney bar, falls in love, has a makeover, becomes a princess and gives birth to the future king of Denmark. Australians are fascinated with Mary, yet the woman herself – or the version of the woman known to the public – does nothing that could be described as fascinating. She wears nice clothes, smiles, waves and gives stage-managed interviews. And this is perfectly alright with her many fans, who want nothing more than to read about a life and a world far removed from their own suburban, workaday existences.

That grown women like hearing, talking and dreaming about the lives of princesses is nothing new. However, that grown women would strive to be princesses is, if not new, then radically retro. Yet here we are in 2006 and Princess Culture is on the rise.