My Obsession with Disney Princesses

Disney Princess of the Month: Aurora "Briar Rose"

Aurora or "Briar Rose" has always been one of my favorite Disney Princesses.

Princess Aurora, or "Briar Rose", is the title character in Disney's 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty is based from Charles Perrault's "The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood", which was published in 1697. Created by Walt Disney and animated by Marc Davis, Aurora is the princess of a fictionalized English kingdom set in the 14th century and the only daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah. Sleeping Beauty's mother is never named in the film itself or the character reference sheets but according to Disney legend around the studio she was meant to be called Queen Leah, but is otherwise always referred to as "the queen," whereas both her father and that of the prince are given names that are used several times, both in dialogue and narration. At her birth, two of three good fairies (Flora and Fauna) predicted that she would one day possess great beauty of person and of voice. However, on that day, she was also cursed by the evil fairy Maleficent, who foretold that on her 16th birthday, she would prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle and die. The 3rd remaining good fairy (Merryweather) then altered the curse so, when pricked with the spindle, she would only fall into a deep slumber, from which she would only be awakened by the kiss of Prince Phillip, to whom she was betrothed at birth.

List of Disney's Sleeping Beauty characters

Mary Costa as Princess Aurora (Briar Rose) / Sleeping Beauty

Eleanor Audley as Maleficent, the evil fairy