Hallmark better sleep with its eyes open because Netflix is creeping in with the Christmas cheer. In 2018, Netflix released an original holiday movie called The Princess Switch, starring High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens and Nashville standout Sam Palladio.
In this holiday-themed film, we see Hudgens star as two different people: apparent relatives who look exactly alike, Stacy DeNovo and Lady Margaret Delacourt. Stacy is a baker who heads to the fictional country of Belgravia for a Christmas baking competition. While she's there, she runs into Lady Margaret who is due to marry the Prince of Belgravia that winter. The two decide to switch places so Lady Margaret can get a sense of what life is like without the royal title. Well, Netflix hit this movie out of the park and had oodles of Easter eggs and fun BTS secrets fans would love to know.
TAKE NOTE OF THE OPENING SCENE
In the opening scene of Netflix's The Princess Switch, we see aerial views of Downtown Chicago. It's Christmas time and the snow is on the ground. There's a jolly melody playing in the background to get viewers in the holiday spirit.
What many fans don't know is that the song they're listening to is actually performed by Sam Palladio, the actor who portrays Prince Edward. The song is called "Bring The Snow" and Palladio both sings and plays instruments.
SUBTLE SHOUTOUTS TO 'THE PARENT TRAP'
If you're a fan of cheery movies of twins or people who look alike switching places for their own cheer, then it's clear you chose the right movie to watch. Nineties babies will even notice a strong connection from The Princess Switch to Lindsay Lohan's The Parent Trap.
The Parent Trap is another movie where one actress portrays two different people who look exactly alike. And in both films, they teach their look-alike more about their families. Here, we see Margaret teaching Stacy more about her family and in The Parent Trap, Annie also uses a board to show Hallie her family tree.
AND 'IT TAKES TWO'
If you can think back to 1995's It Takes Two with Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen, you'll notice another strong connection to a scene in The Princess Switch. In the scene where Stacy (pretending to be Lady Margaret) attends the royal ball with Prince Edward, she's convinced to play the piano.
The problem is Stacy doesn't know how to play the piano. Prince Edward helps her of course, but back in It Takes Two, the same thing happens except Amanda had no idea how to play the piano and had no one to help her.
LADY MARGARET WOULD NEVER GET A TATTOO, WOULD SHE?
Sadly for The Princess Switch, this was just a sad costume/cosmetic fail on their part. Actress Vanessa Hudgens has a small tattoo on her pinky. The tattoo is covered up for most of the film but there are parts where it's clearly visible.
The cosmetic department would have gotten away with it except eagle-eyed fans noticed her tattoo on both characters instantly and began trolling Netflix for it. You can see also see the tattoo on Lady Margaret at Stacy and Prince Edward's wedding. It would be one thing if Stacy had a tattoo while Lady Margaret didn't, but in this flub, they both had matching tattoos in the same exact place.
UH, THAT'S NOT VANESSA HUDGENS...
Since actress Vanessa Hudgens was playing two separate people, she needed a body double to act as her other-self. This movie did a pretty good job at differentiating the two but it appears they messed up during Stacy and Prince Edward's wedding.
Standing next to Kevin would have been Lady Margaret but they accidentally kept the scene with Vanessa's body double in instead.
NETFLIX HAS NO SHAME
After Lady Margaret (as Stacy) spends more time with Kevin, it's clear she's smitten with him. The two seemed to hit it off and had a tender moment one night while sipping hot chocolate. While the two are having a sweet heart to heart, Kevin asks "Stacy" if she would like to watch a movie. He turns on Netflix (lol) where we can see him choose between two Netflix original Christmas movies: A Christmas Prince (2017) and Christmas Inheritance (2017).
Below the two holiday favorites are other Netflix favorites like Glow, Like Father, Sugar Rush, Nailed It 2, Set It Up, and more. Did Netlfix just promote their own streaming service within a movie they stream?
IT WAS SHOT IN ROMANIA
In case you didn't already figure it out, Belgravia is not a real kingdom or country in our world. It's completely fictional. In fact, The Princess Switch has Stacy and Kevin living in Chicago but they never filmed in Chicago. They simply had b-role lined up for the introduction.
So where did the majority of this movie film? Carei, Romania! Carei is a small town of 20,000 people that had the perfect backdrops for this film. The castle we see in Belgravia is actually a real castle in Romania — Karoly Castle.
IS THE PRINCESS SWITCH IN THE SAME UNIVERSE AS THE KNIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS?
The Princess Switch may have been Vanessa Hudgens's introduction to Netflix back in 2017 but she starred in another holiday original by Netflix in 2019 called The Knight Before Christmas.
In this film, Vanessa portrays Brooke, a high school teacher who falls for a knight who thinks he's in the 13th century. In one scene, we see Brooke and her family talking about a trip to Aldovia, which was the fictional country in The Christmas Prince. Does this mean that all holiday countries in Netflix are connected?
THERE'S A SEQUEL IN THE WORKS
If you're sad that The Princess Switch is over, have no fear. Netflix announced that they're creating a sequel to the holiday hit in 2020. The sequel will be called The Princess Switch: Switched Again and will revolve around a scandal around the crown. Not only will Hudgens portray Lady Margaret and Stacy again, but she'll also be playing a third character – a woman named Fiona!
UNITED AIRLINES X NETFLIX X THE PRINCESS SWITCH
This may have gone unnoticed but when Stacy and Kevin decide they're leaving Chicago to spend the holidays in Belgravia, the scene shows an airplane taking off. In the next scene, we see a glorious winter snowscape, meaning they've reached their destination.
Well, according to The Ringer, the airline shown in the film is United Airlines. United apparently paid Netflix to have their airline be the "official carrier of Belgravia." United Airlines even tweeted a picture of their scene in the film and wrote "Our seasonal holiday service to Aldovia & Belgravia is here… just in time for a royal wedding and a princess switch."