The on-screen relationship between Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews) and Joseph (Hector Elizondo) in The Princess Diaries was not scripted. The dance scene and the underlying affection was added by the two actors. According to Elizondo, “We felt that a romance after 50 was important to tell and it can be sensual and sexy while keeping your clothes on.”   

The author of the “Mary Poppins” books, P.L. Travers, approved heartily of the casting of Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins after just speaking to her on the telephone.

The actresses who provided the voices for three previous animated Disney princesses make appearances in the Enchanted: 

Jodi Benson (Ariel) plays Robert’s secretary Sam

Paige O’Hara (Belle) is the actress in the soap opera that Nathaniel watches in the hotel room.

Judy Kuhn (Pocahontas) is the woman with the kids who says “You’re too late” when Edward knocks on her door looking for Giselle.

Also, Julie Andrews, who starred as the title character in Mary Poppins, provides her voice here as the Narrator. 

When she was filming The Princess Diaries in 2001, Julie Andrews discovered that her director Garry Marshall was living in the same house that she did when she was making Mary Poppins. Additionally, some of The Princess Diaries was shot on the same sound stage as the 1964 musical. Andrews knew this because there is a plaque on the sound stage saying that Mary Poppins was filmed there.

Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza Doolittle in the Broadway production of My Fair Lady. When Warner Brothers decided to make a film version, they passed her up in favor of Audry Hepburn. When Andrews found this out, she accepted Walt Disney’s offer to play the title role in Mary Poppins.

Both movies came out in 1964. That year, lthough My Fair Lady won 8 Oscars, including Best Picture, Hepburn was not nominated, and Julie Andrews took home the Oscar for Best Actress for Mary Poppins. Andrews also won the Golden Globe that year, and she cheekily thanked Warner Bros. in her acceptance speech.