A Royal Mess

"A Royal Mess" is the fifth episode of the Disney Junior series Sofia the First, which aired on Feburary 8, 2013.

Plot
The GoldenWing Circus is coming to the kingdom, and Sofia is told all about how amazing it is by Amber, James and the castle staff through a lively song and dance. Inside the castle, King Roland is pleased with how the stained-glass window of his family has turned out and is eager to show it to Miranda. He runs into his children who ask if they can go to the circus which he says yes. James does some juggling as he tells Sofia about the circus jugglers while the song and dance resume. When it's all over, Roland reminds James that playing ball inside the castle is not allowed. But right after he leaves, James starts doing it again despite his sisters' protests and one of the balls ends up smashing into the window. Sofia says they should tell their father what happened, but James knows he will not be allowed to go to the circus if they do that, so he suggests they try hiding the smashed part of the window behind a suit of armor. While pushing it towards the window, they hear their parents approaching and Amber goes to distract them. Sofia and James finish moving the armor in front of the window, but James accidentally knocks over the axe it was holding, and the window is damaged even more.

Amber is playing the harp for her parents and the song she plays is so long Roland falls asleep and when she finishes, they attempt to leave quickly after she offers to play another, but she stops them and feigns sadness at them "not wanting to make time for her". Miranda assures her this is not the case, so she takes them to go look at her new tiara and keep them distracted.

Sofia thinks it's time to tell their father what's happened, but James is determined not to miss the circus, though none of his ideas for fixing the problem will work. Sofia then suggests Cedric could fix the window with magic. At first Cedric doesn't want to help, but Sofia's amulet catches his eye and suddenly changes his mind. After ushering Sofia and James out, he finishes up a new potion that allows him to cast a spell that pulls small objects, with Sofia's amulet being his target, into his grasp, though in the case of large objects like a bookcase it turns out he is pulled towards the object instead.

Cedric meets up with Sofia and James and instructs them to stand in front of the window. He casts the spell, but Sofia ducks out of the way, so his spell hits the window and Cedric is pulled right into it. While Sofia frets over their worsening problem, Amber is showing her various tiaras to their parents. Roland in particular is getting restless and both he and his wife get up and leave with Amber chasing after them now failing to stall them because they now ignore her.

Sofia, once again, urges James to go tell their father what happened but James decides to fix the window with magic. Sofia is against the plan but James ignores her causing her to cover her eyes and moan "I can't look!" James successfully casts a spell that frees Cedric from the window, but shortly afterwards the entire window shatters, just as Roland and Miranda arrive. James is about to tell his parents it was his fault when Sofia suddenly steps forward and takes the blame, much to Amber and James' shock. As punishment, Sofia is banned from seeing the Goldenwing Circus and is escorted to her room by Baileywick while the rest of her family go and see the Goldenwing Circus. James, who can't understand why Sofia would willingly throw away her chance to see the circus by laying herself down for him, goes after her and ask why she took the blame for him. Sofia tells him because she knows how much he loves the circus and wanted to make sure he got to go see it even if that meant that she would get in trouble and miss it. A guilt ridden James and Amber join their parents in the coach and they head for the circus. While Baileywick is setting the table for tea in her room, he tells Sofia that he knows it was James who really broke the window and she took the blame for him because he knows that playing ball in the castle is very something that James would do and not her. He also tells Sofia that taking the blame for James was very kind of her but she still shouldn't have done it because "A lie is a lie." and it's wrong to tell a lie, even to help someone stay out of trouble.

At the Circus, both James and Amber remain very guilty about letting Sofia take the blame, not even the enjoyment of the Circus could ease their guilt. Finally the twins admit the truth about James being the one who really broke the window and that Amber was trying to keep them from seeing it. Very disappointed, Roland and Miranda escort Amber and James home leaving the Ringmaster puzzled and a bit worried.

After returning home, the king and queen have a discussion with their kids about the importance of telling the truth: Sofia, James and Amber are all scolded for trying to hide the ruined window from their parents, James is scolded for breaking a castle rule, Amber is scolded for trying to distract them, and Sofia is scolded for the little white lie she told by both Miranda and Roland who tell her that families should be honest and never keep secrets when things go wrong otherwise it will only get worse.

Just then the castle is unexpectedly visited by the Ringmaster of the circus. Since they left so early, he was concerned that the king and queen didn't like the show but Roland assures him they loved the circus and so did their children. All they had was a family matter to attend too. Relived that everything is alright, the Ringmaster offers the royal family to put on a special show right on the castle grounds. In the end, All five of them get to see the Godlenwing Circus and the broken window of the family is magically restored by the parlor magicians.

Home Video Release

 * Sofia The First: Ready To Be A Princess

Songs

 * Goldenwing Circus

Cast

 * Ariel Winter as Sofia
 * Sara Ramirez as Queen Miranda
 * Tim Gunn as Baileywick
 * Darcy Rose Byrnes as Princess Amber
 * Zach Callison as Prince James
 * Travis Willingham as King Roland II
 * Jess Harnell as Cedric the Sorcerer
 * Jim Cummings as Wormwood