The Queen is a character in the 2017 Disney live-action film, Beauty and the Beast based on the acclaimed 1991 animated classic with the same name. She is the late mother of the Prince, who was transformed into the Beast, who used to rule an unnamed French kingdom alongside her cruel husband, the King.
Role in the film[]
Unlike the King, the Queen was kind and caring toward her son; she sang her favorite lullaby to her boy when he was sick in bed. She was also well-liked by the castle servants, as they consider her to be a better parent than the King himself. Unfortunately, the Queen died of an illness when the Prince was a child, leaving the King to raise him as arrogant and shallow as he was, much to the servants' discomfort. Following the King's death, the Prince became as arrogant as his father, and it wasn't until one winter night during a debutante ball, a visiting Enchantress places a spell on the Prince as punishment for denying her any shelter, transforming him into the Beast and the servants into household objects. After erasing the memory of the castle from the townsfolk, the Enchantress tells the Beast that he can break the spell by learning to love another and earn her love in return before the enchanted rose's last petal falls, otherwise his monstrous form will remain and that the servants will become permanent antiques, much to their distraught.
Because of this event, the Beast felt extremely ashamed of his actions and despised his deceased father for causing his pain; even tearing up a family portrait of himself and the King in retaliation (though the portrait of the Queen remains intact as the Beast couldn't bear himself to ruin it due to his genuine love for her). Eventually, a young village bookworm named Belle reached out to the Beast's heart after he saved her from a wolf pack. To that end, Belle carries on the Queen's legacy by helping the Beast unleash his inner humanity; it even made him sympathize over Belle's loss of her mother, who died succumbing to a plague when Belle was an infant. After the Beast finally earned Belle's love, it effectively breaks the spell and turns the Beast and his servants back to normal, much to their delight.
Trivia[]
- Originally, the first part of "Days in the Sun" would have been sung by the Prince's mother, and the scene was even filmed. But when the audience saw the scene, they mistook her for Hattie Morahan, the actress who portrayed the Enchantress. Because of this, the scene was filmed again with a young Prince singing it to her on her deathbed.
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