Evie Summers
In the Disney film Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora's mother is Queen Leah, who is married to King Stefan. She is a minor character and does not have a proactive role. She is easily manipulated by Maleficent, who crashes the party celebrating Aurora's birth. When Maleficent curses Aurora, Leah is frightened and tries to protect her baby daughter. She and Stefan then give Aurora to the fairies to protect her. After this, Leah does not speak again for the rest of the film. In the 1993 adaptation by A.L. Singer, she is named Queen Leah, but in other versions, she is unnamed.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Queen Leah |
| Daughter | Princess Aurora |
| Husband | King Stefan |
| Kingdom | Unnamed European kingdom, possibly in France during the late 1300s |
| Personality | Caring, loving, naive, easily manipulated |
| Physical Appearance | Slender woman with fair skin, short dark blonde hair, brown eyes, and pink lips. Wears a dark pink-and-lavender dress, a gold crown, an aqua veil, and a dark magenta cape. |
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What You'll Learn
Queen Leah's personality and role in Disney's Sleeping Beauty
Queen Leah is a minor character in Disney's 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty. She is the wife of King Stefan and the mother of Princess Aurora. In the film, she is shown to be a caring individual and a loving mother to her daughter, Aurora, and her kingdom and its subjects. She is also quite naive and easily manipulated, as evidenced by her interaction with Maleficent, where she unknowingly lets her bestow a "gift" on Aurora, resulting in her daughter being cursed. Queen Leah is also protective of her daughter, as seen when she tries to appease Maleficent and later rushes to protect her infant daughter after the curse is placed.
Leah's role in the film is not very proactive, and she only has a few lines. She is not mentioned by name in the movie, only referred to as her husband's "fair queen". However, she is an overarching protagonist alongside King Stefan and is modelled on the late Jane Fowler, who also stood in for Maleficent. It is speculated that she may have been voiced by the late Verna Felton, who also voiced Flora in the film, but this is unconfirmed.
In the short segment, Queen Leah, King Stefan, King Hubert, and Prince Phillip leave town for a royal ceremony. They trust Aurora and give her the "keys to the kingdom," making her the temporary ruler, aided by their majordomo, Lord Duke. When they return, Leah attends a royal banquet hosted by Aurora.
After Maleficent curses baby Aurora, a devastated Leah has to see her daughter taken away by the fairies to protect her. Sixteen years later, she is waiting for her daughter's return, but when Aurora touches the spindle, the Queen and the entire kingdom are put to sleep by the good fairies. When Maleficent is defeated, Leah awakens and finally meets her daughter, embracing her with tears of happiness.
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The Evil Queen Mother in the Brothers Grimm version
The Brothers Grimm version of Sleeping Beauty, titled "Little Briar Rose", does not feature an evil queen mother. Instead, it is the thirteenth wise woman who curses the princess to prick her finger on a spindle and die at the age of fifteen. The twelfth wise woman softens the curse, changing it from death to a deep sleep for a hundred years.
However, in the second part of the Sleeping Beauty tale, which the Brothers Grimm very nearly cut from their collection, there is an ogress queen mother who tries to eat the princess and her children. In this part of the story, the prince waits until he becomes king to bring Beauty, Morning, and Day to his kingdom. As soon as the king leaves to fight in a war, the ogress queen mother makes her move. Thanks to a kind cook, she ends up eating two lambs and a hind, while the royal family is sheltered by the cook's wife. When the ogress queen mother discovers she has been deceived, she drags the family out to throw them into a tub of toads and serpents. Fortunately, the king returns just in time, and in a rage, the ogress queen mother throws herself into the tub and dies.
The Brothers Grimm's version of Sleeping Beauty is considered the "'nice version'" compared to other variants, as it does not include mentions of rape or cannibalism. However, it is worth noting that their version does include an evil mother-in-law figure in the form of the ogress queen mother, who tries to harm the princess and her children.
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The mother's role in Italo Calvino's version
Italo Calvino's version of the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty, titled "Sleeping Beauty and Her Children", presents a unique take on the role of the mother. In this version, the cause of the princess's enchanted sleep is a wish made by her mother. This wish sets off a chain of events that ultimately leads to the princess's slumber.
In Calvino's narrative, the prince rapes the princess while she sleeps, and as a result, she gives birth to twins. The prince's mother, the queen, is portrayed as a villainous character with descended from ogres and possessing "ogreish inclinations". She attempts to kill the princess's children and serve them as a meal to the king, their father. This act of filicide is averted by the king's cook, who substitutes the children with animals, saving their lives.
The queen's motive is not explicitly stated by Calvino, but it can be inferred that she desires to remove any evidence of her son's secret marriage and hidden family. This interpretation aligns with the queen's actions in other variations of the tale, where she attempts to feed the children to the king, their grandfather. The queen's ogre heritage and appetite for human flesh further emphasise her malevolent nature.
Calvino's version retains the element of the queen's filicidal intent but diverges from other variants by removing the queen's desire to consume the children herself. This alteration shifts the focus from the queen's cannibalistic tendencies to her manipulative scheme of serving the children to the king. The queen's deception underscores her malicious intent and willingness to use others to carry out her sinister plans.
The role of the mother in Calvino's version is complex and multifaceted. On one hand, the princess's mother initiates the story's central conflict by wishing for her daughter's sleep. This wish inadvertently exposes the princess to the prince's advances and sets in motion a series of unfortunate events. However, it is important to note that the mother's wish may have been influenced by cultural norms or magical forces commonly found in folktales.
Ultimately, the queen's true nature is revealed, and she meets her demise. The king, now aware of his family, returns and exposes the queen's plot. The story concludes with the king, princess, and their children living happily ever after, free from the queen's malevolent influence.
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The Romani tale of The King of England and his Three Sons
The tale of Sleeping Beauty has been adapted and modified over the years, with different versions portraying the protagonist's mother in varying lights. In the Brothers Grimm's version, the mother-in-law is depicted as an evil figure, while Italo Calvino's variant introduces the king's mother as the antagonist, who wishes for the princess to fall asleep. In Disney's 1959 animated film adaptation, Princess Aurora's mother, Queen Leah, is a minor character who, alongside her husband, King Stefan, falls under the sleeping curse. She is portrayed as caring and loving, yet naive and easily manipulated by Maleficent, the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil," who crashes the christening celebration and curses the newborn Aurora.
In the Romani tale of "The King of England and his Three Sons," which Joseph Jacobs noted had similarities to the Sleeping Beauty story in his book "More English Fairy Tales," the king's mother displays hostility towards his new bride, a recurring theme in other fairy tales such as "The Six Swans" and "The Twelve Wild Ducks." While the specific details of the Romani tale are not provided in the source material, the presence of a king and his mother hints at potential parallels with the Sleeping Beauty narrative, where the king's mother or mother-in-law plays a significant role in the story's conflict.
In the original Sleeping Beauty tale, the princess's mother is not a prominent figure, and her role varies across different versions. In some adaptations, she is unnamed and has a minimal presence, while in others, she is named Queen Leah and exhibits caring and loving characteristics toward her daughter. The portrayal of the mother figure in the Romani tale of "The King of England and his Three Sons" may draw comparisons to these varying depictions, either as a supportive maternal figure or one who poses challenges for the protagonist, contributing to the complexity of such characters in folklore and fairy tales.
While the specific details of the Romani tale are unknown, it is intriguing to speculate about the potential similarities and differences with the Sleeping Beauty story and its variants. The presence of a king and his mother suggests a narrative involving royalty and family dynamics, which is a common theme in fairy tales. The number three, represented by the king's three sons, often symbolizes completeness or wholeness in fairy tales, suggesting that the tale may involve a trilogy of tasks, challenges, or magical elements that the characters must overcome.
The Romani tale, much like the various versions of Sleeping Beauty, may explore themes of love, family, magic, and conflict. The king's mother may play a pivotal role in driving the narrative, either as a supportive figure or an antagonist, adding depth to the story and contributing to the rich tapestry of folklore and oral traditions that have captivated audiences for centuries.
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The mother's role in The Six Swans and The Twelve Wild Ducks
In "The Six Swans", a princess rescues her brothers, who have been turned into swans by a witch. The princess must contend with a wicked stepmother and a wicked mother-in-law, who is the king's mother. The mother-in-law falsely accuses the princess of killing and eating her own children, leading to the princess being sentenced to death. However, on the day of her execution, the princess breaks the spell and her brothers are restored to their human forms. They help her prove her innocence, and the wicked mother-in-law is punished.
In "The Twelve Wild Ducks", a queen wishes for a daughter, but a troll hag promises to take her twelve sons as soon as the baby is baptised. The queen gives birth to a daughter, but her sons are turned into wild ducks and fly away. The queen tells her daughter about her brothers, and the daughter sets out to find them. When the daughter finds her brothers, they initially want to kill her, but she pleads for her life and offers to set them free by weaving shirts for them. In this tale, the mother's role is more complex; while she wishes for a daughter, she does not intend for her sons to be turned into ducks, and she is sorrowful and fearful when they disappear.
In both tales, the mothers play significant roles in the narrative. In "The Six Swans", the mother-in-law is the antagonist, creating conflict and endangering the princess. In "The Twelve Wild Ducks", the queen's wish sets the plot in motion, and her sorrow and fear for her missing sons add emotional depth to the story. Ultimately, the mothers' roles in these tales reflect the complex nature of family relationships and the power of love and perseverance in overcoming adversity.
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Frequently asked questions
Queen Leah is the name of Sleeping Beauty's mother in the 1959 Disney film.
Queen Leah is put to sleep along with the rest of the kingdom by the Good Fairies to prevent them from being heartbroken by the revelation of the curse.
Yes, Queen Leah wakes up at the end of the film when the curse is broken by Prince Phillip.
