Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character archetype who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most
Prince Charming of Sleeping Beauty, a print drawing from the late-19th-century book Mein erstes Märchenbuch (My First Book of Fairy Tales), published in Stuttgart, Germany
Walter Crane, Prince Charming in the Forest, NGA 65745
Cinderella is a folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world. The protagonist is a young girl living in unfortunate circumstances who is suddenly blessed with remarkable for
Prince Charming
…evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, including "Snow White", "Sleeping Beauty", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella" even if in the original story they were given another name, or no name at all. Elements of the Prince Charming character date at least back to Charles…
Italian author Giambattista Basile wrote the first literary version of the story.
La gatta Cenerentola, illustration by Warwick Goble for the Pentamerone, 1911
Cinderella: a perfect match, an 1818 painting by Jean-Antoine Laurent [fr]