Princess Aurora

Princess Aurora is the protagonist of Disney's 1959 film Sleeping Beauty. She is the daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah.

She is the third official Disney Princess, and the last to be developed by Walt Disney.

History
Aurora's parents named her after the Roman goddess of the dawn because she filled their lives with the sunshine. Soon after she was born, she was presented to the kingdom at a christening, where she was betrothed to Prince Phillip, the son of King Stefan's good friend King Hubert. Also invited were the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, who bestow blessings on the newborn princess. Flora and Fauna give the infant princess the gifts of beauty and song, respectively. However, before Merryweather has the opportunity to give her gift, the evil fairy Maleficent arrives. Angered because she wasn't invited to the ceremony, Maleficent puts a curse on baby Aurora. According to Maleficent, before the sun sets on Aurora's sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Maleficent disappears, leaving everyone in shock and horror at Aurora's doomed future. Merryweather, though unable to lift the curse, could soften it. Instead of death, she would remedy the situation by placing Aurora into an enchanted sleep, which is the fateful prophecy she'll keep, only to be awakened by true love's kiss if this was to happen.

Still fearful for the princess' safety, the three good fairies agree to hide the princess as a peasant for 16 years, until the danger has passed. They take the baby to a cottage in the forest and raise her, disguising themselves as her mortal aunts and renaming her Briar Rose. Meanwhile, King Stefan has every spinning wheel in the kingdom destroyed in a desperate attempt to prevent the fulfillment of the curse.

On Aurora's sixteenth birthday, her "aunts" send her out into the forest, so that they can prepare her birthday party in secret. While Aurora was out, she dreams of meeting a handsome prince, while singing "Once Upon a Dream". At first, she was singing with her forest friends. But she soon meets Prince Phillip, who had followed her melodic voice. Not knowing who Phillip was, or of their betrothal, she believes him to be a stranger and attempts to leave. However, she dances with him for a bit and ends up falling in love. When he asked for her name, she then left, realizing she wasn't allowed to give her name to strangers. She does, however, tell him where she lives and asks him to meet her there that night.

At home, Briar Rose comes home to a splendid birthday party. She tells her aunts about the young man that she met, but was confused when they are not happy for her. Flora, Fauna and Merryweather reveal Briar Rose's true identity as Princess Aurora, as well as the fact that she was betrothed. The fairies sadly explain that she can never see the young man again, not knowing that he was actually her betrothed. Heartbroken, Aurora breaks into tears as she heads upstairs to weep on her bed. She doesn't speak again for the rest of the film.

The fairies bring the upset Aurora back to her father's castle and take her to a room where they conjure a crown and place it on her head to help her realize her royal identity. However, a heartbroken Aurora begins to cry and the fairies decide to leave her alone to grieve. While they are gone, Maleficent enchants the princess and leads her up an abandoned tower staircase. At the top floor of the empty room, Maleficent conjures a spinning wheel. The fairies realize the danger and frantically run up the stairs to stop Aurora, but before they can, Maleficent forces the girl to prick her finger, invoking the curse. The fairies arrive, but run into Maleficent, who mocks their efforts to stop her, reveals the fallen princess, who has been cursed, and vanishes with a maniacal laugh.

The fairies place Aurora, now in an enchanted slumber, upon a bed at the top of the highest tower. While putting everyone else in the castle to sleep, the fairies discover that Phillip had been the man that Aurora met after overhearing King Hubert speak of the prince meeting a peasant girl before he fell asleep with everyone else. So the fairies go to the cottage to get Phillip, but are prompted to go to the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent's domain, after discovering that Maleficent has captured the prince. They rescue Phillip from the dungeon and arm him with the Sword of Truthand the Shield of Virtue, then have to fend off Maleficent's minions and finally exit the Forbidden Mountain and head for Stefan's castle, but Maleficent tries to prevent further entrance by assaulting him with her magic, though Phillip hacked through the spells with little effort. Angered at this, Maleficent suddenly appears in their way and transforms into a dragon. After defeating the dragon with help from the fairies, Phillip enters the castle and walks up the staircase to the tower room where Aurora was still sleeping. He gives her a kiss, true love's kiss, which finally awakens Aurora and breaks the curse. Aurora smiles after she realizes that her betrothed and her love are the same people.

The couple go down to the ball to meet Aurora's parents and Phillip's father, and Aurora kisses King Hubert on his cheek before sharing a dance with Phillip. While the couple dance, Flora and Merryweather reignite their rivalry on their respective colors as the two bickering fairies relentlessly change the color on her dress with their magic. Aurora's ball gown keeps changing colors as she and Phillip continue dancing and share another kiss, with the final words in the book, below the illustration of the couple romantically kissing (and the color of Aurora's ball gown still changing from blue to pink) "and they lived happily ever after".