Where would Genovia be IRL?

Scene from Walt Disney Pictures' Princess Diaries

Any atlas-smart girl would tell you Genovia is not a real country, although some have compared it to Monaco as it is also a principality sandwiched between two big countries.

Is Genovia Monaco then? 

Not quite. While Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot herself said Genovia is "based a bit on Monaco" with its "beautiful weather, low taxes, and a slightly naughty royal family," the real-life principality actually exists apart from Genovia in the Diaries universe. At one point, Monaco even threatened to expel Genovia from the European Union due to an issue with...snails. 

Somehow life will always imitate art, however, and in 2006, Mia Thermopolis inched closer to reality. Then 14-year-old Palm Springs denizen Jazmin Grace Grimaldi was revealed to be the daughter of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and granddaughter of Grace Kelly.

California, it might surprise you, is the filming location for much of the Princess Diaries movie. For example, that Genovian consulate is actually in the Doheny campus of Mount St. Mary's College in downtown Los Angeles.

The historic Doheny Mansion in LA served as the Genovian consulate in the movie (above). Below is the actual Embassy of Monaco in Washington, D.C., former home of President Warren Harding. Photos via Los Angeles and dbking/Wikimedia Commons

The film was also shot on the same soundstage where Julie Andrews filmed Mary Poppins, Stage 2 of Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.

Longford Castle in England stood in for the Genovian palace exteriors though. We can almost hear you saying, "Shut up!"

Via Peter