Meet the Manchester student who went to a princess boot camp to become a real-life Elsa, Barbie and Belle

A woman became a real life princess after being put through her paces at a bootcamp - where she learned to speak and twirl. Grace Glennon, 21, had always dreamed of landing a role as a fairytale princess and leapt at the chance to apply when she saw a position advertised with an entertainment company.

She had been studying media and performance at the University of Salford, Manchester, when she spotted a company looking for real life princesses to attend childrens' birthday parties. Grace applied for the position in January 2023 and discovered she was successful - but had to attend a princess bootcamp for two weeks to learn how to walk like a princess and their background stories.

After graduating from the princess programme, Grace now transforms herself into characters inspired by 'Snow White', 'Elsa' and 'Ariel' on the weekend. Grace, a performer, from Manchester, said: "It’s an incredibly magical feeling to know that my childhood dreams of being a princess have been fulfilled.

"My favourite thing about the job is when I walk into a room and I see the children's faces light up. They are absolutely over the moon that their favourite princess has come to their party. Not all parents can travel around the world to visit these attractions so I love being able to bring that magic and give them that moment."

Grace is in her third year at university and decided to get a part-time job that would combine her passions.

She said: "I love performing and I love working with children - it was mixing the two jobs that I love to do. I am a big fan of Disney Princesses too so this seemed like a natural fit. The job I do makes me different from a typical party entertainer. I had a strong Yorkshire accent and going into a party as a royal queen with a Yorkshire accent is unrealistic. We all speak in an American accent like the princesses would - it adds the magic for the kids and they love it."

After she applied for the role, Grace then went through a two-week "intense" training course where she worked on her accent and learnt all there is to know about the fairytale princesses.

She said: "I sent in two self-tapes of me singing. One song was from a Disney film - 'Part of your world' from Little Mermaid - and one from a musical - 'Slipping through my fingers' from Mamma Mia. I was then questioned on my princess knowledge and asked about their stories. Then I performed some princess voices, spoke as certain characters and answered some questions children may ask in character - quizzing me on their stories.

"We then decided on which princesses suited me best based on my knowledge of those characters - choosing 'Ariel', 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Elsa' I then went out with different performers and trained with them separately and was constantly questioned on my princess knowledge."

Grace is one of 15 performers and said she has "lost count" of the number of performances she has done this year but said she spends most weekends as a princess.

She said: "I started in January 2023, we do parties either at people's houses or in venues. All the princesses will come out to sing, the children have their make-up done and have their picture taken with us - it is magical.

"Now I have taken on the job, I see my future within this role. At the minute I am just a performer but I would love to get more involved in the business. The role is part-time time with most of our bookings being on the weekend but as the Christmas season approaches we have a few in the week - it is very flexible."