Which Disney princess is based on a real historical figure?

Pocahontas is the Disney princess based on a real historical figure. Disney’s 1995 animated film loosely adapts the life of Pocahontas, a Native American woman associated with the Powhatan people and the English settlement at Jamestown in Virginia.

The historical Pocahontas was born around 1596 and was the daughter of Wahunsenacawh, known to the English as Chief Powhatan. Her birth name was Amonute, and she was also known as Matoaka. During her life, she was baptized Rebecca, married the Englishman John Rolfe in 1614, and traveled to England in 1616. She died there in 1617, aged about 20 or 21.

Disney significantly fictionalized her story. The film portrays Pocahontas as an older young woman and creates a romantic relationship with John Smith, although historians do not treat that romance as established fact. The movie also reshapes complex colonial events into a musical adventure.

Pocahontas became the seventh official Disney Princess and is widely identified as the first Disney Princess based on a historical person. Moana, Merida, and Mulan are fictional or legendary characters rather than direct portrayals of one documented individual.