Anne Hathaway has offer for Dame Julie Andrews who said she wasn’t returning to The Princess Diaries for sad reason

Anne Hathaway has responded after Dame Julie Andrews publicly announced she would not be returning for The Princess Diaries 3.

Hot on the heels of the huge success of The Devil Wears Prada 2, attention swiftly turned to another highly anticipated Hathaway-fronted sequel fans have been begging for.

However, the hearts of fans shattered when the Dame confirmed she is not appearing in the highly anticipated sequel.

But hope is not lost as Hathaway, 43, has said that the door remains open if the Mary Poppins star changes her mind.

“First of all, I just want to say if she has a change of heart, we’re down,” Hathaway told Entertainment Tonight. “But we also want to be respectful. For goodness sakes, if anybody has contributed to the world of entertainment and to our collective joy, it’s her.”

The Princess Diaries is getting a third movie (Disney)

Hathaway added: “Whatever she wants, we completely understand,” the Devil Wears Prada star noted. “We did push really hard to see if she would want to do it.”

The film has been in development for years and in November 2022 it became official. Hathaway gave an update the following January, emphasising that the process requires patience... and she wasn't joking.

A month before film number three became official, in October 2022 she had spoken to Entertainment Tonight, revealing she was ‘pulling’ for a another adventure, adding: “If there’s any way to get Julie Andrews involved, I think we would make it work. We would go to where she was and put a green screen behind her and just make it happen.”

But Andrews’ return as Queen Clarisse Renaldi was also up in the air. The acting legend told Access Hollywood: “I think we know that it’s probably not going to be possible.

“It was talked about very shortly after [the second sequel] came out, but it’s now how many years since then? And I am that much older and Annie the princess, or queen, is so much older. And I am not sure where it would float or run.”

Fans got an exciting update this summer, with Hathaway confirming that the story had a ‘breakthrough’, with the Odyssey actress confirming the script they had been working on had to be scrapped and work on the film started from scratch.

Dame Julie Andrews won't be returning for The Princess Diaries 3 (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

But the good news was bittersweet, as Andrews said this year she won't be returning for The Princess Diaries 3.

Speaking to TODAY, the 90-year-old said: "I’m not going to be in it."

"I think the story is slightly different, and I’m not quite sure how they’re dealing with that," she continued.

"But it’s too late for me to do it. I think the story has to continue in Princess Mia. It’s her story. It’s not really mine.”

She later told InStyle that the team behind the forthcoming movie had wanted her in it: "I think I probably passed — I think I’m retired, really, would be about the best description for that."

The Dame said they 'asked me all last year if I would be keen to do it.'

"It was very, very hard to say ‘no,’ but I did because I thought I had a wonderful ride, and this one I felt would flourish very well and wouldn’t need Granny going in there at my age.”