For Regina Mills' adopted son, see Henry Mills. For the Wish Realm character who is also known as "Prince Henry," see Henry (Wish Realm). |
Prince Henry[1] Mills,[2] later known as Valet,[3] Father[4] or Nobleman,[5] is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the second episode of the first season and is portrayed by guest stars Tony Perez and Zak Santiago.
Prince Henry is based on the king from the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale. He is also an allusion to the King of Hearts from the story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the King of Hearts from the animated Disney film Alice in Wonderland.
History
Reason: Regina Rising recap
In a kingdom in the Enchanted Forest, Prince Henry, the son of King Xavier, is fifth in line to the throne. One day in the castle, he and his father are entertaining a northern princess, Princess Eva, who has come for a visit. He encounters Cora, a lowly daughter of a miller delivering flour. Cora is chastised for spilling the flour all over the floor and ruining Eva's slippers, yet he is the only one to stand up for Cora; saying he does not believe the girl meant any harm. However, he walks away with the rest of the royals when they exit the courtyard after King Xavier forces Cora to kneel and apologize to Eva. Later, he encounters Cora at the masquerade ball being held in Eva's honor, and the two dance until King Xavier cuts in. His hand in marriage is promised to Cora if she can spin straw into gold as she claims she can. Cora proves it by spinning gold in front of the whole court, and a humbled Henry offers his hand to Cora in marriage, and she accepts. Henry and his wife eventually have a daughter, Regina. In front of the king's court, Cora declares that her daughter shall be queen one day. ("The Miller's Daughter")
Some years later, Henry and Cora rush to Regina's side after she knocks herself unconscious with magic from Cora's wand. He asked his wife how this happened since she had locked her wand in a drawer, and Cora regretfully admits she forgot to take the key with her. Since it's her magic that is causing their daughter pain, Cora deducts that only someone close to Regina who hasn't harmed her can heal her. She later returns with Zelena, her first born child whom she once gave up, with the girl curing Regina with her magic. After Regina is well again, Henry is astonished at her miracleous recovery, and he questions Cora about Zelena's identity, but she doesn't divulge the truth. ("Sisters")
Several years after this, he serves as his daughter's valet. On the home estate, he proudly watches Regina give a horse-riding demonstration, though Cora finds it to be too unladylike and childish. When he tries to defend Regina, his wife curtly asks him to stop coddling their daughter. Upset by her mother's words, Regina moves to leave, but Cora stops her with magic. Helplessly, Henry watches as Cora levitates and holds Regina in the air until she agrees to be "good". In her quest to install her daughter a queen, Cora purposely sets up a situation in which Regina rescues King Leopold's daughter, Snow White. Later, while Henry is also present, an impressed King Leopold asks for Regina's hand in marriage. Directly after the proposal, a speechless Regina glances at her father for help, but he remains silent as Cora accepts the marriage on her daughter's behalf. ("The Stable Boy")
As the impending wedding approaches, Regina consults with her father about how unhappy she is about her future. Not wanting to be like her mother, she asks how Cora become this way. Vaguely, Henry recalls there was a man that taught Cora magic through a spell book. ("We Are Both")
During Regina's marriage to King Leopold, her husband brings home the Genie he has freed with one of his three wishes. The Genie falls in love with her at first sight, and Regina uses his infatuation to her advantage to escape her loveless marriage. She writes of her "love" for him in a diary. King Leopold reads the entry, but is unaware the man she is pining after is the Genie. Angry, he locks her up in the castle. Fearing for his daughter's life, Henry delivers a box with a poisonous vipers inside it to the Genie in the hopes that he will take it to Regina's chambers; saying that this is the only way Regina can be free. In the end, Regina tricks the Genie into killing King Leopold with the vipers. ("Fruit of the Poisonous Tree")
On the anniversary of Daniel's death, Henry accompanies Regina when she interrupts a wedding ceremony taking place on the grounds near her castle. Not having given them permission to do so, she rips out the groom's heart, as her father begs her not to overreact, especially considering whose anniversary it is. Regina snaps at him for reminding her what day it is, and as she grows upset at his insinuation of her weakness, she crushes the groom's heart. Walking back to her carriage, she then coldly tells him to find his own way home, before leaving her father behind. Later, while Henry is brushing Regina's hair in her bedroom, Cora walks in, flippantly telling him to get out so she can speak to her daughter. ("Mother")
Accompanying Regina to a village where Snow White is rumored to be hiding, Henry suggests killing Snow will make her unfavorable in the eyes of her subjects and that she should spare the girl as mercy. Regina refuses his advice and goes into the hut to rip out Snow's heart, only to find a decoy dummy in her place. Later in Regina's palace, Henry leads his daughter into believing he can help her with a map from one of Cora's spell books that'll bring them to an item to locate Snow. Once they reach the doorway to the supposed item, he comes clean about having learnt about the place from Tinker Bell. Inside the door, Henry shows her a statue of Cupid holding an arrow that can point her to the person she loves most, but Regina becomes upset at her father's perceived betrayal of her. Regina then casts a reverse spell on the arrow so it will guide her to the person she hates most, however, she and Henry follow it back to the palace, where the arrow leads Regina to a mirror, proving the person she hates most is herself. ("Page 23")
The day of Regina's birthday, Henry sees her getting worked up about Snow White, and tries to persuade her into giving up on revenge. Instead of Snow White, he points the blame on Cora, who ripped out Daniel's heart to mold Regina into a merciless queen. He argues that as long as Regina wants vengeance, Cora will always have a hold on her. Since Regina won't listen to him, Henry pushes the Magic Mirror into summoning Cora. He wants her to help Regina move on, but when Cora expresses no interest in this, he attempts to end the conversation. Cora reappears in the nearby looking glass to stop him, however, he announces his intent to talk with Snow White, and that he doesn't need Cora's help anymore. Unknown to him, summoning Cora allows her to re-enter the Enchanted Forest through the looking glass. Henry sets up a meeting with Snow White in the woods, but Cora, disguised as Henry, gets there first. The arrival of the real Henry distracts Snow White, whose heart is taken by Cora. Henry secretly returns the heart to Snow White and replaces it with a heart from a Black Knight, before Cora gives the heart to Regina. After Regina discovers this, Henry insists he did it for her own good, because killing Snow White will make her dark forever and she'll become just like Cora. He believes Regina can find happiness elsewhere, and by letting Snow White go, Regina has a chance at redemption. Knowing she will punish him for his meddling, Henry contends he doesn't care what happens to him, to which Regina shrinks him into a miniature size and locks him in a box. Realizing her father was right about Cora, Regina casts a non-reversible spell to seal the looking glass portal and has the Magic Mirror take her mother away. Before Cora is pulled back into Wonderland, she steals the box, severing Regina from Henry forever. ("Souls of the Departed")
Becoming friends with Knave, Alice discovers he obeys the Cora, Queen of Hearts, as her underling because she once took his heart and has control of him. Deciding to use Knave for her own motives, she sneaks past the guards and into the vault to get his heart. While she's looking, she comes across box labeled K-H, which Alice deduces is for the King of Hearts, implying that the box is for Cora's husband. ("To Catch a Thief")
Having no other means to rescue her father, Regina enlists the former portal-jumper Jefferson and strikes a deal with him, in order to reach Wonderland, although she deceives Jefferson by telling him the Queen of Hearts stole an item from her instead of a person. After reaching the center of the Queen of Hearts' hedge maze, Regina picks out a box from the vault that contains Henry. On the way out of Wonderland, she gives Henry a piece of the Caterpillar's growth mushroom to restore him to normal size. Only then, it becomes clear to Jefferson why she lied to him, as the portal hat they used to come to Wonderland only allows the same amount of people who enter a world to leave. Regina then traps Jefferson in Wonderland, while she and her father go back to the Enchanted Forest. ("Hat Trick")
While Regina wages war against Snow White and Prince Charming, she is eventually captured and sentenced to death. Before this happens, he visits his daughter in the prison cell and is later a witness at the execution, which is shortly halted by Snow White. After Regina is banished from the kingdom on Snow White's orders, Henry stays with her in a palace. He announces the arrival of Rumplestiltskin, who gives Regina the idea of using the Dark Curse to harm the people she hates most. To this, Henry summons a carriage to take Regina to Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding ceremony. ("The Cricket Game")
Regina, attempting to cast the curse, collects the hairs of the darkest souls and sacrifices the heart of her favorite horse, but the spell doesn't work. While she seethes over the failure, Henry advises her to talk to the curse creator, Rumplestiltskin. After she does, Regina regroups with her father at the palace. Henry inquiries about how the talk went, and he is stunned when Regina says the curse will only work if she takes the heart of the thing she loves most, which is him. He tries to convince her that she doesn't need to live with hatred all the time, and the two of them can start a new life over again. In tears, she agrees and hugs him. However, Regina then rips out his heart as he collapses to the ground in shock. Resigned to her decision, Regina apologetically explains she could never be happy in this world. Later, she buries Henry with a grave marker that reads, "Henry, Beloved Father" and places a black flower for him. ("The Thing You Love Most")
Family
Unknown | King Xavier | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling(s)[6] | Henry † | Cora Mills † | |||||||||||||||||||||
Evil QueenRegina MillsRoni | |||||||||||||||||||||||
CinderellaJacinda Vidrio | Henry Mills | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Lucy | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes:
- Solid lines denote blood parent-child relationships
- Dashed lines denote marriage, engagement and adoption relationships, and relationships that result in offspring
- † denotes the deceased
- The number of Henry's siblings is unknown
- Henry Mills is the adoptive son of Regina Mills
Trivia
Etymology
- Prince Henry's name is the namesake of Regina's son, Henry. ("The Thing You Love Most" et al., "Save Henry")
- In an early concept art sketch by production designer Michael Joy, Prince Henry's gravestone from "The Thing You Love Most" marks his name as Harry, not Henry.[7]
- In the Underworld graveyard, Prince Henry's headstone says "Henry Mills"[2] as Cora's original[8] and Regina's cursed surname are Mills. ("Souls of the Departed")
Disney
- The way Prince Henry, who is married to the Queen of Hearts, was shrunken by the Evil Queen, is a reference to the animated Disney film Alice in Wonderland, where the King of Hearts is a dwarfish man. ("Hat Trick," "Souls of the Departed")
Costume Notes
- The engraved jewelry Henry wears on his cravat[9] is typically known as a cameo carving. This type of necklace was extremely popular throughout the Victorian era.[10] ("The Thing You Love Most" et al.)
Appearances
Once Upon a Time: Season One | ||||||||||
"Pilot": | "The Thing You Love Most": | "Snow Falls": | "The Price of Gold": | "That Still Small Voice": | "The Shepherd": | "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter": | "Desperate Souls": | "True North": | "7:15 A.M.": | "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree": |
Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
"Skin Deep": | "What Happened to Frederick": | "Dreamy": | "Red-Handed": | "Heart of Darkness": | "Hat Trick": | "The Stable Boy": | "The Return": | "The Stranger": | "An Apple Red as Blood": | "A Land Without Magic": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Two | ||||||||||
"Broken": | "We Are Both": | "Lady of the Lake": | "The Crocodile": | "The Doctor": | "Tallahassee": | "Child of the Moon": | "Into the Deep": | "Queen of Hearts": | "The Cricket Game": | "The Outsider": |
Absent | Appears | Mentioned | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent |
"In the Name of the Brother": | "Tiny": | "Manhattan": | "The Queen Is Dead": | "The Miller's Daughter": | "Welcome to Storybrooke": | "Selfless, Brave and True": | "Lacey": | "The Evil Queen": | "Second Star to the Right": | "And Straight On 'Til Morning": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Three | ||||||||||
"The Heart of the Truest Believer": | "Lost Girl": | "Quite a Common Fairy": | "Nasty Habits": | "Good Form": | "Ariel": | "Dark Hollow": | "Think Lovely Thoughts": | "Save Henry": | "The New Neverland": | "Going Home": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Mentioned |
"New York City Serenade": | "Witch Hunt": | "The Tower": | "Quiet Minds": | "It's Not Easy Being Green": | "The Jolly Roger": | "Bleeding Through": | "A Curious Thing": | "Kansas": | "Snow Drifts": | "There's No Place Like Home": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Four | ||||||||||
"A Tale of Two Sisters": |
"White Out": |
"Rocky Road": |
"The Apprentice": |
"Breaking Glass": |
"Family Business": | "The Snow Queen": |
"Smash the Mirror": |
"Fall": | "Shattered Sight": |
"Heroes and Villains": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"Darkness on the Edge of Town": |
"Unforgiven": | "Enter the Dragon": | "Poor Unfortunate Soul": |
"Best Laid Plans": | "Heart of Gold": | "Sympathy for the De Vil": |
"Lily": | "Mother": | "Operation Mongoose Part 1": |
"Operation Mongoose Part 2": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Five | |||||||||||
"The Dark Swan": | "The Price": | "Siege Perilous": | "The Broken Kingdom": | "Dreamcatcher": | "The Bear and the Bow": | "Nimue": | "Birth": | "The Bear King": | "Broken Heart": | "Swan Song": | |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | |
"Souls of the Departed": | "Labor of Love": | "Devil's Due": | "The Brothers Jones": | "Our Decay": | "Her Handsome Hero": | "Ruby Slippers": | "Sisters": | "Firebird": | "Last Rites": | "Only You": | "An Untold Story": |
Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Six | ||||||||||
"The Savior": | "A Bitter Draught": | "The Other Shoe": | "Strange Case": | "Street Rats": | "Dark Waters": | "Heartless": | "I'll Be Your Mirror": | "Changelings": | "Wish You Were Here": | "Tougher Than the Rest": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"Murder Most Foul": | "Ill-Boding Patterns": | "Page 23": | "A Wondrous Place": | "Mother's Little Helper": | "Awake": | "Where Bluebirds Fly": | "The Black Fairy": | "The Song in Your Heart": | "The Final Battle Part 1": | "The Final Battle Part 2": |
Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
"Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Archive | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent |
"A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland | ||||||||||
"Down the Rabbit Hole": | "Trust Me": | "Forget Me Not": | "The Serpent": | "Heart of Stone": | "Who's Alice": | "Bad Blood": | ||||
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | ||||
"Home": | "Nothing to Fear": | "Dirty Little Secrets": | "Heart of the Matter": | "To Catch a Thief": | "And They Lived...": | |||||
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Novels | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
"Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
Archive | Archive | Archive | Archive | Archive | ||||||
"Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
Archive | Archive | Archive | Absent |
Other Appearances | ||||||||||
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Centric Listing | ||||||||||
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Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.