Shortly afterwards, Bruce and Beatrice Gould, editors of the large circulation American magazine Ladies' Home Journal, contacted Buckingham Palace and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to seek stories for publication across the Atlantic. These included partisan attacks on the author's neutral stance towards supporters of both ardent French Gaullist and Vichy France. The prince encountered a whole row of rosebushes, becoming downcast at having once thought that his own rose was unique and thinking his rose had lied about being unique. As part of the preparation for the movie, great pains were taken to make sure every aspect of it was true to 1899 and England, the time period and setting of the story. The Queen was deeply distressed, finding it shockingly frank, especially Crawford's revelations of the King's moods and the Queen's chilly relationship with Wallis Simpson.

The account clearly drew on Saint-Exupéry's own experience in the Sahara, an ordeal described in detail in his 1939 memoir Wind, Sand and Stars (original French: Terre des hommes).

Around the time it transferred to New York City at the start of 1903 the title was shortened to A Little Princess. Le Petit Prince is often used as a beginner's book for French-language students, and several bilingual and trilingual translations have been published. The couple also stayed in Quebec for five weeks during the late spring of 1942, where they met a precocious eight-year-old boy with blond curly hair, Thomas, the son of philosopher Charles De Koninck, with whom the Saint-Exupérys resided.

Over the course of eight days in the desert, while the narrator attempts to repair his plane, the prince recounts his life story. Intelligent, imaginative and kind, Sara sees through flattery and remains unspoiled; she embraces the status of a 'princess' accorded by the other students, and lives up to it with her generosity. And please don't forget that we need financial donations to help us cover the cost of making, fitting and styling our wigs. On the other hand, he was ruthless about chopping out entire passages that just weren't quite right", eventually distilling the 30,000 word manuscript, accompanied by small illustrations and sketches, to approximately half its original length.Outside Richard saves Sara and the two are happily reunited while Miss Minchin angrily walks away, finally accepting defeat. As in the 1995 film, Sara's father is later found alive, and, like in the 1995 film, Becky is black.