I’m of the opinion that C-3PO knows there’s a Princess on the ship, as well as some level of familiarity with her exploits, but never met her personally so he wouldn’t recognize her by face.
As far as Lucas was concerned he knew quite well who she was, but was programmed to lie about her.
Lucas does however state that Threepio was “programmed not to mention having knowledge of the Princess”
The radio-play of ANH from 1981 even had Leia and captain Antilles specifically go up to Threepio and give him orders/re-programming to lie about knowing her.
Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novels.
I’m of the opinion that C-3PO knows there’s a Princess on the ship, as well as some level of familiarity with her exploits, but never met her personally so he wouldn’t recognize her by face.
This is exactly how I’ve always reconciled it as well.