Virginia Prince was born in Los Angeles on November 23, 1912. In 1939, Prince received a PhD in pharmacology from the University of California, San Francisco. As a research assistant and lecturer in pharmacology, Prince had access to an extensive medical library and conducted her own research on trans identities and related issues. She worked and served as president at Cardinal Laboratories, Inc., where she researched and published works on cosmetology geared towards beauticians and beauty schools in the 1950s and 1960s.

By 1956, Prince began to develop her own philosophy of trans identity and her mission to educate the medical profession, the trans community, and the broader community. This involved the development of the idea of 'femmiphilia', or love of the feminine. Prince preferred to call herself a femmiphile (FP) rather than a "transvestite," the label assigned to her by mainstream society and the medical community at that time, when most people's knowledge of trans identities was gleaned from sensational tabloid newspapers such as the British People and News of the World. Still, Prince collected any clippings she found broaching the subject of trans identities and crossdressing from the late 1930s until the mid-1970s.

In 1960, Prince established Transvestia, a magazine she also edited and wrote for. The magazine was published by Prince's Chevalier Publications in Los Angeles, and was sold by subscription and through adult bookshops. Over the years Chevalier Publications also published trans fiction, some of it written by Prince herself. Prince also wrote dozens of articles and manuscripts throughout her career on the topics of trans identities, sexuality, and human psychology under a variety of pseudonyms, including Virginia Bruce, Charles Prince, and Virginia Charles Prince, among others. She also founded and was a member of several organizations centered around the act of crossdressing, including TRI-ESS. Prince took an interest in similar groups and organizations, and collected their newsletters and other communications. She was an avid traveler and active member of the community, continuing her efforts on behalf of trans communities until shortly before her death in 2009. While she would likely identify today as a trans woman, she did not describe herself with those words during her life.