Awesome Moment of Crowning



This is when, (not always) at the end of the story, the main character or characters are crowned the leader of the land they just saved. Reasons can vary:
 * The hero is part of the royal line, so this is done when the Rightful King Returns.
 * There was an Ancient Tradition.
 * The hero(es) defeated the old ruler(s), so You Kill It, You Bought It.
 * It's part of the Standard Hero Reward.
 * The hero is Born Lucky.
 * Their new king is always Offered the Crown.

Sometimes, it doubles as a coronation wedding with a prince / Princess or the hero's Love Interest, guaranteeing a Happily Ever After of Happily Married conjugal bliss.

Not to be confused with Crowning Moment of Awesome, the old name for Moment of Awesome, though it might also be one. Nor any tropes relating to giving birth, which is an entirely different meaning of the word 'crowning'.

Compare Knighting.

Anime and Manga

 * Twisted in the end of the Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch manga, considering how mermaid politics work. Aqua Regina gives her throne and powers up so that Lucia can be the new Aqua Regina.
 * In Code Geass R2, Lelouch managed to kill his father and named himself the emperor of Britannia. There were many who refused to acknowledge him, but that was before he showed them his Power of the King. In the end, after Lelouch's death, his younger sister Nunnally is crowned as the 100th Empress of Britannia.
 * In Nightmare of Nunnally, this happens with Euphemia.
 * Gundam 00 features this in a metaphorical way when Ali shoots Setsuna on Reborns' behalf when Setsuna attempts to shoot him. This gives Setsuna GN radiation poisoning until it becomes apparent that the 00 Raiser's ability was to use this and turn it into the completely opposite effect of grooming Setsuna into the first TRUE innovator. Cue massive BSOD for Reborns when he realizes that the 00 Gundam can only achieve its maximum potential when it is placed in the hands of a True Innovator. In other words, not only did Reborns fail in his scheme to obtain the 00 Gundam's GN drives, but he literally CROWNED the king himself.
 * In the manga Vampire Game, everything is leading up to the princess marying the Captain of the Guard. Which actually happens, but he gives up the throne and just stays a military man. He leaves the ruling and the title to her.
 * In Vinland Saga, the king has been trying to eliminate Prince Canute from contention for the throne, one way or another. After threatening to attack Wales unless the prince was killed, Askeladd beheaded the king, killed about a dozen soldiers, and then allowed Canute to stab him, thus "avenging" his father. The prince, bleeding from the face, dons the crown and takes control of an army whose leader had wanted him dead minutes before. Badass.
 * Esther at the end of Trinity Blood
 * Subverted horribly with Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. The Sankt Kaizer gets a Cool Ship, a body to die for, and incredible magical powers. And also happens to be a Brainwashed and Crazy or can't control her body little kid who's fighting her adoptive mother. Just to crown the subversion, she loses all these things, reverting to the little kid and being taken back home by her mommy. She seems happy about that though.
 * In the Spin-Off Manga, where said Sankt Kaiser is the main character, her mommy gives her this power back! Have we mentioned that said mommy is a weird combination of Magical Girl and Combat Pragmatist?
 * Lucia's in Rave Master. Which includes everyone dressed elegantly and a speech about how love is great and all but screw it anyway.
 * Early on in the Vision of Escaflowne, Van Fanel is crowned king just moments before The Empire invades his kingdom.
 * Happens in Berserk at the end of the Millennium Falcon arc, where Griffith, the general Big Bad of the series proper, after defeating Emperor Ganishka and fusing the astral and mortal worlds together, has recently claimed the throne of his new kingdom of Falconia.
 * At the end of Fullmetal Alchemist, Ling Yao goes back to Xing with a philosopher's stone and becomes emperor. Unfortunately we don't see his crowning but we get a final shot of him on the throne in the photo collage at the end of the series.
 * At the end of Zero no Tsukaima Louise is bestowed with a Royal title and becomes second in line for the throne by Queen Henrietta, becoming her "Sister.
 * If one considers that Saito and Louise have been "Married" this could technically mean that Saito has become a Prince and is now 3rd in line for the throne. Even then, it's pretty obvious they'll get married for real. He also gets his own version when he becomes a Knight Chevalier and therefore nobility. Which has the added bonus of her father cannot complain anymore about whom she marries.
 * In Naruto, Tsunade is crowned Hokage near the end of Part 1. Also, the manga will likely end with Naruto being crowned Hokage as that has been his dream since the beginning of the series.
 * In Mai-Otome, Mashiro is crowned Queen of Windbloom in Episode 3.
 * In the manga, "Manshiro's" coronation happens midway through the story,.
 * Transformers Cybertron: Starscream draws power from the stolen Cyber Planet Keys and grows to the size of a skyscraper, bursting out of the top of a volcano. And then, he places upon his head a massive crown identical to the one G1 Starscream wore in Transformers: The Movie and declares that he will conquer the universe. He is armyless by now, but it doesn't matter.

Comic Books

 * Bone: Thorn, taking her rightful place after the royal family had previously been exiled by a war and the kingdom usurped. Oddly enough, the usurper never had to be dealt with, having died at the beginning of the climactic battle.
 * Ghostopolis has Claire becoming the new ruler of the afterlife (or rather, the interim version of the afterlife that comes between Earth and Heaven)

Fan Fiction

 * The Chrono Crusade Alternate Universe fic Perfect Mind ends with Chrono and Rosette becoming the new rulers of the demons.
 * Ronan is crowned King of the Shinobi in Chapter 20 of Naruto Veangance Revelaitons, because he is the dying king's godson.

Film - Animated
"Mojo Jojo: Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I, Mojo Jojo, have succeeded in my first, greatest, and most brilliant plan ever. And I, Mojo Jojo, SHALL BE KING!!!"
 * The ending of The Lion King.
 * Well, he was the rightful ruler... Scar kind of hijacked it by making everyone think Simba was dead.
 * Struggle among agnatic relations for kingship has a much stronger tradition behind it than primogeniture, really. In the original Hamlet the kingship was technically elected, in practice restricted to a limited eligible bloodline; that the Danes considered Claudius a better bet than Hamlet was just something princey had to suck up. The problem was the murder thing.
 * Among actual lions Scar did it the right way. Except he didn't actually kill all Mufasa's cubs.
 * In Anastasia, Anya receives her crowning moment from her grandmother despite running off with her Love Interest and no longer having a country to rule.
 * She'll probably come back occasionally for money or something.
 * Atlantis the Lost Empire, because most princesses from animated Disney movies normally do not become queens.
 * Also counts as Book Ends as well, since the film began with the death of a queen.
 * In the Powerpuff Girls Movie, after injecting himself with a large amount of chemical X, and turning himself into a giant monstrous ape, Mojo Jojo then proceeds to rip off the dome of Townsville City Hall and places it on his brain as both a replacement for his brain cap and a crown.


 * At the end of The Sword in the Stone, Wart is crowned King of England. It's not that awesome, though, because the crown is far too big for his head and being a young boy, he is pretty much lost in his new position. Fortunately, Merlin comes back from his time-travel-trip to the Bahamas and gives him some advice.

Film - Live-Action
""Gene Co will live on, under new management... me.""
 * At the end of The Court Jester, the rightful king is finally revealed by his distinctive birthmark.
 * Spoofed at the climax of Johnny English. The Crowning Moment of Funny is a Funny Moment of Crowning, where Rowan Atkinson becomes the King of England.
 * At the end of Chronicles of Riddick, Riddick becomes the Lord Marshal of the Necromongers when he kills the old one.
 * In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, James T. Kirk is demoted from Admiral down to Captain; but then he is assigned his old and rightful job as The Captain of the Enterprise.
 * At the end of the 2009 Star Trek, grounded cadet Kirk's reward for saving the world is to be promoted all the way to Captain and given command of the Enterprise. Definitely Rule of Cool.
 * In a weird mishmash of tropes, this makes Kirk's fate at the end of Star Trek IV a Dethroning Moment Of Awesome.
 * At the end of Stardust.
 * Repo! The Genetic Opera has a great one during Epitaph, even though the people involved aren't technically royalty. Rotti Largo publicly renounces all three of his children and offers Gene Co to Shilo. She turns it down. Rotti dies just minutes later. In the ensuing chaos, Rotti's daughter Amber has her brothers—both as embittered as she is by their father's rejection of them—back her as she takes control of Gene Co and becomes at a stroke the most powerful person in the country.


 * Hilariously subverted in Ella Enchanted. Char's coronation was a setup by the Evil Chancellor, who then, once exposed, crowned himself, forgetting that he had poisoned the crown with intent to kill Char at the moment of crowning.
 * Subverted in The Sword and the Sorcerer. Talon, having returned to his kingdom and slain the evil Titus Cromwell for usurping his rightful crown and killing his parents, gives the crown to the rebel leader, because it's way, way, way more fun to go riding around fighting bad guys and bedding beautiful wenches than it is ruling a kingdom.
 * The last movie in the The Lord of the Rings films was pretty much all about getting to this moment, since Aragorn was the rightful ruler all along. And in the end of the movie, the coronation gets a good five minutes and a reunion for Aragorn and Arwen, which makes it an almost perfect Awesome Moment of Crowning.
 * With equal parts Crowning Moment of Awesome AND Crowning Moment of Heartwarming when the new king turns to the hobbits and says "My friends, you bow to no one."
 * At the end of Army of Darkness, Ash, a traveler from the future with pretty much no known noble blood is offered the crown of the Cliched Medieval Kingdom (did it even have a name?). Though he refuses, remember: "Hail to the King, Baby."
 * Before the climax of A Knight's Tale, William is knighted by Prince Edward, saving him from the stocks and allowing him to continue competing as a Knight.
 * Inverted in Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible (1944). The movie begins with a lavish, 10-minute coronation scene, complete with a New Era Speech.
 * The first Star Wars movie ends with Luke and Han being awarded medals from Leia for saving the rebellion.
 * Fans have of course complained that Chewbacca was left out; in 1997, MTV corrected this oversight by awarding Chewie their Lifetime Achievement Award, with full fanfare and presented by Carrie Fisher.
 * It was later addressed with the line "Chewbacca would receive a medal also, but later, as few star princesses are that tall."
 * In the Marvel comic, they had to adjourn to the cafeteria, where Leia could stand on a table.
 * The Dungeons and Dragons movie was supposed to end with a solemn knighting scene, but apparently they decided it wasn't terrible enough yet.
 * The same movie averts this in the finished film, as well; when Ridley gets into the treasure-filled room with the Dragon-controlling rod of something-or-other, there's a particularly awesome-looking crown in the background, which our square-jawed protagonist (as well as the movie itself) ignores completely.
 * Conan the Destroyer: Jehnna is crowned after the Queen is killed. She offers Conan the chance to "rule with [her]". He declines.
 * Elizabeth. Ironically, she is crowned by the man who is about to commit treason against her.
 * Happens in both Chronicles of Narnia films: at the end of the first the four Pevensie children are crowned Kings and Queens of Narnia, while in Prince Caspian Miraz is officially made King about two-thirds of the way through (Caspian's crowning occurs offscreen). The former is also a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming purely for Lucy's expression when Aslan refers to her as "Queen Lucy the Valiant."
 * Spaceballs. We find out at the end of the movie that the medallion that Lone Starr has been wearing all this time and couldn't decipher that it says he's of royal blood. Hurry! We gotta crash Princess Vespa's wedding, to announce my love and that I can marry her instead!
 * Done comically in The Great Race as Professor Fate, impersonating the prince, is at the coronation. His lackey (who's snuck in under the long cape Fate wears) whispers that the jig is up, so Fate stands up into the crown held over him, and abruptly departs. After a massive pie fight, the real prince finds the crown in a trash can and puts it on, chirping "Ah, there it is!"
 * In the French movie Messenger:The Story Of Joan Of Arc, John Malkovich gets a beautiful religious crowning, despite a few problems.

Literature
"Men said the gods were satisfied because the evil king and his spawn were slain, and when his young brother Tarascus was crowned in the great coronation hall, the populace cheered until the towers rocked, acclaiming the monarch on whom the gods smiled."
 * Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles. Taran still hasn't found out who his parents were (and probably never will), but the High King and all his kin are leaving, and Taran fits a prophecy, so he's the new king.
 * In the grand finale of the Animorphs series, Aximili, the alien stranded on earth and seemingly forever doomed to live in the shadow of his late brother, Prince Elfangor, finally, FINALLY gets his awesome moment of crowning and is named a Prince himself and becomes a hero of his people.
 * Though, it's not exactly an Awesome Moment of Crowning in this case, because for the Andalites, "Prince" is a military title, a bit like Colonel or General are on earth, still awesome though.
 * In the Apprentice Adept trilogy by Piers Anthony, Stile ascends from the status of a serf to being a fabulously wealthy aristocrat. This happens just into the third novel rather than at the end, but it still fits the trope.
 * Land of Oz:
 * In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz the Scarecrow takes the Wizard's place ruling over the Emerald city because the Wizard said so, the Tin Woodman gets asked by the Winkies to lead them and eventually accepts; and finally, the Lion becomes King of a forest full of animals when he defeats a Giant Spider.
 * In The Marvelous Land of Oz the protagonist, a boy called Tip, is crowned ruler of Oz. This is because he is revealed to be the rightful ruler of Oz, Princess Ozma, transformed into a boy when a baby, and Glinda forces the witch Mombi—who transformed him to begin with—to turn him back into a girl.
 * This occurs slightly differently in The Belgariad and The Elenium by David Eddings- in each, the main character becomes royal (Garion of The Belgariad becomes King, Sparhawk in The Elenium is Prince-Consort) at the end of the penultimate book in the series (or possibly the beginning of the last one), before going off to kill an evil god using their magic rock.
 * Also, Garion's crowning causes a Big No on the part of his queen-to-be.
 * David Weber's Dahak series has two. The first comes in the first book when Dahak (also known as the Moon) promotes Colin Mac Intyre to be his new captain. Talk about Cool Starship. He later promotes himself to Governor of Earth in order to exploit a clause of Imperium law. The second comes in the next book when Colin unintentionally crowns himself Emperor when he orders Battle Fleet's central computer to implement "Plan Omega" so he can get the information he needs without allowing Dahak to read him the fine print.
 * Magician, the first book of Raymond E. Feist's The Riftwar Cycle, ends with an unusually tense one. Lyam and Arutha, both noble sons, find themselves with a Field Promotion after the King, their own father and every other noble standing between them and the crown die in battle (actually that was it - the only other person between them was their uncle who died of a prolonged sickness before then. The complication comes when it is revealed that their father's chief ranger, Martin Longbow is their father's bastard son and, by virtue of his age and their father's deathbed acknowledgment, the rightful heir to the throne. This at a time when the country is already on the brink of civil war and half the nobles are looking for any excuse not to acknowledge the named heir (Lyam) for political reasons.
 * Averted in Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule, the first book of Sword of Truth. Richard kills his father, Darken Rahl, but doesn't know about the family connection. Everyone bows down before him and salutes him as Lord Rahl, and he just kinda figures that it's a thing of respect or something and takes his leave, muttering "I'm just a woods guide."
 * In a bit of Backstory that's never directly portrayed in any of Robert E. Howard's stories, Conan the Barbarian, on his first day after arriving in the kingdom of Aquilonia as a drifting mercenary, beheaded the king in his throne room, took his crown, and declared himself king. The people rejoice at his ascension.
 * At the end of Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds, the Princess of Birds is restored to her rightful place when her crown - with the feathers of the Kings of Birds back in place - is placed on her head, thus allowing her to summon the birds to create the titular bridge that will return her to Heaven.
 * At the end of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, all four Pevensies are crowned Kings and Queens of Narnia. This is actually a plot point, as there was a prophecy saying that once the two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve sit on the throne at Cair Paravel, the White Witch's endless winter will end.
 * In Lois Lowry's Messenger, the 'sequel' to The Giver, it is indicated that Jonas, the hero of The Giver, is somehow made Leader of the new Community, despite having just been a thirteen year old kid on a sled when he arrived.
 * In George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, the first volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, Viserys finally gets the crown he's been badgering Khal Drogo for. Unfortunately for him, it's made of molten gold, is the size of a barrel, and is poured down his throat and all over his face.
 * Played straight at the end of the same book when Robb Stark reclaims the ancient title of his house and is proclaimed the King in the North (aka The King Of Winter).
 * In Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom trilogy, the long-lost prince is first discovered as a Human Popsicle, and reluctantly reveals his heritage (he was the bastard son of the ruling Queen and the only survivor of the royal family.) When we revisit the Kingdom fourteen years later, he is definitely King and married to the heroine from Book One. Squee !
 * In Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, Arthur becomes the New Architect the moment he finally brings the Will together, and gets to remake the entire Universe from scratch. He even gets his own 'Let there be light' moment.
 * Although it's rather clear that Terry Pratchett LOVES to make fun of this trope, he plays it relatively straight in Mort, where the Not Quite Dead Princess Keli bullies her faithful wizard into organising a coronation for her, which (due to unfortunate circumstances involving an elderly priest, a warp in the space-time continuum and an elephant) he ends up having to conduct himself, placing the crown on her head and ceremoniously chanting ''Iplaybetterdominoesthanyoudo' - which seems to have the desired effect!
 * In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor after the defeat of Sauron, in a wonderfully awesome ceremony, lightened by gossiping asides by bystander Ioreth in the watching crowd.
 * At the end of Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn Doorstopper trilogy, Simon Snowlock is crowned King. Although the moment is not particularly awesome, per se, as the land he's make King of has been fairly well wrecked.
 * At the end of Howard Weinstein's Star Trek: The Original Series novel The Covenant of the Crown, the rightful heir proves her identity to the crown's guardians by putting on the crown and successfully controlling the crystals set within it. (This was in effect a Secret Test of Character arranged by her father.) The actual coronation on her home planet is also shown later in the epilogue.
 * At the end of Patricia C. Wrede's Shadow Magic, Alethia is crowned queen of Alkyra largely because she had managed to survive wearing the crown (a long-lost magical artifact), and was acknowledged as the rightful heir when she had done so. Afterward, she defied her advisors by insisting on marrying the man she wanted, and on being crowned in the middle of Starmorning Field where everyone could see her rather than making enemies by picking and choosing attendees for a smaller site.
 * In the Ea Cycle Atara (who became a Chiefess earlier in the last book) is crowned the Queen of Alonia and Valashu (who became a "plain" King earlier in the last book) the High King of the whole world.
 * The last chapter of the fourth book of the Empire of Man (or Prince Roger, after the main character) series, co-written by David Weber and John Ringo. It's also a good example of a Chekhov's Gun, since Prince Roger starts out in the first book as a Royal Brat.
 * The scene in question can also can serve as a Tear Jerker, in regards to the fate of Empress MacClintock.
 * Warrior Cats: No actual crown involved, but Firestar's leadership ceremony would probably count.
 * So does Bluestar's, especially after reading an entire book about all the crap she had to get through to become leader in the first place. Leafstar's might count as well.
 * And every single leader who came before and after them. Ditto for the warrior ceremonies.
 * Lampshaded in Gerald Morris's Parsifal's Page; The titular Parsifal gets crowned mid-beginning of the story, which leads to the main character, Piers, commenting on how that sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen until AFTER the story ends.
 * No crown involved, but in The Wheel of Time, Egwene gets a good one after she reunites the tower, and becomes Amyrlin for the whole Aes Sedai. Immediately after, she makes a speech telling the sitters that they're a disgrace for allowing Elaida to nearly destroy them all.
 * Subverted several times with Rand (sometimes he isn't even literally crowned), Perrin (sort of, at the end of "The Shadow Rising" when he is acclaimed as Lord Perrin the Golden-Eyed), Egwene (when she is raised as Amyrlin at Salidar) and now Tuon too, as the event comes together with new duties and troubles.
 * Rand does get at least one crown, but his coronation (if he had a proper one) is not shown.
 * The climax of the Werewolf: The Apocalypse novel The Silver Crown, in which the crown is a legendary artifact that fries the heads of the unworthy and becomes Albrecht's last hope for mounting a credible challenge to Arkady, who'll become king otherwise (and who set up the death of Albrecht's grandfather, the last one). It finds Albrecht worthy, whereupon he's healed from recent injuries - including being skinned alive (thankfully, Samuel Haight was not involved) - and uses its powers of ordering-people-around to get rid of all the remaining enemies in the room - including Arkady, who he exiles. His formal coronation comes afterward.
 * Ops in Lloyd Alexander's The Arkadians.
 * In Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian novel The Hour of the Dragon, after his brother and nephews are killed in The Plague, which he helped induce magically, and The Plague ends with their deaths, Tarascus gets one.


 * In Oscar Wilde's short story The Young King, the title character refuses his regalia on his coronation day after a series of dreams shows him the suffering of those who produced it. Instead, he dons his old shepherd's garb and a crown of thorny branches he weaves himself, then takes up his old wooden staff and goes to the ceremony. Furious nobles threaten to kill him in the cathedral for bringing shame on the kingdom, but sunlight causes the staff and the crown's branches to come to life and flower while the garb glows as if golden. The would-be assailants are humbled and the bishop cries out, "A greater than I hath crowned thee!"
 * A couple of these are in the Deryni novels. In Deryni Rising Kelson's coronation is interrupted by the sorceress Charissa, who challenges Kelson's right to the crown. After much to-do,, the coronation ceremony is completed and Kelson . In King Kelson's Bride Liam-Lajos Phorstanos assumes the arcane power from his ancestor's tomb. Some the ritual's participants  . Liam   before ordering the ceremony to resume.
 * An Elegy for the Still-livingAfter Francis wears the fisher king's crown, the world around him begins to transform, and pulse with vibrant life.
 * What happens when you win the game in Heir Apparent. Then the world dissolves in a shower of glitter.
 * Not to mention from Trickster's Queen. Not only does the raka conspiricy
 * Keith Laumer's "Retief" in "Diplomat-At-Arms". First the MOC, although we don't actually get to experience it, shortly after that the CMOA (well, it's the last sentence of the story):
 * Valraven and Varencienne's crowning at the end of Chronicles of Magravandias combines almost all of the above instances of crowning but Standard Hero Reward. Incidentally Valraven is married to the old emperor's daughter, but that was arranged and happened seven years beforehand.

Literature

 * In Ann Maxwell's Timeshadow Rider, the Kiriy of Za'ahrain - the ruler of the planet - is the first person who, upon the death of the previous Kiriy, can survive wearing the Eyes of Za'ahrain, which are effectively a crown that is also a magical artifact used to keep the inherent violence of the people from surfacing in the present time. The Eyes are stolen upon the death of the Kiriy at the beginning of the book, and are pursued by the protagonists (who are the two most likely to survive attempting to wear them) throughout the book, although neither wants the job. Subverted in that when the Eyes are finally retrieved and the protagonists are facing up to seeing who will be the next Kiriy, their Mons, sensing that their human partners don't want the Eyes, promptly make the Eyes permanently disappear.
 * Subverted in Elminster: Making of a Mage. Elminster Aumar is the last rightful prince of the Stag Throne. After wresting it from his uncle, the Magelords standing behind the throne and apparently an undercover malaugrim riding evil dragon playing puppetmaster, Elminster gives the crown away to the last faithful knight of his father's throne before riding off into the sunset.
 * In Titus Groan, one-year-old Titus subverts this trope when he drops all three ceremonial objects that tradition obligated him to carry at his Earling into the lake.
 * Discworld:
 * In Wyrd Sisters, the crown prince doesn't want the throne at all. The court jester becomes King when he's finally revealed to be the prince's illegitimate half-brother.
 * Later played closer to straight in Lords and Ladies, which ends with Magrat marrying the king as planned, after almost running out and then saving everyone from The Fair Folk. Made especially awesome by the ceremony; after the elf invasion, the only suit left for the king was his old jester's outfit, while the bride wore the tattered remains of her wedding dress over, and the king waited to get Granny Weatherwax's approval before physically crowning Magrat.
 * In another part of the Disc entirely, averted thus far, where even though everyone, even people who haven't been to the city since before Carrot arrived, knows he's the rightful heir to the throne, he hasn't been made king yet. Even better, both Vetinari and Carrot know that Carrot is the rightful heir to the thrown and could actually take over in a heartbeat, if he wanted to. The main issue seems to be that he has an objection to people following him simply because of that reason, and Vimes made the valid point that there numerous problems with the term 'rightful'. After all, they got rid of the kings and never invited them back, presumably all his antecedents for 300 years were rightful too, just not narratively appropriate.
 * To go along with the previous example, this trope has been perhaps been Subverted the best in Guards! Guards! the Fake Ultimate Hero that the wannabe Man Behind the Man wanted crowned for 'defeating' of the dragon was eaten by said dragon during the coronation, and the citizens decide to crown the dragon as king since, well - they still had the crown, and 'still needed a king'. When the dragon was made to leave later in the book, they went back to the Patrician, mainly because the real heir refuses to acknowledge the fact he is the heir. Not that it didn't stop further attempts at crowning in future books.

Live Action TV
"G'Kar: Do you want to be President? Sheridan (Not entirely sure but-): Yes. G'Kar: Put your hand on the book and say "I do". Sheridan: I do. G'Kar: Fine. Done. Let's eat."
 * Battlestar Galactica - Laura Roslin forces herself to be just about the only calm person in the room when she takes the oath to be President of the Twelve Colonies aboard a spaceliner—all while said colonies are being nuked into oblivion.
 * The scene itself is a Crowning Moment of Awesome in that Roslin's oath was purposefully modeled after another real-life "end of a reign"—that of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963, specifically, the photo of the swearing-in ceremony of Lyndon Johnson, surrounded by reporters, aboard Air Force One.
 * In Doctor Who, the Doctor gets elected as President of the High Council of the Time Lords (for the second time, having no memory of the first case in The Invasion of Time) at the end of The Five Doctors. He accepts, gives temporary authority to Chancellor Flavia and leaves in the TARDIS. He gets said position taken from him at some point between that and The Trial of a Time Lord.
 * Romana also ends up as President of the High Council, according to Expanded Universe continuity.
 * Harriet Jones ends up Prime Minister after "World War Three".
 * Yes, we know who she is.
 * Colonel Jack O'Neill gets promoted to General and is put in charge of the whole Stargate Program in Stargate SG-1.
 * Immediately after his address to the SGC staff as their new leader, he turns around and promotes Samantha Carter to Lieutenant Colonel, because as General, he's allowed to do "cool stuff like [that]".
 * In Babylon 5 Delenn of the Grey Council gets this quite a few times. First, being elected to the Grey Council when she used to be in Lennier's position. Second, she pointed out that Minbari rules on Civil Wars meant that to prove you had the MORAL high ground, you had to SET YOURSELF ON FIRE! And die. Her opponent wasn't willing to do so. She was. She lived anyway thanks to a Heroic Sacrifice, and became unquestioned Queen of the Minbari. (Abdicated) Later, she became President of the Interstellar Alliance.
 * In between, she was offered leadership of the Grey Council, which she refused. G'Kar also refused a similar posting after the Narn rebellion.
 * Londo Mollari's coronation as Emperor had almost an entire extremely depressing episode devoted to it.
 * We don't see Vir's coronation, but we do see Vir literally pick up the imperial torc after Londo's death.
 * And don't forget Sinclair, who was promoted from Commander to Ambassador to God whoops, that would be Ivanova's title over the course of the show.
 * Also subverted with Sheridan becoming President of the Interstellar Alliance. After having the oath of office interrupted by two assassination attempts, we end up with

"Claudius:I don't w-want to be an eh-heh-hemperor! I w-w-want a re-puh-puh-public!"
 * In a very literal example, the first episode of Kings ends with David being appointed as God's new chosen one by a flock of butterflies that settle on his head in a crown. Really.
 * In The Unit series finale, Colonel Tom Ryan becomes a Brigadier General. But it is obvious that he was somewhat forced into accepting the promotion.
 * Octavian/Augustus gets a terrifying one at the end of the series Rome, even though most of the characters don't realise what it really is.
 * A humorous and somewhat pathetic version of this happens in the live action adaptation of I, Claudius: in the chaos after Caligula's assassination, a few members of the Praetorian Guard finds Claudius hiding behind a curtain, and immediately proclaim him Emperor. This is not out of any particular loyalty to Claudius, but because they want to keep their jobs, which they tell Claudius to his face. They put a crown on his head and start celebrating over Claudius' stammering protests.


 * The Tenth Kingdom also has an interesting subversion: the crowning of King Wendell goes off with all the pomp and circumstance you could hope for, with tons of rich courtiers and royals in attendance, a panoply of gorgeous decorations and architecture, and a final speech just prior that borders on Crowning Moment of Awesome. But not only does the royal toast which follows this end up seemingly killing all the guests, but it isn't even really Wendell being tested or crowned, it's the Evil Queen's dog under a spell. There is, however, a genuine version of the trope later when, after the heroes have saved the day, they're all given medals and other rewards.
 * Uther in the 1998 mini-series Merlin after Vortigern is defeated.
 * Likewise, the more recent television series Merlin has a Flash Forward to Guinevere's crowning.
 * Three episodes into the forth season, . For real.
 * And at the end of the forth season, . Also for real.
 * Glee, of all things, has this in it's prom episode. No, really. Six words:
 * At the end of the first season of Game of Thrones,.
 * Richard IV's coronation in the last episode of The Palace.

Music

 * "Crowning of the King" by Blackmore's Night is all about this.
 * Iamamiwhoami's video "t" features the Mandragora receiving a crown and scepter made of aluminum foil.

Professional Wrestling

 * This is the traditional ending to WWE's "annual" King of the Ring tournament. Of course, this being wrestling and all, they're not really being crowned king of anything, but simply being honored in a faux-coronation ceremony for winning the tourney. This doesn't stop most of the Heel winners from snapping and starting to behave as if they actually were the king of something.
 * This generally involves feuding with Jerry "The King" Lawler, who had used the gimmick in Memphis for decades previous to his entrance in WWE/F.

Professional Sports

 * Many sporting events have something similar to this for its winner. The event would be styled as 'King of the X' or something with 'Royal' in it. Often the winner ends up with a cape, crown, and throne for promotional photos.
 * The Olympic medal ceremony. All of them. Ever. Unless you're Michael Phelps. Phelps got a lot of flack in the international press for being disrespectful during some of his medal ceremonies. The footage of him stretching his legs on the gold medal podium ticked off a lot of people.
 * Well, if you were wearing all eight gold medals while waiting for the National Anthem to be finished, you'd be stretching your legs too.
 * There was also the famous event of the gold and bronze winners (Tommie Smith & John Carlos) of the 1968 200 m relay doing the Black Power salute at the medal ceremony. That was considered far more shocking than Phelps' leg stretch.
 * And then there was Shaun White, who played air guitar during the medal ceremony at the 2010 Olympics.
 * Averted at the 1995 Euro Basket tournament, when Croatia (who won bronze) abandoned the medal stage and walked out when Yugoslavia stepped up for their gold medals. Croatia was still bitter over the Croatian War of Independence and an incident in 1990 by Serbian player Vlade Divac.

Theatre

 * In Pippin, Pippin gets crowned king after killing his father, but the crown turns out to be one size bigger than his head.

Video Games
"Kerrigan: You see, at this point... I'm pretty much the Queen Bitch of the Universe."
 * At the end of the first two Suikoden games, the hero is offered the leadership of the country they've just liberated/formed. They don't usually accept. (Riou can become the leader in II, but the 'true' ending has him leave.)
 * Suikoden V also has a subversion with Lymsleia's crowning ceremony. It SHOULD be an awesome moment for little Lym, but seeing as the Big Bad is effectively using her as a puppet and plans to use her new status as Queen to screw over the good guys even more, it's far from awesome.
 * Happens in the Adventure Game King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown.
 * And in again in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow when Prince Alexander becomes King of the Land of the Green Isles at the end of the game (in both endings, even).
 * As well in the Fanmade VGA remake of King's Quest II by AGD Interactive, where it features a flash forward with Connor from King's Quest Mask of Eternity, where Graham, heirless (due to the events of the sixth game and the Fanon assumption Rosella marries Edgar), bequeaths his throne on him. Or not. It's playable. An aversion also happens where Valanice asks to postpone her coronation until she can get a grand tour of Daventry. It's also played completely straight with Caldaur asking the people of Kolyma if they will accept him before starting the wedding ceremony.
 * Five of the playable characters end up as kings/queens at the end of Final Fantasy IV.
 * Four of them make perfect sense (two were already princes and the sole survivors of their families, one was the highest-ranking survivor of a kingdom whose king died with no heirs, and one married one of the new kings), but the fifth was rather strange. He is the highest ranking soldier in his kingdom, and is well respected. He would be a shoo in for the kingship if there were an empty throne and no heir. The only problem: the king isn't dead. In fact, he is clearly visible during the ending, apparently having abdicated the throne for no explained reason.
 * According to this page, Cecil was the adopted son of the deceased King of Baron, which is why he became King of Baron at the end. The King of Fabul stated in the SNES version of the game that he was too injured during Baron's attack on Fabul to continue being the king, and that is why he abdicated and named Yang as his successor, if I remember right.
 * Also, the King of Baron is actually Odin (a summoned monster Eidolon, and his speech at the end of his optional battle implies that he entrusts the kingdom to Cecil. The After Years supports this, in which Odin refers to them as Children of Baron, and given that kings would often call themselves by the name of their country, it makes sense.
 * Henry "Yugi" Tudor gets one in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist of the Roses, set to one of the best pieces of music in the game.
 * Arguably subverted in Tactics Ogre, where you have to allow some pretty bad things to happen during the course of the game in order to get crowned king at the end - and then you get a bad ending!
 * Namely, someone rushes your coronation and shoots you. Whoops.
 * The original Ogre Battle, though, plays this trope straight in some of its Multiple Endings. Depending on the conditions you meet, the Opinion Leader may end up becoming King/Queen of Zenobia. The best ending has him/her giving the throne to its rightful heirs, however.
 * In Mass Effect 1 Shephard gets to make a king if s/he plays hir cards right. In at least one ending, Humanity is invited to add a representative to the Council, a group of only three (now four) which hold apparently absolute authority over all of civilization. Shephard, having just saved said civilization, is asked to "advise" the process. Hir "nominee" immediately makes his stirring acceptance speech.
 * It's even more majestic, in a dark, chilling way, when Shephard is a Renegade after sacrificing the the Council, leaving humans as the Masters of the Universe.
 * There's a somewhat lesser version early on, as Shepard is named the first human Spectre. Everyone in the Citadel Tower, human and otherwise, gathers around the Council chambers as they give him authority no other human has had before.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog gets proclaimed as King Arthur in the ending sequence of Sonic and the Black Knight, much to his incredulity. He proceeds to run off back to his own dimension before anyone has the chance to get him to do anything bureaucratic.
 * Subverted in Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, where Arthas crowns himself as the Lich King.
 * Not to mention the scene after his transformation to a Deathknight, where he simply stabs his father to take over the throne. Not that he has much interest in breathing servants...
 * In the Dragonwrath questline and in Thrall Twilighha Of The Aspects, Kalecgos becomes the new Aspect of Magic.
 * No literal crowning, but by the end of Starcraft Brood War Kerrigan has established herself as undisputed over lord mind of the Zerg.


 * Then, there's Mengsk.
 * The Dark Side ending to Knights of the Old Republic has the main character being hailed as the true Dark Lord of the Sith to the cheers of Bastila and the Sith army.
 * The Light Side ending isn't too bad, either, as you're hailed as a champion to forever be known as The Prodigal Knight.
 * Which is kinda hilarious, if you know what prodigal actually means.
 * In Fire Emblem 7, the ending involves the crowning of either Eliwood as Marquess Pherae (in Eli's route) or Hector as Marquess Ostia (in Hector's). Also used in Fire Emblem 6, which includes in the epilogue mentions of Roy's friend and protegee Princess Guinivere becoming Queen of Bern after her older brother Zephiel's death.
 * A subtler one form FE 6, too: Zealot's longer ending mentions that after the war, he manages to rebuild and unite the Knights' Union of Ilia and becomes the first King of his land.
 * And The Sacred Stones, and Path of Radiance, and... you know what? Let's just assume that Fire Emblem games end with an Awesome Moment of Crowning by default.
 * Subverted in Dragon Quest III: after defeating the very first boss, you are presented with the option of becoming king. Once you are king, however, you can only walk around the castle: no weapons, no armor, no magic, no leaving... making this also a modified Nonstandard Game Over (though it can be reversed by talking the old king back into his job.)
 * Arguably subverted in the original Dragon Quest I as well, wherein the Big Bad offers the protagonist the chance to rule half the world. However, if the player takes this path, the would-be Awesome Moment of (Evil) Crowning becomes an irreversible Nonstandard Game Over, in which not only is the protagonist killed but some have said that the entire save file is deleted.
 * Wait, "optional"?
 * The canon ending that the player can choose in Aveyond 1. What happens is that Rhen is actually the long lost princess of Thais and chooses to go take responsibility and do her duty as queen.
 * Subverted in Aveyond: The Lost Orb. Edward is the Crown Prince of Thais and not happy about it, but his parents are retiring and he's forced to become king. His former party member and new wife Lydia would be an example, except she tricked Edward into marrying her and manipulates the circumstances so that she gets crowned queen while he's distracted by the Big Bad escaping during the ceremony and doesn't become king. The whole scene screams God Save Us From the Queen.
 * Bubble Symphony aka Bubble Bobble II: After beating the True Final Boss, which you need Plot Coupons to reach, the four children are seen to have been crowned in a similar way to four other children in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
 * In the end of the first Destroy All Humans! Crypto becomes the President of the United States for a decade or so.
 * And in the third game Orthopox, now with a monkey body has ascended to the Furon Throne, becoming Emperor Orthopox after Crypto kills Meningitis and The Master, who was planning to ascend the throne himself.
 * Sam and Max Freelance Police has Max becoming the President of the United States, beating a giant statue of Abe Lincoln. He hasn't lost this job... Yet.
 * At the end of the second Quest for Glory game, the childless Sultan adopts you as his son, making you his heir.
 * The entire fifth game revolves around this. And you can become king. Or give up the throne to the next in line, and have Elsa be queen. Or be king and marry her and have her as a queen.Or give up the throne to her and become her... Man...Queen?. Or marry the belly dancer.Or.. You know never mind. I'm sorry.
 * The "bad" ending of Blood Omen Legacy Of Kain had the titular character become Nosgoth's new Vampire ruler, at least till the sequel/spinoff.
 * In Lords Of The Realm, when you defeat all the other Lords, you're greeted with a sequence where the Archbishop formally presents you with the Crown of England. He's supposed to be walking up the aisle of a church (or a court?), but the sequence is animated so fast and there's only one frame of animation, so it looks like he's rolling up to you on a skateboard.
 * A common (and effective) strategy in Rome: Total War, where you can go into the "family tree" and name your greatest general as faction heir. Considering the faction leaders get all kinds of bonuses, the Awesome Moment of Crowning inevitably leads to a few in-game chances at a Crowning Moment of Awesome for the character, as seen in many an After Action Report.
 * In Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage, this is shown to occur after the end of the game. Likely subverted since Alaron is the illegitimate son of the King.
 * Gradius 2 on MSX: The ending states that for his brave efforts, your pilot is promised the throne to planet Gradius in the future.
 * Laguna in Final Fantasy VIII becomes the President of Esthar because of his insane brilliant plan to depose Sorceress Adel. Subverted in the sense that a) we don't actually get to see it happen, and b) it happens somewhere in the middle of the game rather than at the end. Though it could be considered the end of Laguna's story, since he doesn't get any more playable parts and he's more or less relegated to background character status after that.
 * Eva-Beatrice's crowning as the new Endless Witch in Umineko no Naku Koro ni episode 3. However, this is a subversion, as more deaths promptly follow, this time with Eva-Bea as the cause. Or so we're supposed to believe.
 * In Tales of Graces, Richard gets crowned soon after violently killing his uncle. Even with a special anime cutscene!
 * You can influence two of these in Dragon Age, in Orzammar and Denerim.
 * Yggdra gets one of these, but stuff actually happens after it.
 * Blaze Union also has a couple of these done in traditional epilogue fashion—Gulcasa in the canon route (which, despite being bittersweet, still manages to be extremely badass) and Velleman in route C.
 * Subverted when the Lich King dies in Wrath of the Lich King. There is an Awesome Moment Of Crowning, but it's for a new Lich King.
 * Pokémon Black and White has an awesome moment of crowning for N in the opening cinematic.
 * Fable III has one when The Hero of Brightwall overthrows King Logan, he/she is crowned King/Queen of all Albion before an enormous ovation from the citizens of Albion.
 * If Hawke sides with the Templars at the end of Dragon Age II, they throw their support behind him/her and crown Hawke Viscount. Varric says that "the city practically got down on its knees and begged the Champion to rule."
 * At the end of the central questline in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, if, then you are treated to a scene where
 * In the "Dark Lord" ending of Dark Souls, the Primordial Serpents bow down to.

Webcomics
"Psyk (now Lord Psykosis): "Fellow demons and demonesses ... I ROCK!""
 * Subverted (or possibly averted) in this Order of the Stick strip. Durkon rightly becomes King of the Bandits, but gives it up.
 * Also subverted as the characters chit-chat during Hinjo's crowning.
 * This early Arthur, King of Time and Space strip, and this somewhat later one.
 * A rare villain example: at the end of the Sluggy Freelance story arc "That Which Redeems," Lord Horribus's much abused sidekick Psyk is crowned the new Demon Lord after Horribus is cast out.


 * The "Ninja Emperor" arc of Sam and Fuzzy has been screwing around with this A LOT. First Sam doesn't want to be crowned but he's being dragged into it by Blank and opposed by Black, then we meet Gertrude who really ought to be getting crowned and resents the crap out of Sam because he has a semi-legitimate claim and she doesn't, then we find out that Blank doesn't want Sam, he just wants somebody to validate the command structure while Black wants to tear it down, then oh just read it. I swear. Crazy.
 * Although Sam's actual crowning as the new Ninja Emperor isn't particularly awesome, his first decree is definitely his Crowning Moment of Awesome
 * This Update of Homestuck
 * Also earlier, the Wayward Vagabond and the Aimless Renegade make a crown for the Windswept Questant (former White Queen). She promptly turns it down, giving it to Peregrine Mendicant instead, in gratitude towards PM for completing her duty.

Web Original

 * Life in A Game has one, when Subplott finally regains his throne.

Western Animation
"Galvatron: "Coronation, Starscream? This is bad comedy.""
 * Subverted in WITCH, when Elyon's Awesome Moment of Crowning is actually a trap to allow Phobos to steal her power. After Phobos is defeated, however, Elyon gets a real one.
 * Actually, Elyon never gets a crowning ceremony. She's crowned by Will, the leader of the Guardians, to release her full power so magnificent that she turns shackles of light into crumbling stone. She then proceeds to restore the magic in their world in a CMoA/H
 * The Avatar: The Last Airbender Grand Finale has Azula's coronation as the new Fire Lord interrupted by Zuko and Katara's arrival. Later, Zuko gets one, where he assures the world that the war is finally over and that he will help the four nations recover.
 * Aang crowns him! And gives him a hug first.
 * Ozai had his own, back when. It was much more full of pomp than Zuko's, the crowd was very, very big and very red, the royals attending wore white (the traditional color of mourning in China, as Azulon had just died), and because we see it through Zuko's flashback and he was kinda freaked out at the time, it looks pretty scary.
 * Combined with what is listed as a Crowning Moment of Awesome in The Transformers: The Movie, where Starscream tries to get himself crowned leader of the Decepticons and finally succeeds, only to have the reborn Galvatron fly in and shoot him.

"Aide(played by Zoidberg): Congratulations, Mr. President! VP(played by Calculon): NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....."
 * Parodied in Futurama episode "That's Lobstertainment!" contains a movie-within-a-show. The film, The Magnificent Three, is a story about a son (the Vice-President of Earth) not wanting to follow in his father's (the President of Earth) footsteps. At the end, the president dies.


 * Also used in "My Three Suns", when Fry gets crowned emperor of the Trisolians because he drank their previous ruler, and has to recite his new lineage or DIE. He makes it, and then gets embroiled in a battle to rescue the old emperor.
 * At the end of Barbie and the Diamond Castle, Liana and Alexa are crowned "Princesses of Music" for defeating the villain and restoring the muses to their rightful place. Not only that, their dogs get crowned, as well.
 * At the end of season 2 of Hot Wheels Battle Force 5, Vert gets crowned the leader of the Blue Sentient's Council Of Five as reward for leading the Battle Force 5 to victory over Krytus, allowing for the peace between the two Sentient races.

Real Life

 * After the Revolutionary War, George Washington was offered the position of King. Averted, obviously.
 * His heir was apparently going to be John Adams, which makes sense because Adams, unlike Washington, actually had children.
 * Ironically, Washington became the first President, and was succeeded by Adams, whose eldest son John Quincy eventually became President.
 * Realistically, an "aristocracy of merit" is the usual proposed model that the US would have followed had Washington accepted the idea and became "King George I of America", with each king hand-picking his own successor from among those most qualified as opposed to a simple patrilinear model of inheritance. The Nervan and Antonine Emperors of Rome followed a similar method (and are considered some of the greatest Emperors Rome ever had because of it), adopting their heirs by virtue of their political and military skill as opposed to simple blood relation. Though the Roman system only lasted for about 80 years, and was broken when Marcus Aurelius named his son Commodus his heir (as seen in heavily altered form in the movie Gladiator), it is traditionally considered to be the Golden Era of the Roman Empire.
 * And before Washington there was Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentary forces in the English Civil War (or rather, head of the army from 1650 onwards, after the first and second civil wars and the execution). After executing Charles I and exiling Charles II, parliament decided in a fit of unintentional irony to offer the crown to Cromwell (actually it was 7 years later, long after he had removed that parliament and called a new one). In the end he was just made Lord Protector Of England (17th century speak for "president for life"), an absolute ruler with only slightly less authority than King Charles had held. More, actually, since unlike Charles there was nobody left to argue with him.
 * He wished; it's just they had no chance of actually resisting by force as (unlike Charles) he had a standing army (who were the ones who told him in no uncertain terms he better not accept the crown). Although Cromwell was never actually crowned, after he refused the 2 offers of the kingship when he had already been Lord Protector for 4 years, there was a lavish ceremony confirming his status after the new Constitution was agreed upon which included lots of royal imagery and he was called his highness. If the army hadn't been dead set against it, him taking the throne would probably have helped those behind the revolution stay in power, as Cromwell would have enjoyed far wider support as King.
 * When Richard Cromwell decided Lord Protectorship was hereditary, the army twigged that they had a King-by-any-other-name. Incidentally, this is why there's a Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, and Royal Marines, but not a Royal Army; the British Army is an organizational descendant of Cromwell's men, not tied to the crown directly.
 * Actually Oliver designated Richard his successor, and everyone knew this, because he was trying to have a ruler who could balance the army and the civilian politicians, something only he had been able to manage (and even then not without difficulty). Unfortunately Richard was not a soldier and thus lacked the necessary pull with them, meaning they did not so much get angry he was in charge but that he did not work with them well, and he could not control them. The army split down the middle, removed Richard, and brought about its own downfall as the unity under Oliver was the only thing that kept the wildly unpopular army powerful. Before someone thinks this is superfluous, it thus lead to the Awesome Moment of Crowning of Charles II
 * Napoleon's coronation culminated in his taking the crown from Pope Pius VII. and crowning himself. He was just that good.
 * That gesture had actually been arranged beforehand, as a way of drawing a parallel with the coronation of Charlemagne.
 * Wilhem I was already King of Prussia at the culmination of his Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck's political machinations, but at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War, the German states, having systemically smashed France, leading to a republic and the fall of Napoleon III, decided that Germany needed to pick up on the "Emperor" slack this caused. They crowned Kaiser Wilhelm (no, not that Kaiser Wilhelm) in the Palace of Versailles, just to let the French know that they had been owned pretty hard.
 * Wilhelm, King of Prussia, was proclaimed German Emperor Wilhelm I by acclamation in the Versailles palace. There was no formal imperial coronation, nor an imperial crown, because the emperor ruled over both Catholic and Protestant Germans, who hardly would have agreed on how to carry out a coronation. Also, the notion of self-coronation was unacceptable just because Napoleon I had done so; the Germans of those days did not like what the French Empire had done to their lands. The constitution of the German Empire stipulated that the King of Prussia automatically would serve as German Emperor.
 * Anybody who wins a major election, a recent and great example being the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama. In particular, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who having led the Allied militaries to victory in the Second World War, who was courted by both major parties to run for them.
 * Anyone who wins an Academy Award, especially after having been passed over. Consider Steven Spielberg, a four-time nominee who finally won for Schindler's List.
 * Likewise Jeff Bridges finally getting his Oscar for Best Actor in 2010, after years of performances and at least 3 nominations.
 * Director Kathryn Bigelow winning Best Director, the first woman to do so, for The Hurt Locker.
 * Martin Scorsese was nominated for Best Director five times (Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator) without winning. This was lampshaded in 2005 when Oscar host Jon Stewart pointed out after the Best Original Song award: "For those of you keeping track, that's Three 6 Mafia - one, Martin Scorsese - zero." Scorsese's Moment of Crowning would come the next year when he won the 2006 Best Director Oscar for The Departed.
 * Randy Newman was nominated 16 times for Best Song before winning in 2002.
 * Ukrainian weddings involve bride and groom wearing and swapping symbolic crowns for portions of the ceremony. It's really cool to watch.
 * As well as any other Orthodox Christian weddings.
 * No mention of the Queen of Jordan knighting Stephen Colbert with ANDURIL?
 * In the early 17th Century, Okrika (a small town-state in the Niger River Delta in southern Nigeria) did not yet have a king. Historians believed this changed when the bigger town of Bonny threatened to invade (over the exclusive right of Bonny merchants to wear certain expensive fabrics, of all things). The Addo War Canoe House successfully led the campaign against Bonny, and the town officially offered the kingship as the House's/Company's exclusive property. The Chief of Addo accepted, allegedly sacrificing his daughter as part of the solemn, unbreakable and eternal oath to seal the deal.
 * Averted in 1973, in the immediate aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, when Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, and Chief of the General Staff Gen. David "Dado" Elazar visited Israeli forces at the Sinai front. When they visited the 143rd Armored Division, they addressed the troops in the company of the Division's commander, Gen. Ariel "Arik" Sharon. When they all appeared, the men started spontaneously shouting "Arik, king of Israel!" Nevertheless an aversion, because Sharon did not actually become king; he was, however, eventually elected prime minister in February 2001. Still, one can only imagine what goes through the mind of the duly elected prime minister of a modern republic when she hears the citizen-soldiers of said republic proclaiming their general to be their king.
 * The coronation of Jean Bedel Bokassa, the psychotic dictator of the Central African Republic from 1966-1979. In 1977 he decided to crown himself Emperor of his country, and replicated the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte as best he could. It ultimately cost a third of the nation's GDP to pull it off,and several foreign leaders were invited (though most of them didn't show up). Like Bonaparte, he also tried to get the Pope to crown him, but this was also unsuccessful. Bokassa replicated everything from the robes he wore to the ceremonial carriage, and like Napoleon, seized the crown and placed it on his own head.
 * The British coronation ceremony is pretty boss. Especially Elizabeth II's, which was commemorated by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reaching the summit of Mt Everest.