Royals Who Actually Do Something/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A member or members of the royal family have actual careers and/or useful skill sets which make them dynamic characters rather than static occupants of thrones.

  • Straight: Princess Alice, Heir to the throne of Tropevania, is a gifted motorcycle racer and mechanic.
  • Exaggerated: Princess Alice is a motorcycle racer, mechanic, jet pilot, and bartender, and she refuses to wear a dress or sit in any chair that even slightly resembles a throne.
  • Justified: The monarchy of Tropevania is chosen from a pool of persons who have a certain skill set, because all interkingdom conflicts are settled with motorcycle races.
    • Alternately: Since the average folk spend their lives in one or two careers, the royalty takes pride in learning non-royal things just because they have the time to do so.
  • Inverted: Stephen is a peasant. He is very lazy and does nothing.
  • Subverted: Many tales are told of Alice's racing career, but it turns out that she just made them up.
  • Double Subverted: In the end she stops pretending and actually races her motorcycle, somehow saving the day.
  • Parodied: Because all interkingdom conflicts are settled with motorcycle races, Alice and all Tropevania royals undergo motorcycle training starting from the age of six.
  • Deconstructed: Alice's kingdom is a monarchy only in name; while she looks good in the title, Alice's career only reminds everyone that she has no real power.
    • Fighting on the front lines causes Princess Alice to become a hardened ruler with a heart of stone.
  • Reconstructed: ...however, her actions endear her and her family to the people greatly, and the people of Tropevania treat her like an authority anyway.
  • Zig Zagged: Alice loves Pete the Peasant an expert motorcycle repair mechanic. Her father, King Kenneth wants Alice to marry Duke David. David seems to be a useless aristo. Later, Alice discovers that Duke David is an expert weapon-smith and that the Nation needs better weapons. Meanwhile, David's entourage visits the Citadel and includes Wendy the Wench. Pete falls in love with Wendy. Alice takes some bitter sweet that her beloved is happy and does her duty to the State.
  • Averted: Princess Classic
  • Enforced: "Everything's Better with Princesses, but Girls Need Role Models, so Alice will have to be more than just a pretty dress."
  • Lampshaded: "Do you ever spend any time, you know, ruling?"
  • Invoked: "I know! I'll become a great motorcycle racer and show them all I'm not just another pretty princess!"
  • Defied: Alice refuses to get her hands dirty, or her attendants forbid her to risk her life when she is the Heir to the throne.
  • Discussed: The peasants are talking about what a great racer Princess Alice is, and what a worthless socialite Price Bob is.
  • Conversed: ???

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