Royals Who Actually Do Something: Difference between revisions

See also [[In Its Hour of Need]].

 

 

Contrast [[Idle Rich]], [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]], [[Authority in Name Only]], [[Orcus on His Throne]], [[Adipose Rex]].

* In ''[[Keepers of the Elements]]'', [[Sassy Black Woman|Queen Tiana]] is the most prominent example of this. She is fluent in a few languages, has been Queen since the age of fifteen and is currently studying Mechanical Engineering at the same time. She also happens to be quite proficient with machines in general and loves riding her flying motorcycle as seen in the scene in which she is introduced.

* Baron Beltorey in ''[[The Tainted Grimoire]]''. For example, when an underground sport was causing harm to civilians, he took measures to minimise the harm and in the process, also turned it into a legitimate sporting event.

 

== [[Film]] ==

** Also, the Low King of the dwarves is, up till his election, a working dwarf.

*** The same could probably also be said of Diamond (the troll king), since he runs a 'Thud' (a dwarven/trollish board-game) Club.

* Princess Raisa actively invokes this trope throughout ''[[The Seven Realms Series]]''. In book one she founds the Briar Rose Ministry, a charity she and her father run that earns money for the people. The Briar Rose ministry not only helps some of her people avoid starvation, but gets some younger people the money they need to go to school ''and'' earns her a very loyal following. [[Chekhov's Gun|(This becomes a very important plot point later on.)]] By book three, she stops caring about making enemies within the government and goes around rectifying serious issues with the way things are done in order to help the people. A good portion of book three is spent on showing her doing this.

* Garion in ''[[Belgariad]]'' is actually a decent king who spends more of his time as an administrator than anything in pomp and ceremony. Most other kings and royalty, and even many aristocrats, in that universe are in a similar position. Also occurs- albeit to varying extents- in Eddings' ''Elenium''.

* The BBC series ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' shows Prince Arthur to be not only the Camelot's heir apparent, but also the day-to-day commander of the kingdom's armed forces. He not only leads them in battle, but also recruits the knights and oversees their training. He also seems to be the closest thing that the kingdom has to a sheriff or chief of police. If any "crime" occurs, it's usually Arthur that's sent to investigate.

** It's heavily implied that his father King Uther was this as well in his youth. He does prove himself quite handy with a sword.

 

== [[New Media]] ==

** ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]]'s'' in-game lore reveals many personalities of royalty in Tamriel's history being warriors and monster slayers, with the ultimate example being Tiber Septim (aka [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence|Talos]]), the founder of the Tamriel Empire and the Septim Dynasty, who was also one of the earliest known Dragonborn.

* Prince Valerian Mengsk of ''[[StarCraft]]'' is shown to be a [[Badass Bookworm]] trained in Martial Arts and swordsmanship as well as classical knowledge in the books. He's an [[Adventurer Archaeologist]], to boot. He's also definitely taken notes from his father in [[Magnificent Bastard]]ry and by the end of ''[[StarCraft II]]'' {{spoiler|manages to disinfect Sarah Kerrigan [[Enemy Mine|with the help of]] Jim Raynor}}.

* ''[[The Last Remnant]]'' has numerous examples of this (both good and evil). The most notable is David, the Marquis of Athium, who is a very competent and active leader both in the throne room and on the front lines.

* In ''[[Guild Wars]]: Nightfall'', one of the first heroes to join your party and set your characters' plans in motion is Tahlkora, who is revealed to be a princess of Vabbi.

***George V between the wars patronized the British secret service and got it through budget difficulties.

** William IV had served in the Royal Navy and was called "The Sailor King" as a result. Being not a second but a ''third'' son, he had not prepared to be King ''at all'', and did such scandalous things as refuse to use ride the Royal Carriage to his coronation (he walked instead). He was famous for the whole [[King Incognito]] thing, going around London and Brighton unaccompanied to get a proper view of these cities. Although he was just as dissolute as his brothers, he's considered to have been a slightly better king than his predecessor (George IV), but not as good as his older brother Frederick (the Grand Old Duke of York and by the end of the wars a skilled general in the Army) would have been.

*** Opinions are not divided on whether this is a hilarious thing or not, though. {{spoiler|It IS hilarious.}}{{verify}}

*** He also wrote a children's book called ''The Old Man of Lochnagar'' and read it on TV, and makes organic honey. On one occasion he presented a TV documentary about his opposition to insensitive architectural development.

** George III of Britain (of American Revolution fame) had a strong interest in farming and encouraged agriculture, even personally visiting his citizens to see their farms for himself. He wrote environmental pamphlets under the pseudonym "Ralph Robinson".

** "Farmer George's" son, Frederick the Duke of York (commemorated in the nursery rhyme) proved himself a surprisingly able administrator as commander-in-chief of the British army during most of the Napoleonic Wars. This is partially attributed to [[My Greatest Failure|the debacle that was his first expedition in Flanders]] (the source of the rhyme), which [[Failure Knight|propelled him to never fail again]]. He is particularly well-remembered for undertaking the first major reform of the British Army, tuning it into a far more effective fighting force.

* Speaking of Britain (or at least England proper), this is also what the local nobility are encouraged to be. In the spirit of ''Noblesse Oblige,'' they were expected by the Crown to actually ''do something'' deserving of their titles, rather than merely act as court filler. This may have helped at least some among the aristocracy to survive and earn the respect of the people, compared (ironically) to France.

**Part of the reason was that in France since Louis IV the monarchy had gone out of its way to make sure the nobility could not raise private armies by forcing them to live in Versailles and exchange ambition for dissolution. Also French took nobility ''way'' to seriously; for instance to get a military commission it was necessary to have legal certificates of several generations none of whom had been "in trade"(meaning actually doing something) whereas in many parts of Europe if your daddy said you were a noble and your neighbors said you were, and you owned an estate, your ancestor could be whomever you wanted.

*** It's arguable that the Habsburg line in general fills this trope, from soldiers to artists and even ''actors.'' There's a reason why they stayed for so long (after they got the whole [[Royally Screwed-Up|inbreeding thing]] fixed).

* [[The Bible]] has several examples:

{{quote|'''David''' ''(to Saul, and being squeezed tightly by Michal)'': ''198, 199, 200''! I'll take take two of 'em!}}

** King Saul himself personally led most of Israel's military campaigns, and even died in battle by ''intentionally falling on his own sword'' after his arms-bearer refused to stab him.