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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"But, when you live in a castle, everything's done for you. All the time -- They dress you, they feed you, drive you, brush your teeth. I admit it was a charmed life, until the day my parents cut me off and I realized... I don't know how to do '''anything.'''"''|'''Naveen''', ''[[The Princess and
This results in a certain naivety and ignorance, despite the numerous tutors he's no doubt had all his life. When he is finally exposed to the outside world, it becomes apparent that the character is out of his depth. He doesn't realize how difficult and dangerous life outside his palace really is, and as a result he is a [[Horrible Judge of Character]], easily duped by conmen and stolen from by thieves. Often he thinks he can talk his way out of confrontations, or throw money at any problem, and generally not recognizing, at least initially, that bad things could actually happen to ''him'' out in the real world. He will often be puzzled and even intrigued by the goings on of everyday life, resulting in [[Mundane Object Amazement]]. Sometimes the irony will be taken further as
These characters tend to fall into three main types: a plucky-type with child-like innocence and kindness, a silly and cowardly-type who is treated like a joke, and snobby and superior type that can be cruel. Most of the types have a good chance to mature into the honourable and melancholic [[The Wise Prince|Wise Prince]] or the practical and down-to-Earth [[Princely Young Man]] during their adventures, though the cowardly and snobbish types have just as much of a chance to turn their back on the real world and [[Ivory Tower|shut themselves back in their palace]], if they can.
This trope can include any character, not just princes, who are sheltered in this way. See also [[
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* Mendou from ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' [[Expy|and Kuno]] from ''[[Ranma
* Most of the ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' but especially Tamaki, the president of the club. He is the clownish charmer type (especially the "buffoon" part; his heart is usually in the right place, but his brain is another story), who is actually so fascinated by the middle-class customs of Haruhi that he plans activities and "excursions" to educate themselves about the lifestyles of the "commoners" to make Haruhi feel more
** Mori would be the composed type, mostly because of his protectiveness of Hani and keeping his mouth shut.
*** Kyouya would give him a run for his money. He's actually involved in his family business, so he understands how the world works. He doesn't consider ordinary people to be quaint or insignificant, but he does regard them as less important than successful people.
* Prince Chagum from ''[[Seirei no Moribito]]'' is of the young and dignified sort. He gets used to life as a commoner and enjoys it, since the series very much avoids [[The Dung Ages]] and thinks [[Rousseau Was Right]]. Later he seems to develope to [[The Wise Prince]].
* Yuki of ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' has shades of the composed type, and is nicknamed "Prince Yuki" by the girls at his school. Of course, he's a very different person behind the facade he puts up for most of his classmates.
* Deconstructed in ''[[Ashita no Nadja]]'', where Nadja's love interest Francis Harcourt poses as your typical White Prince [[Wide
* The Prince in ''[[Rune Soldier Louie]]'' - Though befitting the fantasy setting he was only naive and shocked when he came across mercenary behaviour and darker aspects of humanity. In other aspects he was quite educated and willing to give anything a try.
* Touga in ''[[Gravion]]'' fits the composed variety, and forms an [[Odd Friendship]] with the largely mannerless Eiji often driven by his quiet curiosity about the "real world" (he's not a literal prince, but he ''did'' grow up in a castle ...).
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* Prince Canute of ''[[Vinland Saga]]'' starts out as the innocent sheltered type, with a few minor subversion in that he is surprisingly well educated in peasant activities, then upgrades to the cool as sin, composed [[Badass]] version.
** That's because the real-life Norse nobility differed from commoners mostly in that they usually ate better and called the shots at war. Otherwise [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|they weren't that much different]].
* The F4 in all incarnations of ''[[Hana Yori Dango]]''. Domyoji is of the arrogant meanie variety ([[Jerk
* Yuna Roma Seiran from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam
* In [[Naoko Takeuchi]]'s work ''[[The Cherry Project]]'', Tsuzuki fits this well. He's been trained as a professional figure skater since he was young, and was born to rich parents who really spoiled him. He had recently cut himself off because he felt that he wasn't really living life normally.
* Ninzaburo Shiratori from ''[[Detective Conan]]'' is this and a rather competent policeman. While not a bad person, he can be kind of an [[
** Also his former classmate Fumimaro Ayanokouji, who actually ''is'' from [[Royal Blood]] according to Satou.
** Sonoko's soon-to-be brother-in-law, Yuzo Tomizawa, is of the naive kind. So were his brothers Tatsuji and Taichi. {{spoiler|Until one of them killed their father}}
** And predictably, both [[Ojou
* In ''[[
== Film ==
* Prince Henry from ''[[Ever After (
* Similar to Yuna Roma Seiran above, Commodus in ''Gladiator'' is also a proof against the idea of letting one [[White Prince]] become the ruler of a country.
* The prince from [[Coming to America]] had never so much as gone to the bathroom by himself before he left home.
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* Prince Daren in The [[Heralds of Valdemar]] series starts off this way. He becomes more of [[The Wise Prince]] later in the series.
* Prince Kerish in ''[[The Seven Citadels]]'' starts out this way, even putting the lives of his men in jeopardy due to his over-confidence. He [[Character Development|grows out of it]], though.
* Prince Lir in ''[[The Last Unicorn (
* Prince Edward, aka Ned, in Mickey Zucker Reichert's ''The Legend of Nightfall''. He truly believes in the ideals of chivalry and ''noblesse oblige'', he despises slavery, and he'll risk his neck to save others' lives. His idealism is only matched by his naivety...which is why his father the King takes the extreme step of secretly blackmailing (and spell-binding) a ruthless thief/assassin to be his squire (i.e., protect him) when the young royal is sent out to get some real world experience for a change. (The ultimate [[Fantasy]] Adventure [[Odd Couple]] Buddy Story [[Wunza Plot]]
* Galad Damodred from ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' borders between the "arrogant" and "reserved" varieties, with a very [[Black and White Morality|naïve view of the world]], but is [[Badass|anything but a buffoon]]. [[Character Development|Later shows signs]] of turning away from the path of the [[Knight Templar]] and shifting towards [[The Wise Prince]].
* Bertie from ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (
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== Video Games ==
* Prince Enrique of ''[[
* Luke, the main character of ''[[
** In ''[[
* Eliwood from ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' was a bit like this in the beginning. He grows into [[The Wise Prince]] later on.
** Reyson from ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius
* Prince Peasley of ''Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga'' comes off a bit like this at first glance-his arrogant mannerisms, cocky grin, and tendency to flick out his hair (which is so radiant it causes the entire screen to flash white) suggest a pampered jerkoff without the time of day for a couple lowly plumbers...but he's genuinely concerned about his people, competent at what he does and aware of his limitations, and in general a pretty nice, if businesslike, guy.
* In the short time the PC is around him, King Cailan from ''[[Dragon Age|Dragon Age: Origins]]'' comes off as this, more clearly depending on dialogue. As a good example, if the City Elf tells Cailan he is from "One of your alienages, of course", Cailan actually grows ''excited'' nearly ''begging'' the PC to tell him what it's like there, stating his guards never let him near them, which seems to indicate quite a lack of knowledge and interest in 'commoner' ways.
** Which can lead to a real awkward moment for the king where you proceed to bluntly state that your friends and family were raped and murdered by bigot nobles.
*** The actual statement is that YOU killed a Noble's Son (Vaughn) for raping your cousin (Shianni). Cailan is actually quite disturbed by somehting like that happening in the Alienage and it being kept from him, and vows to look into it when they return to Denerim... but we all know how that ended.
* In ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'', Prince Amiti introduces himself with a mystical statement... and promptly [[The Talk|has to have it explained to him]] that [[Heroic Bastard|he's a bastard]] (to be fair, he was raised under a cover story that he fully believed). However, he [[Genre Savvy|makes it his goal to see the world and become]] [[The Wise Prince|a wiser prince]]... which [[The Ingenue|takes a while]], since he also believes in [[Black and White Morality]] for a good chunk of the game.
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== Western Animation ==
* Lampshaded in an episode of the animated ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''
* In ''[[The Lion King]]'', Simba was surprised to learn that there was more to being king than getting your way all the time.
* ''[[The Princess and
* While obviously not a prince, Mr. Pewtershmidt of [[Family Guy]] fit this perfectly when he lost all of his money and was forced to live with Peter. He became utterly useless, to the point that he literally couldn't figure out how to ''wipe his own ass''. Slight variation in that he's not necessarily confused by how the lower class lives as much as he just wants nothing to do with it.
== Real Life ==
* Siddharta Gautama aka Buddha, as one of the kind, naive types, makes this [[Older Than Feudalism]]. He grew up in the palace sheltered from pretty much everything low and evil. When he first went into [[Real Life]] (which was after he had married and fathered a son), and saw the existence of poverty, disease and death, [[Heroic BSOD|he was so shocked that he left palace, wife and son in the night to become an ascetic monk.]] For the exciting conclusion, see [[
** This was apparently deliberate, as his father was given a prophecy that if he didn't experience suffering he would become a great king, while if he did he did he would become a (very poor) holy man. So his father tried to shelter him as much as he possibly could.
* Emperor Hirohito (or better said Showa, after his era) of Japan, who asked his people to "endure the unendurable" while he never missed a meal in his long life.
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[[Category:An Index of Ladies and Gentlemen]]
[[Category:The White Prince]]
[[Category:
{{DEFAULTSORT:White Prince, The}}
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