History Main / RebelPrince

* ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'': Eiattu IV went through an Anastasia-like [[RoyalFamilyMassacre purging of its royalty]]. Young princess Plourr and her little brother Harran survived and [[KingIncognito went off the radar]]. Years later, Harran resurfaces, leading the People's Liberation Movement against the nobility and Imperial occupiers alike, clearly uninterested in retaking the throne. As she's the elder, it's Plourr's anyway, but he resurfaced long before her and never made an attempt.

* ''Comicbook/XWingSeries'': Eiattu IV went through an Anastasia-like [[RoyalFamilyMassacre purging of its royalty]]. Young princess Plourr and her little brother Harran survived and [[KingIncognito went off the radar]]. Years later, Harran resurfaces, leading the People's Liberation Movement against the nobility and Imperial occupiers alike, clearly uninterested in retaking the throne. As she's the elder, it's Plourr's anyway, but he resurfaced long before her and never made an attempt.

* The king in ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' seems to be of the opinion that his [[PrinceCharming son]] is this, because he hasn't settled down and [[IWantGrandkids produced some heirs]] yet. This viewpoint gets a little more credit when the prince is acting very disinterested at the beginning of the ball, going as far as looking up at his father in the balcony and visibly yawning (in the film's time period, this could be likened to flipping the bird at his dad). Given even more credibility in the surprisingly-good ''Disney/CinderellaIIIATwistInTime''. Once the Prince decides he's going after Cinderella, there is ''nothing'' his father can say to stop him. The king, to his credit, lets him go once he realizes how serious the Prince is about it.
* ''Disney/TheLionKing'': Simba is actually manipulating ''into'' rejecting his birthright by Scar, who kills Mufasa and makes Simba feel responsible. He then stopped being a ShelteredAristocrat and ran away.

* Prince Eric from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', particularly in the Broadway play in which he states he prefers life on the sea.

Charming or not, he's the spear counterpart to the RebelliousPrincess; born to privilege as the Heir apparent of a kingdom, company, or some other sort of organization who does not want to assume whatever his princely responsibilities are. AlwaysMale because kings and C.E.O.s tend to think [[HeirClubForMen only a son deserves the inheritance]], and when it is the daughter, she always seems to want it passed on to her. The problem with a RebelliousPrincess, on the other hand, is that she has the royal position but none of the inheritance that her brothers have. The Prince does not necessarily dislike government; in fact any aristocrat who opposes a hereditary government [[DemocracyIsBad despite his position]] would qualify. Perhaps he prefers democracy over simply inheriting a position by bloodline.

* The anarcho-communist philosopher Pyotr (Peter) Kropotkin was born the heir to the title of Prince. Under the influence of republican teachings, he dropped his princely title at the age of 12 and even rebuked his friends when they called him by title. He held a great respect for the common worker, and because of his political activism and ideologies, he was sometimes called "the Anarchist Prince".
** "A man with a soul of that beautiful white Christ which seems coming out of Russia." - Creator/OscarWilde
* Dom Pedro I, the founder of Brazil and the "Liberator" of both Brazil and Portugal. During Napoleonic Wars, the Portuguese royal house had to abandon Lisbon for Rio de Janeiro. After war, the king left his son, Prince Pedro, as the regent in Brazil. During 1820s, Pedro defeated numerous insurrectionist movements and reformed the government of Brazil based on liberal principles instead of absolutist monarchy, helped create the Brazilian nation instead of many squabbling fiefdoms in conflict among themselves, and, in so doing, also clashed with the reactionary elements of the old regime, upon whose defeat he proclaimed a new country, Brazil, as a constitutional monarchy. Upon the death of his father, he briefly became the king of Portugal as well, but he abdicated only after a few months and returned to Brazil. In 1831, however, Portugal (and Spain) falling into revolutionary chaos with the liberal reformers clashing with reactionaries, Dom Pedro abdicated, returned to Europe, raised an army of volunteers, and offered his services as a mere citizen to his own daughter who became the legitimate ruler of Portugal after his abdication (from the Portuguese throne) but had been overthrown since by the reactionaries. His campaign in Europe was cut short, however, as he died of illness in 1834.
* Siddhartha Gautama was born a ShelteredAristocrat and lived the ensuing lifestyle until he discovered the outside world's misery and suffering. This prompted him to abandon his home and royal trappings against his family's wishes to become the founder of {{UsefulNotes/Buddhism}}.

* [[RealPersonFic Prince Harry]] in ''Theatre/KingCharlesIII'', whose SpareToTheThrone position behind his brother William has led to his laissez faire attitude and carefree bachelor lifestyle -- until he begins to date Jess, an opinionated Republican. As their relationship grows more serious, Prince Henry begins to believe that he'll find happiness and fulfillment if he rejects his royal duties and settles down with Jess to lead the life of a commoner. He goes so far as to request that his father Charles revoke his royal titles and inheritance, [[spoiler: but he ultimately breaks up with Jess and retains his titles, dedicating himself (unhappily) to upholding the institution of British monarchy alongside his family]].

Charming or not, he's the spear counterpart to the RebelliousPrincess; born to privilege as the Heir apparent of a kingdom, company, or some other sort of organization who does not want to assume whatever his princely responsibilities are. AlwaysMale because kings and C.E.O.s tend to think [[HeirClubForMen only a son deserves the inheritance]], and when it is the daughter, she always seems to want it passed on to her. The problem with a RebelliousPrincess, on the other hand, is that she has the royal position but none of the inheritance that her brothers have. The Prince does not necessarily dislike government; in fact any aristocrat who opposes a hereditary government [[DemocracyIsBad despite his position]] would qualify.

* ''Disney/TheLionKing'': Justified by Simba, who thought Mufasa's death was his fault. He then stopped being a ShelteredAristocrat and ran away.

Contrast ReluctantRuler who's immediately ready to be TheWisePrince. Also contrast TheEvilPrince who's rebelling against his father about who gets to be king, not because he doesn't want to be king. Being a PrinceCharming who wants to marry for love instead of station isn't enough to qualify. Also, he can put himself in danger like a WarriorPrince or KnightInShiningArmor but still say he wants to be a good king. If he says that he doesn't want to be king, that's what makes him count. In each example, please state when he refused or wanted to refuse his inheritance.

->'''King Francis''': I will simply deny you the crown… and… live for ever! \\

* Akeem from ''Film/ComingToAmerica'' is a downplayed example. While he isn't (initially, anyway) trying to renounce his birthright, he ''is'' trying to resist the excessive pampering treatment he receives, as well as his ArrangedMarriage to an ExtremeDoormat woman who is trained to do nothing but obey his every command. He travels to New York to pass as an impoverished foreign student, take a minimum wage job and live in very poor conditions, with the aim of finding himself a more empowered woman who has her own opinions. After he does, he is willing to give up his throne if it's necessary to be with her. [[spoiler:It's not.]]

* ''[[TheRoyalDiaries Sondok, Princess of The Moon And Stars]]'': when young King Chinpyong came to the throne, he would hunt for days, completely ignoring the needs of the kingdom.

* Siddhartha Gautama was born a ShelteredAristocrat and lived the ensuing lifestyle until he discovered the outside world's misery and suffering. This prompted him to abandon his home and royal trappings against his family's wishes to become the founder of {{Buddhism}}.

* Lex, Holin and Jamuka from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War]]''. Levin is this until the events of chapter 4.
** Shanan takes up the RebelPrince mantle in Part 2 since he's one of the leaders of Celice's army which is hell-bent into destroying the tyrannical Empire of Grandbell. [[spoiler: There's somewhat of a subversion, however: while a rebel against the Empire, he also is the ''legitimate'' heir to the throne of Isaac (a nation of {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s that was usurped and oppressed for years), and he intends to gain his homeland back to rebuild it. If he lives through the whole second part of the game, he succeeds.]]
** Also Hector from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem Blazing Sword]]'', who, while still loyal to Ostia, decided to do things his own way.

* [[spoiler: Alistair]] of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' is the illegitimate son of a king, and while he knows that he might be considered an heir to the throne [[spoiler: now that the latest king has been killed without an heir]], he certainly doesn't want to be king: "I'm a follower, not a leader." However, it's possible to "harden" his personality and force him to mature, making him more willing to take power.

* Lyner Barsett from ArTonelico before the start of the game: he'd rather protect Lady Shurelia instead. It's implied that the reason is that [[spoiler:he still subconsciously remembers Misha, and if he takes Leard's place, he'll be responsible for putting Misha's daughter, granddaughter, and perhaps great-granddaughter through the same TrainingFromHell before sending them to sing their lives away to imprison a SealedEvilInACan.]] Thankfully, he [[spoiler:manages [[WarriorTherapist to cause]] Mir to undergo a HeelFaceTurn]] and doesn't become Commander [[spoiler:except possibly on Shurelia's route as the husband of the goddess.]]

* Ruthven Murgatroyd from {{Theatre/Ruddigore}} runs away to avoid inheriting the [[HereditaryCurse baronetecy]] and a life of [[PunchClockVillain villainy]].

* Prince Hal in Shakespeare's ''HenryIV'' (less so in RealLife) takes on this role as a PR gambit ([[BecomingTheMask mostly]]).

* Lex, Holin and Jamuka from ''[[FireEmblemJugdral Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War]]''. Levin is this until the events of chapter 4.

** Also Hector from ''[[FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem Blazing Sword]]'', who, while still loyal to Ostia, decided to do things his own way.

* Fiyero Tiggular from the musical ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''.

* The SyFy mini-series ''Series/{{Alice|2009}}'' reveals mid-way [[spoiler:that Jack Chase is Prince Jack Heart, the BigBad's son, helping Alice and the Wonderland Resistance to overthrow his mother.]]

* [[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Emperor Gregor Vorbarra of Barrayar]] experiences this, especially in ''The Vor Game''. Played rather more for drama than usual: Gregor's "rebellion" came about as a result of [[DrivenToSuicide throwing himself off a balcony]], [[BungledSuicide failing to die]] and deciding to make the best of it.

* The king in ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' seems to be of the opinion that his [[PrinceCharming son]] is this, because he hasn't settled down and [[IWantGrandkids produced some heirs]] yet. This viewpoint gets a little more credit when the prince is acting very disinterested at the beginning of the ball, going as far as looking up at his father in the balcony and visibly yawning (in the film's time period, this could be likened to flipping the bird at his dad.)
* Given even more credibility in the surprisingly-good ''Disney/CinderellaIIIATwistInTime''. Once the Prince decides he's going after Cinderella, there is ''nothing'' his father can say to stop him. (the king, to his credit, lets him go once he realizes how serious the Prince is about it.)

'''Prince Henry:''' Good. Agreed. I don't want it.\\
--''Film/EverAfter''

** "A man with a soul of that beautiful white Christ which seems coming out of Russia." - OscarWilde