History Main / RoyalBastard

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1654989112014825800 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

Royalty often has its perks in love life, [[PowerIsSexy given the allure of power]] -- or maybe it doesn't and the noble is stuck in an ArrangedMarriage, so [[TheMistress they go elsewhere]]. In settings without modern birth control, it often leads to a child out of wedlock.

Expect the child to [[BastardAngst angst about their heritage]]. Part of this angst can come from one of their parents being a commoner, leading to a "ChildOfTwoWorlds" situation -- out of the succession and sometimes ostracized, yet too much of a noble to get along with their commoner side. If both sides are nobility, expect the scandal to be ten times greater. This is not a source of distress for all bastards, however; some can expect privilege and an increase in wealth fare.

If SuccessionCrisis occurs, they may be forced into a difficult position, even though they've likely been told they could never inherit anything from their royal parents because of their illegitimacy. It could lead to LukeIAmYourFather or LukeYouAreMyFather. If the father has a serious HeirClubForMen problem, he might resort to legitimizing his royal bastard to prevent a SuccessionCrisis.

The BastardBastard tends to be the scheming EvilPrince, trying to forcibly make themselves the legitimate heir, particularly when they're the older sibling [[TheResenter and feel their rightful place is denied by their bastardy]]. Darker examples will involve a [[ChildByRape child of]] DroitDuSeigneur. On the flip side, the HeroicBastard will be a close ally of their half-siblings or a generation above TheConsigliere for TheGoodKing.

The BarSinister is typically used as heraldry for illegitimate nobles and their descendants, legitimate or not. Otherwise, boble-born bastards may be shown to take their parent's coat of arms with the colors of the background and charge inverted. This is not really borne out by historical examples -- real-life illegitimate nobles' children don't seem to have done that all that often -- but it persists in fiction.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Verence becomes king after his half-brother [=TomJon=], the child of the last ruler, decides to be an actor. He was made king thanks to the fact that Verence and [=TomJon=] have a strong resemblance to each other and the previous king had a habit of exercising his droit de seigneur. Granny Weatherwax decided this was close enough and made him king. Subverted however in [[spoiler: the previous king's wife had a thing for the previous court jester, Verence's father]].

** Ramsay Snow is the bastard son of Lord Roose Bolton, conceived when his father exercised his DroitDuSigneur on one of his peasants. Ramsay very ambitious, cruel and sadistic, and deeply resentful of his baseborn status. He's strongly suspected to have murdered his trueborn younger brother, Domeric Bolton, and hates being referred to as a bastard. [[spoiler:He's eventually legitimized in reward for the Boltons siding with the Lannisters agains the Starks.]]

* ''TabletopGame//ForgottenRealms'': During the 2nd Edition ''AD&D'' period, King Azoun of Cormyr was changed to a serial philanderer, repeatedly cheating on his wife the Queen with married Cormyrian noblewomen. The result was a large number of illegitimate children of his (who had a strong resemblance to him) who were raised as children of the noble families of their mother.

* William Vangeance from ''Manga/BlackClover'' is the illegitimate son of a nobleman who had to live in the Forsaken Realm. When his father's legitimate heir died, he was taken in by his father and treated terribly by his stepmother because of his curse birthmark.
* Glen Schreiber of ''Manga/BokuraNoKiseki'' is the illegitimate son of a powerful nobleman and his commoner mistress.

The BarSinister is typically used as heraldry for illegitimate nobles and their descendants, legitimate or not.

* In ''LightNovel/EndoAndKobayashiLiveTheLatestOnTsundereVillainessLieselotte'', [[spoiler:Fiene]] believes she is a commoner, but eventually she is confirmed to be the illegitimate child of a duke's daughter and a marquis' son.
* In ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'', Mordred is a homunculus created by Altria's sister Morgan, making her King Arthur's illegitimate child. After being rapidly raised to adulthood over a few years, Mordred is excited to learn that she is the child of the King of Knights, only to be badly rebuffed when she reveals this to her "father" and denied the love and acceptance she craved. Mordred's rage at being denied at what she thought was rightfully hers leads her to start the rebellion that upends Camelot and ends in both Arthur's and Mordred's deaths.
* Satellizer El Bridget from ''Manga/{{Freezing}}'', daughter of a nobleman and his mistress.

* In ''Manga/PrincessJellyfish'', Kuranosuke is an illegitimate son (born to a foreign mistress) in the most powerful political family in Japan. Kuranosuke's uncle is the Prime Minister, and Kuranosuke's half-brother Shuu, the legitimate son, is expected to follow in his father's footsteps in government. But since Kuranosuke is a bastard, he feels free to live his life as he pleases and indulge in scandalous hobbies like cross-dressing.

"Ah, yes, my father had a certain reputation for wandering... Your mother was a chambermaid, no doubt?"\\

* In ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'', Hulkling is the illegitimate son of Skrull Princess Annelle and the Kree hero Mar-Vell, and the grandson of Emperor Dorrek VII of the Skrull Empire. The fact that this makes him a contender for the throne of Skrull Empire is something that he has spent years trying to avoid.

* The PlayerCharacter of the ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' fan module ''VideoGame/TheBastardOfKosigan'' is a bastard of a recently-deceased unaligned Count, forced to leave his childhood home (only to return later and to get embroiled in political intrigue).
* ''FanFic/ABriefHistoryOfEquestria'':. The result of an affair her mother had with a Unicorn noble (who then left her), Lady Cripps the Pink of the Hyracotherium Republic grew up hating the Kingdom of Unicorns as a whole. Because of this, she enlisted in the Hyracotherium military, eventually becoming a national hero when she led her forces to victory in the [[MeleeATrois Lake Trot Crisis]].

* King Bikaia from ''Fanfic/DreamlandUniversityRedux'' was the result of his father, the king, having an affair with a chambermaid. In a rare case for a character like this, Bikaia ends up on the throne.

* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/720657/chapters/1336087 The Most Precious of Treasures]]'', Frodo is the illegitimate son of Thorin (Dwarven King Under The Mountain) and [[GenderFlip Bilbo Baggins]], a Hobbit. Frodo's acceptance into Dwarven society is aided by the fact that he's [[{{Reincarnation}} Durin reborn]].

* Alex Mackay in ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' is the illegitimate son of a Scots nobleman. As he is out of the succession, he takes up arms as a mercenary in the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar. Since he's serving Gustavus Adolphus, one of the few "good" monarchs of that time period, and is visibly disgusted at atrocities committed by German soldiers, he's probably Heroic even before the arrival of Grantville.

* The vampire protagonist of the ''Literature/BloodBooks'' series is Henry Fitzroy, the bastard son of King Henry VIII.

* Lloyd Williams, in Follett's ''Literature/TheCenturyTrilogy''. He is the bastard son of Earl Fitzherbert, known as "Fitz", and his housekeeper (who in short order becomes his former housekeeper) Ethel Williams (who raises Lloyd).

* Tzigone, one of the central protagonists of ''Literature/CounselorsAndKings'' is the bastard daughter of the renegade wizardess Keturah [[spoiler: and King Zalathorm of Halruaa]]. She's very determined to keep this from coming out, however, since Halruaa's laws regarding marriage and procreation are draconian and a wizard's bastard is executed out of hand if both parents can't be named. [[spoiler: In the end, Zalathorm acknowledges Tzigone as his daughter and marries Keturah, giving Tzigone a proper family for the first time in her life- and also making her Princess of Halruaa, much to her consternation.]]

* Desmond [=MaqqRee=], known to the press of the Fair World as ''Literature/DocSidhe''. Officially the records state "father unknown". Unofficially, it's well known that Doc is the son of the (now-deceased) prince-consort of Cretanis.

* Nikolai from ''Literature/TheGrishaTrilogy'' and ''Literature/TheNikolaiDuology'' is officially the son of the king and queen of Ravka. However, it is widely rumored that he is actually illegitimate since the queen wasn't very faithful to her husband. The fact that, unlike his brother, Nikolai doesn't look anything like the king certainly doesn't help either. [[spoiler:His mother eventually tells him that he was indeed born from an affair she had with Magnus Opjer. However, that doesn't stop Nikolai from becoming king after the abdication of 'his father', since his enemies cannot prove it.]]

* The titular prince of ''Literature/PrinceRoger'', [[OverlyLongName Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang MacClintock]], after he took multiple levels of badass. He also develops into the other type of bastard, the literal meaning already applicable since the Empress had never married his father:
-->'''Sgt. Catrone:''' Order received and understood, and I will comply. You bastard.
-->'''Prince Roger:''' That I am. Literally and figuratively. The last bastard standing. The flag of the ''Basik's'' Own wears a bar sinister proudly.

** Jon Snow is the illegitimate son of Lord Eddard Stark, Snow being a surname given to bastards born in the north. However, in the [[Series/GameOfThrones HBO adaptation]], [[spoiler:it's subverted in that, Jon isn't Ned's son, but the child of former prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Whether this makes him a bastard (and this a Double Subversion) is a bit grey since Rhaegar and Lyanna were married in secret, though he did annul his first marriage to Elia Martell.]]
** King Robert sired many illegitimate children [[spoiler:who help Eddard realize that Prince Joffrey isn't Robert's son, rather the product of an incestuous affair between the Queen and her brother]].

* ''{{Series/Kaamelott}}'': After giving up the throne, Arthur (himself an example, as in the myths) spends most of season 6 looking for any illegitimate children he might have sired, only to find they all died in infancy. This is what pushes him over the edge and he attempts suicide, although he's rescued in time.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms setting: During the 2nd Edition AD&D period, King Azoun of Cormyr was changed to a serial philanderer, repeatedly cheating on his wife the Queen with married Cormyrian noblewomen. The result was a large number of illegitimate children of his (who had a strong resemblance to him) who were raised as children of the noble families of their mother.

* One of the main characters of ''Theatre/KingJohn'' is Philip "The Bastard" Faulconbridge, who is an interesting combination of HeroicBastard and BastardBastard, providing much of the comic relief of the play and being focused on [[HiredGuns gaining wealth and power through his sword in John's service]]. Philip is introduced petitioning King John to inherit his late father's estate, citing the fact that he is the older of two brothers, even though his brother (and Philip himself) know that he was born under circumstances that mean he could not possibly be legitimate. John and his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, immediately realize how much Philip looks like the late Richard the Lion Heart, and figure out that Philip is Richard's bastard.

** Genny from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' is the illegitimate daughter of an unknown nobleman who had a wife and family.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** In general, it's quite common for the nobility of all ranks, from common knights to kings, to have extramarital dalliances that result in noble and royal bastards. These are not legally considered children of their parents, meaning that they cannot inherit land or titles unless made legitimate by royal decree, although it doesn't stop some from trying to claim what they feel is their birthright anyway. Traditionally, they're given a shared last name used throughout each of the kingdoms, rather than taking their father's -- Snow in the North, Stone in the Vale, Rivers in the Riverlands, Waters in the Crownlands, Hill in the Westerlands, Pyke in the Iron Islands, Flowers in the Reach, Storm in the Stormlands and Sand in Dorne. They cannot usually take their noble father's coat of arms, but many use it with its colors inverted, with a bend sinister -- a bar running from top right to bottom left -- across it, or both.

* ''Series/{{Grimm}}'': [[ShadowArchetype Sean Renard]], Nick's boss and de facto overlord of Portland is eventually revealed to be the illegitimate son of [[GreaterScopeVillain King Frederick Renard]] of the House of Kronnenberg by one of his [[WitchSpecies Hexenbiest]] mistresses. Sean has exploited his royal connections throughout his life as well as the fact no other royal dares kill him publicly for fear of the king's wrath to further his goals, often in his efforts to bring down the other royals.

* ''Series/BloodTies'': After Vicki realises Henry is a vampire, he reveals that his full name is Henry Fitzroy, and he's an illegitimate son of King Henry VIII.

* ''Literature/CaptivePrince'': Kastor is the illegitimate son of the King of Akielos and was heir to the throne until his legitimate half-brother Damianos' birth knocked him down the line of succession. He sets off the events of the series by [[TheUsurper usurping the throne]] after the King's death, which [[spoiler:he [[{{Patricide}} turns out to have caused]].]]

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* ''ComicBook/RedSonja: Vulture's Circle'' has Xoana who is one of Sonja's students. Xoana is the daughter of King Xoan of Zingara and his favorite concubine. When Xoana's mother died, Xoan, [[MurderTheHypotenuse suspecting she was actually murdered by his jealous wife Queen Isaura]], sent Xoana to Sonja's school for young female warriors for the girl's safety.

** In general, it's quite common for the nobility of all ranks, from common knights to kings, to have extramarital dalliances that result in noble and royal bastards. These are not legally considered children of their parents, meaning that they cannot inherit land or titles unless made legitimate by royal decree, although it doesn't stop some from trying to claim what they feel is their birthright anyway. Traditionally, they're given a shared last name used throughout each of the kingdoms, rather than taking their father's -- Snow in the north, Stone in the Dale, Rivers in the Riverlands, Waters in the crownlands, Hill in the Westerlands, Pyke in the Iron Islands, Flowers in the Reach, Storm in the Stormlands and Sand in Dorne. They cannot usually take their noble father's coat of arms, but many use it with its colors inverted, with a bend sinister -- a bar running from top right to bottom left -- across it, or both.

* ''Anime/DigimonSavers'': Touma H. Norstein is implied to be the son of an Austrian aristocrat and a Japanese exchange student who never married.

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': "Bantling Boy" features a very dark example that is the explanation for the series' murders. [[spoiler:[[ChildProgity Peter Craxton]] is secretly the child of the former Lord Hartley of Bantling Hall, who raped his mother while she was his carer. Due to Ray Craxton's career being in making weapons and armour for medieval reenactments, Peter grew up obsessed with everything medieval. Thus upon discovering the truth of his parentage, he was overcome both with a belief in his own genetic supremacy and with [[BastardAngst shame]] at what his medieval codes told him was the ultimate disgrace. Together with his unusually high intelligence led to him manipulated his mentally disabled uncle into killing everyone who knew his secret]].

* ''Literature/TheFarseerTrilogy'': Protagonist Fitz is the illegitimate offspring of crown prince Chivalry. His becoming public knowledge causes his father to abdicate his position as heir, causing political chaos. Fitz's narrative notes that, if he did nothing else in his life, he's still managed to change the course of the kingdom's history just by being born.

* Alexandre Walewski was a Polish aristocrat, who led quite an adventurous life, finding his fortunes in France and even becoming French minister of foreign affairs during the reign of Napoleon III. His whole life he insisted his father was Count Athanasius Walewski, husband of his mother, despite not knowing him (the count was much older than his wife and died when Alexandre was little) and this clearly not being the case. The thing is, at the time of his conception, Marie was a mistress of none other than Napoleon Bonaparte himself, and reportedly quite devoted to him. On top of that, recent genetic seems to confirm this, leaving little doubt he was actually his trope.

* Due to a good number of bastards but a lack of legitimate descendants, UsefulNotes/LouisXIV attempted to make his bastards legitimate in his will until his will was quashed by the Parliament (the NonIndicativeName of a court of Ancien Regime).

** Related, it was rumored that Otho's father (him being one of the Four Emperors), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Salvius_Otho Lucius Salvius Otho]], may have been Emperor Tiberius' illegitimate son. These rumors came from the emperor's clear affection for him and the two resembling each other physically. If true, it'd make Otho the last person with Julio-Claudian blood to be emperor, though it wouldn't be all that helpful for Lucius Otho because Tiberius was unpopular

* In Ireland, bastards had their father's name preceded with "Fitz", making "Fitz[father's name]"; royal bastards received the name "Fitzroy".

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', Alistair is the illegitimate son of King Maric of Fereldan, which makes him the heir to the throne after his half-brother Cailan dies in battle.

-->"Tell me, my man, did your family ever work for mine?"
-->"Certainly your lordship, starting with my parents!"
-->"Ah, yes, my father had a certain reputation for wandering... Your mother was a chambermaid, no doubt?"
-->"Oh no, she worked in the kitchens. My father did too, he'd bring the duchess her hot milk every evening."

* ''Literature/CaptivePrince'': Kastor is the illegitimate son of the King of Akielos and was heir to the throne until his legitimate half-brother Damianos' birth knocked him down the line of succession. He sets off the events of the series by [[TheUsurper usurping the throne]] after the King's death.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': Serpico is the bastard son of a noble named Federico do Vandimion and and a maid.

* ''Manga/CandyCandy'': Terry Grandchester is the love child of a British duke and an American actress. Apparently, his father left his mother because he felt he needed to start behaving "properly" but still acknowledged and supported Terry, sending him to St. Paul's College.

* ''Film/Aquaman2018'': The titular character in this movie is the son of the Qeen of Atlantis and a lighthouse keeper.