History Main / RoyalBlood

* People who have the surname Fitzroy (or an ancestor with that surname) are typically illegitimate descendants of a (British or English) king.[[hottip:*:"Fitz" is a specifically Anglo-Norman thing, derived from the Old Norman pronunciation of the word for "son" (''fiz'', pronounced "fits", derived from Latin ''filius'' and related to French ''fils''), but used in a way unknown in the rest of the Romance-speaking world: the custom of using your language's form of "someone's son" as a surname was a Germanic--especially Scandinavian--thing, and while the Normans spoke French, they were in many ways still Vikings--even after almost 200 years in France--when they conquered England.]] Other Fitzes have been used for the illegitimate children of royalty, most notably [=FitzClarence=], the illegitimate children of [[TheHouseOfHanover King William IV of the United Kingdom]] (the children were all born while he was still the Duke of Clarence); [=FitzCharles=], for some of the illegitimate children of Charles II (others used Fitzroy, the name of their mother's husband, or in one case, the odd choice of "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Mary_Tudor Tudor]]"); and Fitzjames, the illegitimate children of [[TheHouseOfStuart James II]].

* People who have the surname Fitzroy (or an ancestor with that surname) are typically illegitimate descendants of a (British or English) king. Other Fitzes have been used for the illegitimate children of royalty, most notably [=FitzClarence=], the illegitimate children of [[TheHouseOfHanover King William IV of the United Kingdom]] (the children were all born while he was still the Duke of Clarence); [=FitzCharles=], for some of the illegitimate children of Charles II (others used Fitzroy, the name of their mother's husband, or in one case, the odd choice of "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Mary_Tudor Tudor]]"); and Fitzjames, the illegitimate children of [[TheHouseOfStuart James II]].

* People who have the surname Fitzroy (or an ancestor with that surname) are typically illegitimate descendants of a (British or English) king. Other Fitzes have been used for the illegitimate children of royalty, most notably [=FitzClarence=]: the illegitimate children of [[TheHouseOfHanover King William IV of the United Kingdom]] (the children were all born while he was still the Duke of Clarence).

* People who have the surname Fitzroy (or an ancestor with that surname) are illegitimate descendants of a king.

* ''EtrianOdyssey III: The Drowned City'' has Princesses and Princes, a Class centered around their Royal Lineage.

Idealistic stories on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism generally have the rightful king also be the better ruler. More cynical stories split them up, and then even LawfulGood characters may support the worse ruler because the one who would be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure would create a dangerous precedent in ignoring the laws of succession. RoyalBlood may require your putting up with RoyalBrats, TheEvilPrince and TheCaligula -- all the time, if it's InTheBlood.

* Played With in {{Traveller}} . The Imperium is held together by a FeudalFuture. However the only advantage claimed for aristocratic blood is that something has to hold the Imperium together, it is nice to have people around who were trained to run the Imperium in their nursery's even if some of them turn out to be UpperClassTwit s, and that there has to be a way of choosing ''someone'' to be the boss and with trillions of people it is kind of a bother. And besides ErmineCapeEffect is cool.

* ''DragonAge: Origins'', the Orzammar SuccessionCrisis, puts you in the dilemma of choosing between a radical RoyalBlood heir and a more reasonable mere-noble successor named in the late king's last will. The twist is that [[spoiler:both suck as rulers]]. Also, after the landsmeet, you have to decide between making [[spoiler:Alistair]] king, thus preserving the RoyalBlood, or confirming the IronLady Anora (wife of late King Cailan) as queen. Thankfully, there is a [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] here: persuade the two of them to marry to have their cake and eat it, too.

* In ''The Prisoner of Zenda'', they are willing to try the [[GuiseWillBeGuise imposture]], because he is himself illegitimately descended from a {{Ruritania}}n king.

Compare BlueBlood.

** And not just "various" royal families. Tolkien took this trope to extremes: via a pretty complicated family tree, Aragorn's son Eldarion is the ultimate in RoyalBlood: [[http://everything2.com/title/Lineage+of+Aragorn+and+Arwen the High King of all elves and men in the ''entire world.'']]

** And not just "various" royal families. Tolkien took this trope to extremes: via a pretty complicated family tree, Aragorn's son Eldarion is the ultimate in RoyalBlood:[[http://everything2.com/title/Lineage+of+Aragorn+and+Arwen the High King of all elves and men in the ''entire world''.]]

RoyalBlood! It's real, it's significant, and only the person who's really got it is suitable for the throne. Obviously required for the ReturnOfTheKing. In {{Fantasy}}, may actually endow the person with magical powers, giving additional meaning to the term MacGuffinGirl, or even be required [[FisherKing by the land]] (and, unfortunately, making it useful in BloodMagic). Features even in SF for a FeudalFuture. And even for OfferedTheCrown, RoyalBlood may encourage them to chose you.

* In Randall Garrett's LordDarcy stories, the throne of England combined with that of the Holy Roman Emperor. As a consequence, it is elective, but only among the Plantagent line. At one point, we see the king's brother thinking that his nephews are more likely candidates but he is a possible one.

* In {{Aeschylus}}'s ''Prometheus Bound'', Prometheus tells Io that a descendant of hers will bear "A royal race in Argos."

* In the ''ComicBook/SonictTheHedgehog'' series, the Acorn bloodline plays a number of important parts in the story, though it was mostly so Sally to use a powerful artifact of her family's. An interesting plot point was made, though, when Sally's brother Elias stepped up to the throne - their mother, Alicia warned that his wife's child could never be a princess because he didn't sire her. He's more than happy to make sure she never takes up the throne.

* In LFrankBaum's [[Literature/LandOfOz Oz book]] ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'', Glinda tells the Scarecrow of Princess Ozma, and everyone immediately agrees that she is the only possible heir, being the last king's daughter.

* In LFrankBaum's ''[[TheWonderfulWizardOfOz The Marvelous Land of Oz]]'', Glinda tells the Scarecrow of Princess Ozma, and everyone immediately agrees that she is the only possible heir, being the last king's daughter.

** Unfortunately, Disney actually did not realize this, as pointed by the fact that they accepted "any other" and excluded "some of royal blood", despite including Rourke as an official Disney Villain.

** Though it seems that Knights of the Cross are more along the lines of King under the Oak tree/Fisher king type of royalty as epitomized by Captain Carrot from Discworld. More king of the land than king of its people.

* {{Hellboy}} was recently revealed to be [[spoiler: the last living descendent of King Arthur, which makes him the rightful king of England]]. Among other things, this means that he can [[spoiler: use {{Excalibur}} and call forth an army of England's dead soldiers.]]

** And of course then there are the Tenryuubito, [[spoiler:descendants of the founders of the World Government]]. Their royal blood affords them immense wealth and political power which they are more than willing to abuse for the sake of their own amusement.