History Main / SheIsTheKing

** In the ''Eternal Throne'' expansion, we see that the title of Mandalore (who has been held by male characters before) is now held by Shae Vizla, a woman. In-universe, the Mandalorian culture has very little in the way of gender-specific terminology.

* ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'': Cordelia Hasenbach, ruler of the Pricipate of Procer, styles herself First ''Prince''. The reason is her native principality, Rhenia, traditionally having a male title (althought is has been opened for women since centuries), and Cordelia is nothing if not a stickler for tradition. Her whole title is "Her most serene Highness, First Prince Cordelia, Prince of Rhenia and Princess of Salia, Warden of the West and Protector of the Realms of Man".

* In the 1986 ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'' mini-series, the underwater kingdom of Thierna Na Oge is ruled by females that assume the title of kings -- Nuada Silverhand was its previous king before her sister Bres took over.

* From the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series, Lyn and Eirika both start out with the Lord class, with Lyn promoting to Blade Lord and Eirika to Great Lord. This is mostly a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation, however, as Lord is the traditional class for any protagonist of royal ancestry, regardless of what their actual title may be. Both Lyn and Eirika are princesses and referred to as such in their respective games.

** Ronald Moore decided this was worthy of exporting to the rebooted ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' (which is considered by many to be what ''Star Trek: Voyager'' would have been had Moore's hands not been bound by Executive Meddling.) The principle established in the series is that "sir" became universal in the military, but not in civilian society. Thus Lieutenant Starbuck, President Roslin, Admiral Cain, etc. are addressed as "Sir", although "Ma'am" remains in civilian usage. So President Roslin's aide Billy Keikeya addresses her as "Ma'am" in a civilian context, but Captain Apollo addresses her as "Sir" because she's his commander-in-chief.

* In ''Literature/AlexisCarew'', one of the first things Alexis learns about SpaceNavy life is that she is to be called "Mr. Carew" and "Sir". This is done to avoid any fumbling for the correct form of address during a crisis. The same goes for her initial rank. It's always "midship''man''", never "midship''woman''".
* The rulers of the Land in the first trilogy of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' are all known as Lords, despite being a gender-mixed group. In fact, the Land does not seem to recognise any gendered titles at all, at least in the present day -- it was ruled by a King and Queen once, but that is ancient history by the start of the series.

* In the ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' novels, members of aristocratic Houses are broadly referred to as "____lords" (Dragonlord, Dzurlord, etc) regardless of gender, and the Warlord may be of either sex. Averted with noble titles such as Duke, Count, or Empress, which do get adjusted for gender of their incumbent.
* In ''Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles'', king and queen are unisex titles in dragon society, and apparently quite different in function. When Cimorene, a human princess from a typical medieval fairytale kingdom, asks female dragon Kazul why [[spoiler:she takes the title of king rather than queen when she becomes the ruler of dragonkind]], Kazul retorts that the perks and duties of the queen of dragons are much less desirable than those of the king. It's also mentioned that the last queen was male (no one's held the position since he retired), but he never appears in the series in person.
* In ''Literature/EncryptionStraffe'', a key character has the self-appointed title "Father of Deception and Chief Instructor at the School of Evil" and speaks in a digitally masked masculine voice. [[spoiler:The character turns out to be a woman.]]
* Likewise, D'ol Falla in the ''Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy'' is High Priest of the Vine, and women who run guilds are called guild-masters.
* In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series, starting partway through the ''Mage Winds'' trilogy the High Priest of Vkandis and ruler of the theocracy of Karse is a woman named Solaris, whose title is "''Son'' of the Sun". Having been handpicked very publicly for the position by the Sun God Vkandis Himself seems to have thoroughly overcome the gender barrier that previously existed with regards to the role, but the terminology remains unchanged.

* Similar to the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' example below, the police in ''Literature/InDeath'' refer to superior officers as ''sir''.
* In ''Literature/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'', the King of Demons is a traditional title and does not change for the gender of the one currently holding it. As of volume 2, it is held by Provato Pecora Ariés, a female demon.

* In Creator/MaryRenault's ''Literature/TheKingMustDie'', the Amazon leader Hippolyta speaks with Theseus saying it's "one king to another." He agrees but says "but you're a queen." She says no, she's a king, a woman king. When he falls in love with her, it's as equals.
* This is the whole basis of the book ''Literature/{{Ladylord}}''. The ruling lord has only daughters, and so names one of them his "son". The title of the book is a reference to the odd style some people use due to her unique situation. Her political maleness doesn't extend to actually being considered male in other senses, however -- she has a husband rather than a wife, for example.

* In ''Literature/MagikOnline'' the Concordian Empire's leader is called 'Grandmaster'. A position held by a female dragon named Wyrde since its founding.

* In ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'', there's precedent for the royal family of Djelibeybi being able to change sex by decree. "No, sire, she is a man. She herself declares this."
* In Megan Whalen Turner's series ''Literature/TheQueensThief'', the Queen of Eddis is called Eddis when as a woman she should have been called Eddia.

* In ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'', the Lady Knight Alanna is referred to as "Sir Alanna". This is because she [[SweetPollyOliver masqueraded as a boy]] for literally the entirety of her knight training because girls weren't allowed to become knights, and as a result was knighted as "Sir ''Alan''" and only revealed to be female afterwards. As a result, she does not carry a shield with a distaff (feminine) border. Keladry of Mindelan, on the other hand, is "Lady Knight Keladry" because she trained openly as a female, and has a distaff shield. (WordOfGod says that Alanna retained the "sir" to make a point and that Kel uses "Lady" to make a different point.)
* In ''Literature/StarWarsThrawnAscendancyLesserEvil'', it's shown that Chiss patriarchs (rulers of families) can be male or female, but they're always called "Patriarch".

* In ''Literature/TheTraitorSonCycle'', Sauce is titled Ser Alison, as lady knights are so rare in this world, there's no specific title for them.
* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', sometime during Barrayar's [[LostColony Time of Isolation]], a Countess was legally declared a male in order to inherit (and later had "[[HilarityEnsues that bizarre lawsuit]]" about her marriage). By the time of ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', Lady Donna Vorrutyer finds a [[GenderBender modern, technological option]].
* Only a Magician can be King of Literature/{{Xanth}}. A Magician is a magic-user of the highest power, though a female Magician is called a Sorceress. Since only men are called Magicians, only men can be King, right? Well ... at a time when Xanth ''direly'' needed a new King, someone finally realized that if a Sorceress is a "female Magician", that means Sorceresses are a ''type'' of Magician and qualified for office. (The female ruler is still a King, though. Xanth has no ruling Queens.)

* In ''Webcomic/DemonKingGF'', the tituar character, Alvida, is the sole ruler of the Demon Kingdom prior to her marriage and is never once called "Queen".

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', just before her impending coronation, Azula refers to herself as "Fire Lord". The SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' makes it clear that Fire Lord is a gender-neutral title since Zuko's daughter Izumi now has the role. She's directly called "Fire Lord Izumi" in the show too.
* Likewise, in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Kuvira names herself "Earth Emperor". Earlier in the series, there was an Earth Queen who took over from her father, the Earth King from the first series, but Kuvira has higher ambitions than that and likely wants to avoid any association with the previous ruler, so her official title is "Great Uniter", the equivalent of Supreme Leader.

* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E10PrincessSpike Princess Spike]]" from the fifth season involves this, as indicated by the episode title, with Spike dealing with Twilight Sparkle's royal duties as Princess of Friendship while she catches up on her sleep.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': during the Black Friday three-parter, Kenny's character is a girl, though of course everyone knows he's really a boy. He insists on being called a "princess", but Cartman, not wanting to share authority with him, only allows him to take the title "Lady [=McCormick=]". [[spoiler:This is at least part of the reason that he betrays the X-Box players for the [=PS4=] supporters.]] See above under "Video Games".

** Miss Heinous unmasks "Princess Turdina" (Marco's princess alter ego) as a boy in order to undermine his role as an IconOfRebellion. The princesses (being a group of nonconformists anyway) don't care and immediately christen him "Marco, Boy Princess".

* The three levels of the ''Creature Court'' are the courtesi, the Lords and the Kings. Courtesi are either "courteso" (masculine) or "courtesa" (feminine), while "Lord" is used for both men and women. Female Kings are so rare as to be considered nonexistent, but when protagonist Velody is revealed to be one, no-one has a problem with referring to her as a King.

* The {{Florence + The Machine}} song "King" is all about this, using the title as a way to reject traditional feminine societal roles.

* The Florence+TheMachine song "King" is all about this, using the title as a way to reject traditional feminine societal roles.

* The FlorenceAndTheMachine song "King" is all about this, using the title as a way to reject traditional feminine societal roles.

* Several artists, on Instagram and DeviantArt, invoke this trope with humanizations of the roller coaster Kingda Ka; despite being called '''King'''da Ka, they depict the ride as a female in human form.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The Sangtee Emperor is a woman in disguise. Within the Empire, women cannot be citizens and female kreel are hidden away and raised to disguise themselves and only allowed into society when they can reliably play the part of a man. Women of any of the conquered or other races in the Empire are enslaved and shipped to the border planets to work in mines instead. [[note]]Citizens are born via UterineReplicator with the joint government and church given control over population, a control which would be lost if natural births were allowed.[[/note]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation This was the concept]] behind one of the earliest filmed versions of ''Film/{{Hamlet}}''. Hamlet, played by Asta Nielson, is a girl being raised as a boy so that she will inherit the throne on her father's death. This repression is the source of much of the young prince's famous angst, besides the true reason why "he" rejects Ophelia. (In fact, Hamlet is in love with Horatio, who doesn't know the truth until it's too late to reciprocate).
* In ''Series/KamenRiderBlade'', Yazawa, the Capricorn Undead, is a male. His Undead Category? The Queen of Spades.

* In Creator/MercedesLackey's ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar By the Sword]]'', it's mentioned that the current Son of the Sun, leader of theocratic Karse, is a woman pretending to be a man, including wearing a faux mustache.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Technically happens in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', but only because nobody thought (or dared) to ''ask'' the dragon who'd seized temporary rulership of Ankh-Morpork if it was male or female before they started calling her "King".

* ''Literature/HighSchoolDXD'': This is more of a [[ChessMotifs chess motif]] during a Rating Game. An example would be Rias herself who is considered a King because she's the most important person in that particular game. The inversion, a male with title of Queen, appears at least once as well.

* In ''If The RPG World Had Social Media'', it turns out early on that the Demon Lord is female, a fact that she relays to the surprised hero over instant messaging.
* ''VisualNovel/KoihimeMusou'': Moukaku The Nanban King

-->'''Bardiche:''' Yes, sir!\\

* ''Literature/{{Maoyu}}'': The first thing [[NamelessNarrative Hero]] notices when meeting its archenemy the Demon King is that it is actually a very polite, ''buxom'' redheaded woman.

* ''Literature/Overlord2012'': The Wise King Of The Forest that everyone is terrified of turns out to be a female giant hamster.

* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', the Lord of Nightmares, "''She who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos''", the supreme creator goddess of the ''Slayers'' universe.
* The Hero King Adelaide from ''Anime/DogDays''. It's never explained why she got the title instead of [[spoiler: her implied husband, the crown prince Valério.]]
* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'': Alice refers to Fanatio, vice-commander of the Integrity Knights as "Sir Fanatio" in the Crunchyroll subs (she uses the extremely respectful gender-neutral honorific "-dono" in the original Japanese). Considering that Fanatio uses a full-face helmet to hide the fact that she's a woman, this would be an example of a woman disguising herself as a man, but it's revealed in Volume 15 that Alice has long been aware of Fanatio's gender.

* Invoked in “[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14090706/1/Different-manor Different manor]]” in Franchise/HarryPotter’s relationship with Daphne Greengrass. As part of her PowerDynamicsKink, Daphne takes pleasure in establishing her authority over Harry, but proclaims herself to be his master rather than his mistress, as she feels that “mistress” suggests she’s just the woman Harry’s cheating on his wife with when she intends to be his one and only wife.

* ''Fanfic/LucysSecret'': Discussed -- When Lucy is talking nonsense to [[DreamDeception convince Lynn that she's dreaming]], she says that Lynn is training to be "King of Nebraska and Cheese Puffs".

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* ''Film/JurassicPark'': In a variant, all the dinosaurs are bred to be females. Including the ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'', whose name means "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast tyrant lizard king]]". [[Film/JurassicWorld The fourth movie]] also includes a genetic hybrid named ''Indominus rex'' ("untamed king").

** [[spoiler:Regardless of the fact that Lancelot is the name of a man, it is Roxy who gets the role]].

* ''Film/{{Paul}}'': While [[spoiler: The Big Guy]] seems to be more of a moniker than a title, it still leads the audience to believe the mysterious BigBad is a man.

* The rulers of the Land in the first trilogy of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' are all known as Lords, despite being a gender-mixed group. In fact, the Land does not seem to recognise any gendered titles at all, at least in the present day - it was ruled by a King and Queen once, but that is ancient history by the start of the series.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'', there's precedent for the royal family of Djelibeybi being able to change sex by decree. "No, sire, she is a man. She herself declares this."

* In Literature/EncryptionStraffe, a key character has the self-appointed title “Father of Deception and Chief Instructor at the School of Evil” and speaks in a digitally masked masculine voice. [[spoiler: The character turns out to be a woman]].

* This is the whole basis of the book ''Literature/{{Ladylord}}''. The ruling lord has only daughters, and so names one of them his "son". The title of the book is a reference to the odd style some people use due to her unique situation. Her political maleness doesn't extend to actually being considered male in other senses, however - she has a husband rather than a wife, for example.

* ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'': Cordelia Hasenbach, ruler of the Pricipate of Procer, styles herself First ''Prince''. The reason is her native principality, Rhenia, traditionally having a male title (althought is has been opened for women since centuries), and Cordelia is nothing if not a stickler for tradition. Her whole title is "Her most serene Highness, First Prince Cordelia, Prince of Rhenia and Princess of Salia, Warden of the West and Protector of the Realms of Man".

* In ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'', the Tswana society resolves around ancestor worship, and they practice telling stories of deceased loved ones to dragon eggs so that the dragons are born as reincarnations of great leaders. This has led to their entire empire being led by a young female dragon who is the "reincarnation" of their last king.
** In a later book (''Crucible of Gold'') we discover that the [[ModernMayincatecEmpire Inca Empire's]] human population has been so badly ravaged by European diseases that a woman currently holds the position of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapa_Inca Sapa Inca]] due to attrition.
* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': In ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'', the Lady Knight Alanna is referred to as "Sir Alanna". This is because she [[SweetPollyOliver masqueraded as a boy]] for literally the entirety of her knight training because girls weren't allowed to become knights, and as a result was knighted as "Sir ''Alan''" and only revealed to be female afterwards. As a result, she does not carry a shield with a distaff (feminine) border. Keladry of Mindelan, on the other hand, is "Lady Knight Keladry" because she trained openly as a female, and has a distaff shield. (WordOfGod says that Alanna retained the "sir" to make a point and that Kel uses "Lady" to make a different point.)

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'', this is the apparent case with Shemeshka the Marauder, a yugoloth who calls herself King of the Crosstrade, due to being the undisputed master of the largest network of spies, thieves, assassins, and other unsavories in Sigil, and who flies into an infamous rage if the matter of her technically being the Queen of the Crosstrade is brought up. According to the "Uncaged: Faces of Sigil" sourcebook, however, there's another reason why she insists on being called king over queen: [[spoiler: she is actually a UsefulNotes/{{trans|gender}} woman, who dresses up like, acts like and basically pretends to be a cisgender woman to the point it's whispered she's given birth to a tiefling daughter, as pretty much everybody is fooled]]. Though this directly contradicts another sourcebook; in "Faces of Evil: The Fiends," [[spoiler: it's stated that all yugoloths are hermaphrodites, regardless of what gender they appear to be]].

* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' it's initially assumed that the Shepherd, the holy evil-purifying warrior and guide of humanity, is always male, but come "Alisha's Story" DLC, Rose becomes a new Shepherd. And then the game's prequel heavily implies the first Shepherd to popularize the term (and the second Shepherd overall) was the female Eleanor Hume.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'', the aforementioned prequel, does the same for the Lord of Calamity, a MaouTheDemonKing figure that creates powerful malevolence by spreading negative emotion. Here, the protagonist, a woman named Velvet Crowe, is revealed to be the first person called by this title. It's handwaved by the name being not a proper title, but a term coined by people who were so afraid of the party, they [[FacialCompositeFailure couldn't even remember how they actually look]].
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfArise'' there's the Five Lords, Renan rulers of Dahnan realms. One of them, Lord Almeidrea, is a woman. It's mentioned that she is one of the first female Lords (if not the first, period), and one of her supporters even mentions that her example may make it easier for women to become Lords in the future.
* ''VideoGame/{{Ghostrunner}}'' has Mara, better known as the Key''master''. It's never explained why she goes by a masculine title.
* ''VideoGame/PonyFantasyVI'' features ''Emperor'' Gilda, who is based on a rather tomboyish {{Jerkass}} from [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic one half]] of the source material.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', the Card Club uses card terminology for all its members. The club's leader, [[spoiler: Quistis]], is the female "King". She actually won the title from the Garden's doctor, who is ''also'' female.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2: The Grimoire of the Rift'' features the {{Optional Boss}}es, the Five Kings of [[GratuitousFrench Cinquleur]], the Red, the Blue, the Green, the Black, and the White, each focusing on that type of ColorCodedWizardry. They are all called "kings", even though the Red and the Green are part of the female OneGenderRace of Viera.

** In the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', Emmeryn's formal title is "Holy King"; outside of its use, everyone just calls her the queen. The English version removes any gender confusion by calling the ruler of Ylisse the "Exalt", a more or less gender-neutral term.
*** Additionally, one of Chrom's signature class skills, Rightful King, is also obtainable by [[spoiler: his daughter Lucina.]]
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'',
*** Edelgard (pictured above) is referred to as the future ''emperor'' of Adrestia. [[spoiler: Indeed, she takes on the title of Emperor after the TimeSkip. It's also the biggest clue to the identity of The Flame Emperor - Edelgard herself]]. Edelgard and Ferdinand's supports also mention a female emperor who was one of Edelgard's ancestors.

* In ''VideoGame/TheOldRepublic'', in the Sith Empire, a Sith higher ranked than an apprentice but lower than a Darth bears the title of 'Sith Lord' or simply 'Lord' regardless of the gender of the Sith in question and are always addressed as 'my lord' or 'Lord (name)' by their subordinates.
** In the ''Eternal Throne'' expansion, we see that the title of Mandalore (who has been held by male characters before) is now held by Shae Vizla, a woman. In-universe, the Mandalorian culture has very little in the way of gender-specific terminology.

* In ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'', the human girl Asellus is made the "Prince" of Facinaturu, the Land of the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Mystics]]. This is probably because a) there, "princess" is a term for Lord Orlouge's mistresses; and b) because the Mystics don't seem to care much about gender (this part of the game contains a lot of gay subtext.)
* In ''VideoGame/{{Armello}}'' Scarlet named herself "The Bandit King" when she united the Bandit tribes of Armello under her banner.
* Arissa Lavigny-Duval of ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'' was declared to become the Emperor of the [[TheEmpire Duval Empire]] by the Imperial Senate.
* Related to the ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' example in the "females disguised as males" section, in the spinoff game ''VideoGame/FateExtra'', we also have [[spoiler: the playable Saber being another gender-flipped version of a famous historical monarch, this time Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the 5th Emperor of the Roman Empire. And yes, she does refer to herself as "Emperor", not the female variant Empress.]]
* In ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'', the Mantis Lords are all female, though the player doesn't discover this until [[spoiler:they've killed the Lords' exiled brother, the Traitor Lord.]]
* ''VideoGame/CivilizationVI'' lampshades this when Jadwiga introduces herself as "...the King of Greater Poland. Yes, a king." Her real-life counterpart was also crowned King, as described below.
* There are many ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' with "King" in their names that can be either gender, e.g. Kingler, Kingdra, Slowking. Kingdra in particular is Clair's signature mon, so many players who were first exposed to it that way may instinctively think of the species as female.

* In ''VideoGame/MadRatDead'', the Rat God has a feminine appearance, but she is always addressed as a ''God'' rather than a God''dess''.
* ''VideoGame/LobotomyCorporation'': Despite her title, the King of Greed is a MagicalGirl.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': The Shadowbringers zone Il Mheg, the fae "Kingdom of Rainbows," is ruled by a King, but that King is always known by the traditionally feminine regnal name Titania. Further, three of the four groups within Don Mheg, the pixies, fuath, and nu mou, do not have gender and exclusively use they/their pronouns. Only the amaro use gendered pronouns, as they are sapient animals, not fae proper.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Magience}}'', Fae titles needn't match the holder's gender. The current King is female, and her late husband was Queen.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' When Colette succeeds her father, she decides to stick to the term "Master of Paris", since "Mistress of Paris" would make it sound like -- in her own words -- "the ultimate demimondaine".

[[folder:Web Original]]

* Literature/AMorePersonalUnion: The Polish Sejm, worried that the throne of Poland will devolve to the Hapsburgs, promises to legitimize any child Sigismund II will have with his mistress. The child is female and becomes King Augusta of Poland. Augusta becomes a {{Tomboy}} ActionGirl who--when pressured to have an heir--worries that her child will be a female again. The Sejm once again vows to accept any child, male or female, as an heir. Augusta has a daughter, who she names Jadwiga.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS5E32EarthAndWater Earth & Water]]", [[spoiler: Flame Princess usurps her father and is referred to by her guards as "the new Flame King".]]
* ''Literature/JimButton'': Well, Li Si was considered for the position of King of the Sky Kingdom but she turned it down. Anyway, her father is the Emperor of Mandalia and it's not clear if she'll become Emperor or Empress once she inherits the throne.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E5GauntletOfFire Gauntlet of Fire]]", when Princess Ember wins the titular Gauntlet, she earns the title of "Dragon Lord" from her father. Later episodes even refer to her as "Dragon Lord Ember," and she once called herself "[[IAmXSonOfY Daughter of Torch]], Winner of the Gauntlet of Fire, and ''Lord of All Dragons''".
* ''WesternAnimation/AngelaAnaconda'' had a female dog called King.
* In ''WesternAnimation/CraigOfTheCreek'', King Xavier's older sister, Cheyenne, was the previous ruler of the Other Side of the Creek and was referred to as King Cheyenne, rather than Queen Cheyenne. It's never explained why this is.

** The title Mayor or (for the larger and older Cities, Lord Mayor) applies to the holder of the office, regardless of gender. Mayoress or Lady Mayoress (if it's a Lord Mayor) applies to the designated female consort of the Mayor (not always a wife - a Mayor can appoint any family member or friend to do this role). Calling a female Mayor "Mayoress" is just plain wrong.[[note]]No matter how much [[Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey Henry the clerk]] complains about being married to the "Lady Mayoress" of his borough.[[/note]] Male consorts appointed for the year are usually called "Consort".

* Black Lotus and Scarlet Rain from ''Literature/AccelWorld'' are the kings of their respective domains.
** Similarly White Cosmos, the White King, [[spoiler: head of the Acceleration Research Society and Black Lotus's elder sister]]. Purple Thorn both uses this trope as the Purple King and averts it with her [[RedBaron nickname]] ''Empress'' Voltage

* ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'': All Abh noble titles are gender-neutral in [[ConstructedLanguage their native language]]. This occasionally leads to some confusion in the translations that leave the Abh terms intact.
* [[spoiler: Anna Kushina]] after she Awakens as the [[spoiler: Third and Red]] King in ''Anime/KMissingKings''.

* In ''Literature/{{Maoyu}}'', the main female character holds the title of "Maou" which can be translated as "Demon Lord" or "Demon King", but in its original Japanese form, the title is unisex.

* In ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms'', the ruler is referred to as the "king" regardless of gender (at least in some translations). The original Japanese word translated as "king" is closer to the gender-neutral "monarch".

* In ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'', Winnowill becomes "Lord Winnowill" after [[spoiler: Lord Voll's death]].
* In ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'', the North Wind is referred to as a king regardless of the gender of the current incarnation. [[spoiler: When Mr North pulls a HeroicSacrifice, he is succeeded by his granddaughter Winter, and her courtiers explain to her parents that the word "queen" means something different from what the North Wind should be]].

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* In the ''Literature/TalesOfTheBranionRealm'' series by Fiona Patton, the sovereign's title ("Aristok") is unisex, and all the others are male (Prince, Duke, Knight, etc) but can equally well pertain to females. A consort, whether male or female, is just that, a consort.
* In Creator/PatriciaCWrede's ''Dragonsbane'' (also titled ''Dealing with Dragons''), the first volume of the ''Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles'', the title of King of the Dragons is gender-neutral: Kazul is a female dragon and a perfectly legitimate contestant for the title of King.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', a certain key prophecy refers to [[ChosenOne The Prince That Was Promised]], but most of the signs are pointing very clearly at a ''female'' character, Daenerys Targaryen. The fandom [[WildMassGuessing guessed]] that the term translated as "Prince" was gender-neutral in Old Valyrian, the original language of the prophecy. This was proven exactly correct in ''A Feast For Crows'': all Valyrian nouns are gender-neutral. If Dany's late brother Rhaegar, who thought the prophecy referred either to him or to his son, had taken that into consideration, it might have spared the kingdoms some grief in the {{Backstory}}.
* Played straight in the ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' series. The term "high chief" is used for both males and females, contrary to using "chieftess" with even a character lampshading it. It is averted, however, in the kingdoms of Aryaal and B'mbaado, where the terms "king" and "queen" are used for the respective genders.

* ''Gifts'', the first book in ''Literature/AnnalsOfTheWesternShore'', uses "brantor" for the heads of the Upland families. While most of the brantors seen in the story are men, female brantors like Parn Barre aren't too uncommon. When someone from the more sexist lowlands insists on calling her a "lady-brantor", Orrec and Gry find it ridiculous.
* The ruler of the city of Literature/{{Liavek}} is always called the Levar, regardless of sex.
* In the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'', the title of lordan (the heir to a lord) is gender-neutral... somewhat to the surprise of most of the Kencyr Highborn, who had become accustomed to only appointing men to that rank. Two women hold the rank in the series: Kirien (whose house did the research and found the title to be unisex) and [[spoiler:Jame of Knorth, the series protagonist]] (whose brother got the idea from Kirien).
* In ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', the leader of a [[ProudWarriorRace Patryn]] community is always[[note]]with the notable exception of Lord Xar, who is a special case[[/note]] titled as "headman", regardless if that person is a man or a woman. Whether the title carries a gendered implication in the original Patryn is never discussed.
* In ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'', most nations title their ruler as "king" or "queen" (or, in the case of Hed, "prince" or "princess") but the ruler of Herun is always styled as "Morgol" regardless of gender. The origin and precise meaning of the title is never elaborated on.
* In ''Literature/TheInterdependency'', the ruler of the titular empire is called the gender-neutral title "Emperox" (the "x" is silent). Notably, the first emperox was a woman. The Interdependency's laws of succession are completely egalitarian. In fact, the dying previous Emperox names his bastard daughter Cardenia as his heir after his legitimate son's death instead of any number of legitimate cousins or nephews, and not a single person objects to her being a woman. Averted with the noble titles, which still change based on gender (e.g. Lord/Lady, Count/Countess).

* In the re-imagined ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', officers and officials of both genders are referred to as "Sir".

[[folder:Tabletop Game]]

* The female {{Demon Lords|And Archdevils}} in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' are sometimes referred to as "Lords" or "Princes" rather than the female equivalent.

** The Qunari are infamous in Thedas for their strict gender roles, and so most titles in their society are firmly male or female (although members of either biological sex can assume any role, so long as they assume a masculine or feminine identity. [[BlueAndOrangeMorality it's complicated]].), but they do have one significant title - Ariqun, the leader of their religion and priesthood - is a gender-neutral title and the position can be assumed by men and women, since the Qunari believe the wisdom of their religion speaks to all people, regardless of gender.

** The [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Princes]] of the series are an unusual example. They are [[OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous pure spirits who can take any physical form they choose]], with some changing forms in different appearances while others stick to a strictly male or female (or in the case of Hermaeus Mora, ''[[EldritchAbomination eldritch]]'') appearance. Even the female-identifying Daedra are still referred to as "Princes", though historically [[ShownTheirWork the term "prince" could be applied to rulers, regardless of sex.]][[note]]It comes from ''princeps'', a Latin word meaning "first," which fits since the Daedric Princes are the most powerful of the Daedra.[[/note]]

* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', the servant leading the Lostbelt is referred to as the Lostbelt King - including the three female Lostbelt leaders: Scáthach-Skadi, Morgan and Kukulkan. But the term is gender-neutral in the original Japanese script as a literal translation of the title.

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', the player character can be played as male or female, dark or light-sided. No matter what gender you choose, your character is referred to as the Dark Lord of the Sith in the dark side ending, not the Dark Lady of the Sith. Ultimately subverted in subsequent material, where [[spoiler: Darth Revan]] became canonically male. A giant {{Lampshade}} is hung on this in an early quest in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' where a Revanite cultist remarks that the older texts [[AmbiguousGender aren't all that clear on the matter]].
** Played completely straight in the sequel, ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', where the {{big bad}}, [[spoiler: Darth Traya, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Lord of Betrayal,]]]] is a woman.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* In ''Literature/HighSchoolDXD'', with its ChessMotifs, this is seen in some teams with male characters taking the "Queen" position.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the Queen of Kamabakka Kingdom, Emporio Ivankov is male. Most of the time. His Devil Fruit Powers enables him to control hormones, so [[SexShifter he can turn into a she at will]] -- but still spends most of his time as a cross-dressing guy. Of course, it's a deliberate joke in this case - Kamabakka Kingdom apparently consists entirely of cross-dressing men, making Ivankov a [[DragQueen DRAG-Queen]].
* In one episode of ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', one of the queen's consorts (in a matriarchal society) was able to hide the crown prince's gender, as well as the gender of multiple members of the royal guard. The queen does NOT take this well. Nor does Zelgadis, who had a crush on said prince.
* In ''Manga/SandsOfDestruction'', The Planner is [[AlternateCharacterReading written with kanji that would translate to "Princess of Guidance"]]. However, Vreveil states that the Planner need not be a woman or even the same person throughout each incarnation of the world; ''someone'' just has to make a wish about the way the world will be, and literally ''anyone'' who's left alive after he's through purging the world could take on the role. [[spoiler:Kyrie is actually the only one to make any sort of wish, and it isn't to create a new world at all; we aren't told if he's given yet another title, or what it may be.]]

* Creator/PiersAnthony:
** In ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'', the Queen is defined as the King's spouse. When it was realized how a woman could be King, this also paved the way for its inversion: a female King of Xanth's spouse is a male Queen.
** In ''Literature/AndEternity'', the protagonists have the unenviable job of finding a new candidate for the job of {{God}}. [[spoiler:Since "God" is just a nickname for the Incarnation of Good, the job can be filled by anyone, male or female, living or dead. The search was only hard because they ''assumed'' that God had to be male (and currently alive). Once that's resolved, the perfect candidate, a dead woman, becomes obvious.]]

* In the Literature/{{Dragaera}} novels, along with its PlayedStraight examples above, at least one inversion -- the Lady of the Chairs, an official court office currently held by a male -- is mentioned in ''Literature/{{Iorich}}''.

* ''Series/DoomPatrol'': The Sisterhood of Dada consists of five women and two men. The name is still appropriate since the group is non-comformist and anti-patriarchal.
* ''[[Series/{{VanHelsing}} Van Helsing]]'' features an Elite group of female vampires known as The Sisters. The male Scab is eventually allowed into their ranks (after being castrated) and is still called a Sister. Lampshaded in this exchange:
-->'''Scab:''' I'm a sister now!
-->'''Julius:''' ''(bewildered)'' Okay, well that's...weird .

* PlayedWith on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark:'' during the Black Friday three-parter Kenny's character is a girl, though of course everyone knows he's really a boy. He insists on being called a "princess," but Cartman, not wanting to share authority with him, only allows him to take the title "Lady [=McCormick=]." [[spoiler:This is at least part of the reason that he betrays the X-Box players for the [=PS4=] supporters]]. See above under "Video Games."

** In season 6, [[spoiler: King of Ooo, thanks to a barely legal election, usurps both Princess Bubblegum's throne and her exact title]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': When The Simpsons bought a pool, Lisa became popular. Envious, Martin hired people to install a better one. He gloated to himself and the people building the pool about how Lisa thought she's the summer queen and then he said ''he'' would be the queen. Seeing their reactions, he quickly corrected himself by saying "King".
* In ''WesternAnimation/VivaPinata'', when Franklin Fizzlybear befriends a swarm of bee pinatas, he is eventually dubbed "Queen" for a short time. This being a swarm of bees, they probably couldn't think of another title. Franklin does not object to being called a queen.

* The {{defictionaliz|ation}}ed [[AllThereInTheManual version]] of ''Literature/TheMagicBookOfSpells'' from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' reveals that the matriarchal kingdom of Mewni briefly had a single male ruler, as a result of him being the only offspring of the previous Queen (up until the birth of his younger sister Solaria). Thus, Jushtin the Uncalculated was also known as "the Boy Queen".

* In ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'', the North Wind is referred to as a king regardless of the gender of the current incarnation. [[spoiler: When Mr North pulls a HeroicSacrifice, he is succeeded by his granddaughter Winter, and her courtiers explain to her parents that the word "queen" means something different from what the North Wind should be]].

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* Tanith Lee’s ''East of Midnight'' features the Moon King, the female ruler of a female-dominated society.
* In the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' saga, Dragon Highlord Kitiara is referred to by the masculine title because Dragon Highlady would have just sounded silly. WordOfGod has it that if the subject had ever come up in the story, Kitiara would have laughed and said she certainly wasn't a lady.
** Though Kitiara does have some explicitly feminine ''nicknames'' (she is known as both the Blue Lady and the Dark Lady), in person she is always addressed by her followers as "Lord Kitiara" or "My Lord".
** By the same logic, both male and female members of the ruling council of Tir Tairngire, from the ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' game setting, are formally titled "Prince", because "Princess" carries so many silly Disney-cutesie connotations.
* In Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin's Literature/TheLeftHandOfDarkness the inhabitants of the planet Winter are gender-neutral most of the time but assume a male or female sex once a month. You can be either, and what you were last time has no effect on this time. Titles are either neutral or male; LeGuin said one of the reasons for that was she wanted to write the sentence "The King was pregnant."

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', dwarfs have traditionally had mentioning gender to be a faux-pas. Therefore, female dwarfs appear and present as men (or, from their perspective, appear and present as ''dwarfs'', which humans interprete as "men" because armour, battleaxe and [[GirlsWithMoustaches beard]] says "male" to humans in the absence of other evidence). Therefore, it is quite likely that half of the Low Kings have been female, but no one knows. Rhys Rhysson makes this observation in the final speech at the end of ''Literature/RaisingSteam'', [[spoiler: before openly declaring herself the first Low-Queen of the Dwarfs]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', Lord Pain refers to Mandy as "Lord Mandy" instead of "Lady Mandy"

** In modern Romanian, all political and professional titles are correctly and formally masculine, even if held by a woman - one is expected to address a female as "Mrs. Doctor" or "Mrs. Senator". Colloquial speech has multiple feminine titles but they are unsuitable for formal occasions.