History Film / KingRalph

* RulingFamilyMassacre: The film kicks of with one. Of the rare accidental kind.

* AbdicateTheThrone: Ralph decides to abdicate when the existence of another Windom heir - Sir Cedric - is revealed. Doing so allows him to hand the British throne over to an honorable man, focus on his music career, and helping rebuild the royal family.

* RoyalBastard: Ralph's father was the bastard son of the Duke of Warren; since Ralph is the last surviving heir to the House of Windham, he becomes king of England.

** There are thousands of people eligible to inherit the British throne under the Act of Settlement 1701, rather than the two dozen seen here. '''If''' every single one of them was to either die or be disqualified in some way, the monarch who is most closely related would take control of the kingdom. Additionally, illegitimate children are disqualified from the line of succession.

** The heir to the Royal House of Stuart at the time of the film was not a British peer but a German aristocrat, Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria, who never showed any interest in pursuing any claims to the British throne. Also the Hanoverians would come before the Stuarts if Parliament was forced to declare another House as the royal line.

** The royal family is called the Wyndhams, different but similar to the last name of the real-life British royal family, the Windsors. Strangely enough, the castle he visits while hunting is still called "Windsor Castle".

** The heir to the Royal House of Stuart at the time of the film was not a British peer but a German aristocrat, Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria.

* BrilliantButLazy: YMMV on "brilliant," but Ralph is a truly talented musician first seen slumming in a low-rent Vegas lounge, barely paying attention to his own performance. Cedric notes he's always been an underachiever, but Ralph actually adjusts to royal protocol when he puts his mind to it (his greeting of the Danish royal family is miles above his first attempt with King Mulambon.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Unlike current British monarchs in RealLife, Ralph is expected to be an active architect of foreign policy (even to the point of negotiating fine details of trade agreements - which he does at the end). To be fair, royalty cementing political and economic alliances through marriage (which is what is asked of Ralph) still occurs and has been occurring for centuries.

** An odd case is that a Finnish royal family appears. In real life, Finland has never had one, being ruled instead by Sweden and then Russia. It seems that the filmmakers wanted to avoid upsetting any country that ''does'' have a royal family in real life.

** A British peer never has his first name sandwiched between 'Lord' and his peerage title. Referring to Lord Graves as "Lord Percival Graves" would be a serious social gaffe.

** The royal family is called the Windhams, different but similar to the last name of the real-life British royal family, the Windsors.

* RefusalOfTheCall: [[spoiler: Cedric admits to Ralph he asked not to be given the crown, citing fear of being king and a lack of a child to continue the line.]]

* SmugSnake: Lord Graves.
* SuccessionCrisis
* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: Gender-flipped.

* FishOutOfWater: This is a movie about an American becoming King of England, after all.

** In the original novel ''Headlong'', the one who becomes king is named Jack Green (nee Sandrig) rather than Ralph Jones.

* DiedDifferentlyInTheAdaptation: The novel ''Headlong'' had the Royal Family killed by an exploding dirigible, while in this film their deaths are caused by mass electrocution from rain soaking the light extensions for their portrait being taken.