History Main / HeirInLaw

* ''Manga/Berserk'': The king of Midland has only one child, Princess Charlotte, and whoever marries her will become the kings' heir. Griffith, an ambitious commoner who hopes to get a kingdom of his own, works hard to impress the king with repeated victories in battle, while at the same time using all his charm to sweep the [[TheIngenue naive]] princess off her feet. Since Charlotte is not yet engaged the king's brother Count Julius and Julius's son Adonis are actually second and third in line, [[spoiler:but Griffith manages to eliminate them after Julius's unsuccessful attempt on Griffith's life]]. After winning the hundred year war for Midland, [[spoiler:Griffith blows his chance when he has a FreakOut over Guts leaving the band of the Hawk, and gets himself imprisoned and tortured by the king for deflowering Charlotte. Charlotte helps Griffith's followers to spring him out of prison, and has no choice but to say goodbye.]] Then come the Millennium Falcon Arc, [[spoiler:Emperor Ganishka invades Midland and intends to legitimize his conquest by forcing Charlotte to bear his children. Griffith miraculously returns to rescue Charlotte and all of Midland, with them being none the wiser about the DealWithTheDevil Griffith made in the Eclipse. Now a VillainWithGoodPublicity, Griffith is once again set to marry Charlotte and make his kingship official]].

** This is most likely why [[Eleanor, the Fair Maid of Brittany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor,_Fair_Maid_of_Brittany ]] was kept imprisoned for entire life; after the death of her brother, Arthur, she was technically the rightful heiress to the Plantagenets' vast holdings and a potential husband might have tried to press her claim.

** This is most likely why [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor,_Fair_Maid_of_Brittany Eleanor, the Fair Maid of Brittany]] was kept imprisoned for entire life; after the death of her brother, Arthur, she was technically the rightful heiress to the Plantagenets' vast holdings and a potential husband might have tried to press her claim.

** The Tudor claim to the throne of England and France comes from two instances of this--Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth of York as well as the marriage by Princess Katherine of France (widow of Henry V) to Owen Tudor. Another case of succession through [[AppealToForce having the]] [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem larger army]].

* Ambitious people will CompeteForTheMaidensHand, possibly through an EngagementChallenge (or by winning a StandardHeroReward, since the princess who is usually included may come packaged with a ticket to inherit).

* Historically, TheProphetMuhammad had no living sons, but had at least one daughter, Fatima. Fatima was married to Ali, [[KissingCousins Muhammad's cousin]], and according to Shiite Muslims, he was Muhammad's proper heir, followed by their sons (who were, of course, Muhammad's grandsons). Different branches continue to follow Ali's descendants, whether they're still around (Ismailis/"Seveners") or a MessianicArchetype believed to currently be in hiding. {{Averted}} by Sunni Muslims, who don't believe that leadership of the Muslim community has to be hereditary.

* In ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings'' the downplayed trope is very common, as characters get a prestige bonus from marrying landed characters or their close relatives (whether they are set to inherit or no). Otherwise this trope is averted as females either can't inherit at all (under completely agnatic systems) or inherit fully as rulers (agnatic-cognatic or fully cognatic systems). It is possible to marry female rulers in order to put ''your dynasty'' on the throne from the next generation onwards (and is the norm) but ''your character'' does not gain any influence in your spouse's realm simply by marrying her (until they die and you start playing their heir, at any rate).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess,'' Rothbart's motive for cursing Odette is blackmailing her into marrying him. He {{Handwaves}} the question of why he doesn't just take over the kingdom [[EvilSorcerer with magic]], saying that if he's the ''legitimate'' king he won't have to spend his life defending the position. ([[FridgeLogic Because nobody will object to an exiled criminal suddenly marrying the recently-orphaned princess?]])

* In ''Film/CurseOfTheGoldenFlower'' the Emperor is heavily implied to be this. He was a brilliant and recently widowed general who appeared to marry the previous emperor's only daughter, the now Empress. [[spoiler: But he had to get rid of his beloved first wife to do so.]]

* Historically, TheProphetMuhammad had no living sons, but had at least one daughter, Fatima. Fatima was married to Ali, [[KissingCousins Muhammad's cousin]], and according to Shiite Muslims, he was Muhammad's proper heir, followed by their sons (who were, of course, Muhammad's grandsons). Different branches continue to follow Ali's descendants, whether they're still around (Ismailis/"Seveners") or a MessianicArchetype believed to currently be in hiding.

* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', this the the plan of Jafar, the EvilChancellor. By using his magic on the Sultan, he plans to secure a marriage to Princess Jasmine and gain the throne through her. It doesn't seem as though he intends his wife to live long after his ascension.

** Ramsay Snow has used marriage twice to acquire (or legitimise his acquisition) of power. One of the instances is actually trickery--he claims to be married to Arya Stark, strengthening his position in the lands the Starks used to rule, but in fact, the girl in question is not Arya Stark at all.
** Lord Tywin's desire for Tyrion to go through with a marriage to another member of the Stark family, Sansa, has a similar rationale. Robb Stark goes so far as to disinherit Sansa to stop her marriage being used as an excuse for House Lannister to rule the north.

** Alys Karstark runs away from home to prevent herself being married by someone who wants to inherit when her brother dies (an event which they don't intend to be very far off). Jon Snow arranges her marriage to a barbarian chief who would make a more manageable lord of Karhold, creating a new House, Thenn.

** William of Orange became King of England through his marriage to Mary Stuart (II), but initially as co-monarch rather than sole monarch. However, he continued to rule after her death rather than make way for her heirs, as he would have done had he just been a consort. It probably helped that William was [[KissingCousins also in the line of succession]] and that he took the throne in what was essentially a coup d'etat.

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Sometimes, [[BlueBlood royal title]] in a [[HeirClubForMen male-favouring system]] can't be inherited by a king's daughter, but ''can'' be inherited by the man who marries her. The throne can be passed on ''via'' a princess, but not solely to her. She'll instead be placed somewhere on a scale of royal wives - if she's lucky, perhaps as [[RulingCouple co-ruler]], but if she's not, perhaps just as a convenient tool who [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness ceases to be useful]] as soon as the marriage goes through. In some cases, this is even retroactive: a woman who has ''already'' inherited will be demoted to consort if she later marries.

* If the marriage greatly changes the financial situation of one of the parties, things like NobilityMarriesMoney and RagsToRoyalty may be in play. Money, not the throne, might be someone's main motive - people may see a princess as a MealTicket, or an ImpoverishedPatrician may trade on lineage to achieve success as a GoldDigger.

** Ramsay Snow has used marriage twice to acquire (or legitimise his acquisition) of power. One of the instances is actually trickery - he claims to be married to Arya Stark, strengthening his position in the lands the Starks used to rule, but in fact, the girl in question is not Arya Stark at all.

* Formal, codified systems of royal inheritance tend not to use this idea - those which don't let princesses inherit tend to send the throne to a male cousin (who does have [[BlueBlood royal blood]]) rather than sending it to a princess's husband (who doesn't). That said, plenty of people have pressed claims based on their marriages anyway, and if they had the bigger army, sometimes got away with it. A man ''could'' legally get a title through his wife, but would hold it ''jure uxoris'' ("by right of his wife" or "in right of a wife"). Legally the husband and wife would equally hold the title, rather than the husband taking the whole thing, but sometimes he could take it in the case of her death or even divorce. Morganatic marriages explicitly don't confer any rights on the person of lower status, so are sometimes used to avoid any potential for this sort of thing.

** The Tudor claim to the throne of England and France comes from two instances of this- Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth of York as well as the marriage by Princess Katherine of France (widow of Henry V) to Owen Tudor. Another case of succession through [[AppealToForce having the]] [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem larger army]].

* Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, inherited or was elected to many titles in his own right, but claimed the title King of Jerusalem by virtue of marrying Yolande, the heir of the Crusader States. Yolande was very young and not acting as ruler in her own right. What power she had in her name was exercised by her father John, acting as Regent. Upon their marriage, Frederick immediately declared himself in charge of her territory and dismissed her father. Yolande never reached adulthood - she lived only long enough to give birth to an heir and die in the process.

* This is the plan in ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy''. A Calamoran prince wants to marry Queen Susan of Narnia so he'll be able to take over the country.

* This was a sore spot between [[MaryOfScotland Mary Queen of Scots]] and her husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. While Darnley was officially the King of Scotland, with his name coming before Mary's on government documents and his face appearing on coinage, she was the queen and he the consort. Darnley was constantly badgering Mary and the Scottish Parliament to bestow him with the Crown Matrimonial, which would have allowed him to inherit the throne and rule in his own right if Mary died.

* The ''Children of the Black Sun'' trilogy features confusion between a culture where this can happen and one where it can't. Mira is the daughter of a clan chief, and a Mesentreian noble thinks that bargaining with the clan to marry her is the same thing as securing eventual rulership for himself. Ricalani clans don't actually work like that, and all he'd get out of the marriage is Mira herself, but unfortunately for Mira, her clan is quite happy to take advantage of his misunderstanding and strike a deal.

* An ArrangedMarriage is even more likely than usual for princesses. Good luck being allowed to MarryForLove when your choice will determine the future ruler of the kingdom.

** Alys Karstark runs away from home to prevent herself being married by someone who wants to inherit when her brother dies (an event which they don't intend to be very far off).

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* In ''Literature/TheQueensThief'' series, the Queen of Attolia was a minor princess whose fiancé plotted to take the throne by killing her brother, the heir. Once that was done, the fiancé would seize power through her, except that he and his father[[TooDumbToLive discussed these plans around her openly]], so she poisoned him at their wedding and took the throne herself. However, because Attolia is pretty sexist, the country remained unstable so long as her barons thought they could marry her and seize power themselves, forcing her to enact a brutal regime [[spoiler:until she married Eugenides, who puts in enough kinging that she can maintain her rule without a problem]].

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