History Main / JusttheFirstCitizen

** Augustus famously publicly declined the title of king ("Rex"), likely because the title had been so associated with tyranny by Tarquin the Proud, saying he was "just" the Imperator -- a title which, at the time, still had its temporary-commander associations.

* Initially inverted with the title King in Prussia held by the Electors of Brandeburg in the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. Though they were awarded with a sovereign title, they were still technically vassals of the King of the Romans (i.e. the Holy Roman Emperor), hence they were Kings ''in'' Prussia, not ''of'' Prussia. It was only under Frederick the Great that Prussia became a superpower and he could formally crown himself as King of Prussia.

* [[AffablyEvil Vayne]] of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' takes this UpToEleven: His official title is "Consul", but he insists that the citizens of Rabanastre don't even use that to address him. Instead, he requests that they address him as "Vayne" and treat him like any other citizen.

** The German title ''Kanzler'' (often translated as chancellor) did not originally mean "head of the government" either. The term originated in the medieval period derived from Latin ''cancellarius'' and initially described a glorified clerk. And as a matter of fact, the German federal chancellor (Bundeskanzler, or in case of a woman holding that office, Bundeskanzlerin) is ''not'' the first citizen. In the official order of protocol the Bundespräsident is the undisputed number one, with the number two being either the President of the parliament or the President pro tempore of the Bundesrat (the upper chamber made up of appointed representatives of UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland; the position of president pro tempore rotates among the heads of the sixteen states), with the Bundeskanzler being somewhere down the line. As a further emphasis how "unimportant" the office of Bundeskanzler is, their official residence, the Bundeskanzleramt in Berlin, is both lower and within viewing distance of the parliament (Bundestag). However, given that the Bundeskanzler almost always has the support of the majority of the Bundestag, and is often the leader of one of the major parties, the real power is usually reversed.

** Though the Stewards of Gondor aren't kings, they control the nation with the same authority the now-defunct line of kings had. Aragorn would have a harder time claiming the long-vacant kingship if not for the suicide of Denethor, the last Ruling Steward, the death in battle of his first son and near-death of the second, although it turned out the second was fine with handing over control to Aragorn. (It probably helped in the latter case that Aragorn clearly intended to spend a good chunk of time in the north reestablishing Arnor as a kingdom, leaving his Gondorian Steward to run things in the south while he was away.)

[[folder: FanFiction]]

** UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia is a presidential republic, but during the Medvedev presidency, the guy in power was still Prime Minister UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin. Not because he was the Prime Minister, but because he was Vladimir Putin. Since then, he's back to being President, since the Russian constitution only has a limit on the number of ''consecutive'' terms in office. Basically, he can fairly easily be President for 2 terms, then put a puppet in his place for a term, and get "re-elected" after that.

* Taken to its LogicalExtreme by [[UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi Muammar al-Gaddafi]], who hadn't held any formal position of power since resigning as prime minister of Libya in 1972-- however, he was dictator all the way up until 2011, and was often referred to as [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard "Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya"]] or "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution." This was taken to absurd levels during the civil war that ousted him: Gaddafi kept insisting that he could not step down because there was nothing to step down from.

Either way, his title is short, simple, and unpretentious, quite possibly little more than a job descriptor. His authority doesn't come from his title; it comes from ''[[AsskickingEqualsAuthority himself]]''.

** "Literature/SearchByTheMule": The Mule rules a volume of space equivalent to one-tenth of the galaxy, accourding to the EncyclopediaExposita prefacing this work. Part of this stemmed from his [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex innate inferiority complex]], as he was aware that no matter how impressively he titled himself, he could never change the fact that he was physically misshapen and comically deformed. Instead, he was content to rule with unchallenged PsychicPowers ensuring [[{{Brainwashed}} perfect loyalty]] from his highest-level minions. [[spoiler:A successor to the title appears in "Literature/SearchByTheFoundation", purely to preserve the illusion that they are as militarily powerful as the Mule.]]

* In ''Literature/LookToTheWest'', Rodrigus Alfarus, the ''de facto'' leader of the Societist Combine in its early years, has the title of "Kapud", commander of the Celatores (which looks a lot like an army, but Societism teaches that war is always wrong, so it can't be), and is outranked by the Zonal Rejes, except that he's the one that appoints them. Combine diplomats claim bewilderment when countries negotiating with them asked for confirmation by such a minor civil servant, although this was probably an affectation.

** This is somewhat comparable to how today's Saudi monarchs (and previous [[UsefulNotes/TurksWithTroops Ottoman sultans]] after Selim I) proudly claim the title [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custodian_of_the_Two_Holy_Mosques خادم الحرمين الشريفين‎‎]] (Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques/Servant of the Two Noble Sanctuaries/Protector of the Two Holy Cities - depends how you translate it) but not "King of Mecca".

* Albanian national hero UsefulNotes/{{Skanderbeg}} united the squabbling feudal lords into the [[TheAlliance League of Lehze]], gave his people a sense of national unity and could have very well considered himself a king by his own right, specially since he was technically a [[WarriorPrince prince]] from a Principality. The only official title he ever took was ''Dominus Albaniae'' - "Lord of Albania", and always signed himself in documents using this title.
* Initially inverted with the title King in Prussia held by the Electors of Brandeburg in the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. Though they were awarded with a sovereign title, they were still technically vassals of the King of the Romans (i.e. the Holy Roman Emperor), hence they were Kings ''in'' Prussia, not ''of'' Prussia. It would only under Frederick the Great that Prussia would become a superpower and he could formally crown himself as King of Prussia.
* In Mycenaean Greece, the title "qasireu", whence comes the modern "Basileus", referred to a local chieftain, with the title "Wanax" being used to refer to a king. Following the Bronze Age collapse, it was the title "Basileus" that was used by kings (Wanax or Anax being reserved exclusively for Zeus), up to, and including, the Byzantine Emperors. Thus, the main title used by the leader of what was, at one time, the superpower of Europe originally referred to a local chieftain.

* Some parties that have "collective leadership" or "no leader" appoint a "speaker" to communicate with the press "on behalf of the party" the same way a party head would for traditionally led parties. That office may or may not coincide with what is commonly seen as the most important person in the party - or a "simple member" may instead have that role (during most of his political career, Joschka Fischer who while being a Minister in the government held no special party office besides "member" was seen as the "de facto leader" of the Green Party - despite the party always having a two headed leader team elected by the relevant party bodies and never including Fischer in any capacity)

* After Deng Xiaoping retired from his last formal position as the chairman of the military commission, he only kept the title of Honorary Chairman of the China TabletopGame/{{Bridge}} Association. Until his death, however, everyone knew who was the real leader of Peoples' Republic of China.

* The United States "President" (i.e. "the one who presides") was originally conceived as one of those, and the title had previously been mostly used for chairmen of committees. The style of the King was "By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, Prince-Elector of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick" and he was addressed as "Your Majesty". The longest title the President gets is "the President of the United States" and is generally addressed merely as "Mister President".

** The German title ''Kanzler'' (often translated as chancellor) did not originally mean "head of the government" either. The term originated in the medieval period derived from Latin ''cancellarius'' and initially described a glorified clerk. And as a matter of fact, the German federal chancellor (Bundeskanzler or in case of a woman holding that office Bundeskanzlerin) is ''not'' the first citizen. In the official order of protocol the Bundespräsident is the undisputed number one, with the number two being either the President of the parliament or the President pro tempore of the Bundesrat (the upper chamber made up of appointed representatives of UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland; the position of president pro tempore rotates among the heads of the sixteen states) and the Bundeskanzler being somewhere down the line. As a further emphasis how "unimportant" the office of Bundeskanzler is, their official residence, the Bundeskanzleramt in Berlin is both lower and within viewing distance of the parliament (Bundestag). Given however, that the Bundeskanzler almost always has the support of the majority of the Bundestag, and is often the leader of one of the major parties, the real power is usually reversed.

** UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia is a presidential republic, but during the Medvedev presidency, the guy in power was still Prime Minister UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin. Not because he was the Prime Minister, but because he was UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin. Since then, he's back to being President, since the Russian constitution only has a limit on the number of ''consecutive'' terms in office. Basically, he can fairly easily be President for 2 terms, then put a puppet in his place for a term, and get "re-elected" after that.
* The title of ''Führer'', which UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler adopted when he became leader of the Nazi Party and elevated to a government title when they took power in Germany, can be simply translated to "guide", although it is generally translated as "leader", which is more in line with fascist philosophy. Although not even nearly as ubiquitously used as Führer, Hitler also awarded himself a number of bombastic titles over the years designed specifically to invoke this trope, including "First Soldier of the German Reich", "First Worker of the New Germany", and "Supreme Judge of the German People". In something of an overlap with ModestRoyalty, Hitler's ceremonial uniform was also much more staid than you would expect from a man in the process of conquering the world. He wore a plain uniform with only the awards that he earned in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, which looks funny in contrast to, say, Goering, who {{bling|OfWar}}ed it up with silks and furs and every medal he could lay his fat hands on (even though the awards Goering had legitimately won as an AcePilot in World War I would've been sufficiently impressive on their own).
* [[OlderThanTheyThink Before him]] we have UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, who started out calling himself ''Duce del Partito Fascista'', meaning "Leader of the Fascist Party". ''Duce'' itself was just a fancy way to say "leader" (coming from the Latin ''[[PretentiousLatinMotto dux]]'', from which also the Italian ''duca'' and its English equivalent ''duke'' are derived), before his use of it ruined the title in the eyes of most Italians. As for the titles he used to rule, he was merely the "President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy", or Prime Minister for short (officially the king was still in charge, and had the power to dismiss him... As he actually did in 1943), and, during the German occupation, he was the ''Duce e Capo del Governo'' (Leader and Chief of the Government). After the conquest of Ethiopia, however, he gave himself a couple of bombastic titles, changing his title as chief of the Fascist Party into "Leader and Founder of the Empire" and appointing himself as "First Marshall of the Empire" together with the king (a move to put the prime minister, that is himself, on the same rank of the king in the military chain of command).
* In 1653 the English Parliament offered UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell the crown and, after two weeks of deliberation, he turned it down (twice) and instead accepted a republican office with equivalent powers - Lord Protector. This was mainly to try and bring in more support for the deeply unpopular parliamentarians (most of whom had not gone into the civil war wanting to remove Charles I, Cromwell included) by creating a more monarchical system to bring in more and broader civilian political support, while not provoking the army who were dead set against any revival of the monarchy by that point. The post was still referred to as 'His Highness', and a second investiture of Cromwell was a royal coronation in all but name. After he died, [[HereditaryRepublic the post passed on to his son]], and the English decided that since they had already gone this far, they might as well bring the monarchy back; cue the Stuart Restoration.

** Take note that besides RegentForLife, another precedent in Japanese politics is the position holder will ''retire'' from the position to hold ''real power''.

** Prophet Muhammad himself. "Messenger of God" was the only title he held. And even then, he wasn't even the Head of State. The Qur'an explicitly states that GOD holds the title "King of the Realm"[[note]]Well, "Sovereign of Sovereignty"; it's only considered ''shirk''--association with God--if you call yourself "king of kings". "King" is vaguely OK, as long as you mean it as a purely secular title and claim no special spiritual authority (other than that which is the "natural" authority of any leader of Muslims--the right to lead the people in prayer). The Prophet, however, ''was'' asserting extraordinary spiritual authority, so he had to make it clear that he was acting on God's behalf.[[/note]] Meaning that the Prophet ruled as the equivalent of a Governor-General (like in Australia).

* Taken to its LogicalExtreme by [[UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi Muammar al-Gaddafi]], who hadn't held any formal position of power since resigning as prime minister of Libya in 1972 -- however, he was dictator all the way up until 2011, and was often referred to as [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard "Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya"]] or "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution." This was taken to absurd levels during the civil war that ousted him: Gaddafi kept insisting that he could not step down because there was nothing to step down from.

* In ancient Macedonia the king was the "First among equals", and the king's Companions tended to simply address them by name. People kicked up a big fuss when UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat adopted the customs of the defeated Persians (i.e. asking them to bow etc...)
* ''King'' at its root means "offspring of a family" -- that it was of RoyalBlood, a ''good'' family, is implied, but it comes from the same root as ''kin''. ''Queen'' at its root means "woman" (like Swedish ''kvinna''; the sense evolution is "woman -> wife -> wife of someone important -> wife of the king -> female monarch").

* Nicaragua is ripe with this trope. Back in the 1930s, rebel leader Augusto C Sandino who had no official title whatsoever and started out with a RagtagBunchOfMisfits for an army (he borrowed his starting capital from local prostitutes) came to control half the country, until he was murdered by Anastasio Somoza, who went on to become "Head of the National Guard", and even though he (and later his two sons) were in and out of the presidency due to constitutional constraints on infinite reelection, nobody was fooled as to the true ruler of the country until the fall of Anastasio Somoza Jr. in 1979. After Somoza was ousted in 1979 a five member "provisional government junta"[[note]] While the term "junta" has ''only'' negative connotations in English, it can be used as a more neutral term for any body of collective leadership or a meeting - it derives from the word "junto" which just means "together"[[/note]] which was ostensibly intended to keep the Sandinista (leftist, pro-Cuba, later Soviet-allied) and liberal-conservative factions of the Anti-Somoza movement from fighting one another, but it became apparent pretty quickly that the Sandinistas, and Daniel Ortega chief among them, were the real power, which first led to the resignation of the non-Sandinista members of the junta and by 1984 to Presidential elections which confirmed in title what had been clear in fact for a while by then - that Daniel Ortega was the leader of Nicaragua, no matter what title he did or did not have.
* During the so-called Age of Liberty in Sweden, the single most powerful man in Sweden was, for the most part, not the King but the Chancery President (though their power were ''far'' from as large as the monarchs had been, as they were ultimately responsible to the Estates). Formally they headed the Chancery College, the central coordinating bureaucratic agency, and in that role were a delegate to the ruling Council of State. In practice, they had a leading position in the Council of State to the point of being a de facto head of government, as well as having responsibility for foreign affairs.

* Citizen Dawn, from from TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse, is a superhuman supremacist worshiped by her followers as a ''god''. Nonetheless, all superhumans in her faction, including herself, are merely called "citizen." This actually has a gameplay effect; if you're unlucky enough to flip her card to the NighInvulnerable side, she'll only flip back once enough citizens are in play - which is one less than the card would have you believe, because she counts as one.

* ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'': The Anarchists take this a step further. The highest leadership position is Acting First Advisor; the position of First Advisor is reserved for their founder, who is still officially [[NeverFoundTheBody missing in action]] and has never been formally declared LegallyDead even centuries past his natural lifespan. Position is obtained purely by merit, and the ability to get people to follow suggestions. Disregarding advice can get a person promoted, or demoted, depending on how it works out. Anyone trying to politic their way into position is promptly shot.

* ''[[http://wiki.alternatehistory.com/doku.php?id=timelines:tl-191_after_the_end Timeline-191: After the End]]'' sees Japan's military government collapse at the end of the Fourth Pacific War, being replaced by a syndicalist revolution. The leader of this new government subsequently grants himself the title of "People's Friend".

** Note that because of Stalin's use of this trope, the position of General Secretary became the ''de facto'' leader of the Communist Party, which itself became ''de facto'' leader of the entire country, even if on paper the offices of state indicated otherwise. This has carried on to the present day. ''Officially'' in China the office of Prime Minister is the head of government, with the office of President as head of state in a ceremonial role. Unofficially, the ''real'' power in China is the office of General Secretary of the Communist Party... who is always also the President (at least since then-General Secretary Jiang Zemin took the presidency in 1993).

** For that matter, Chairman UsefulNotes/MaoZedong. His actual office was called "Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China". Since there's no one specific office that every leader of the PRC has held, in the West the term "Paramount Leader" was invented to refer to whoever is obviously in charge of China.

** [[OlderThanTheyThink Before him]] we have UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, who started out calling himself ''Duce del Partito Fascista'', meaning "Leader of the Fascist Party". ''Duce'' itself was just a fancy way to say "leader" (coming from the Latin ''[[PretentiousLatinMotto dux]]'', from which also the Italian ''duca'' and its English equivalent ''duke'' are derived), before his use of it ruined the title in the eyes of most Italians. As for the titles he used to rule, he was merely the "President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy", or Prime Minister for short (officially the king was still in charge, and had the power to dismiss him... As he actually did in 1943), and, during the German occupation, he was the ''Duce e Capo del Governo'' (Leader and Chief of the Government). After the conquest of Ethiopia, however, he gave himself a couple of bombastic titles, changing his title as chief of the Fascist Party into "Leader and Founder of the Empire" and appointing himself as "First Marshall of the Empire" together with the king (a move to put the prime minister, that is himself, on the same rank of the king in the military chain of command).

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': Darth Marr is only one of approximately a dozen Lords of the Dark Council at any given time, but is their ''de facto'' leader, which in turn makes him essentially the regent of the entire Sith Empire when Emperor Vitiate is silent. The reason for this is that he does his level best to stay out of the {{chronic backstabbing|Disorder}} of Sith politics and [[PragmaticVillainy focuses on keeping the Empire itself intact]], which means the other Lords of the Council mostly trust that he isn't secretly trying to undermine them. [[spoiler:With the death of [[BodySurfing the Emperor's current host body]] in the Jedi Knight storyline, he becomes even more powerful, and forms a BigBadDuumvirate with the Sith Inquisitor PC after ''Rise of the Hutt Cartel'', which lasts until his death in ''Knights of the Fallen Empire''.]]

-->'''Sisko''': Still calling yourself 'Gul'? I'm surprised you haven't promoted yourself back to Legate by now.
-->'''Dukat''': I prefer the title 'Gul'; so much more hands-on than 'Legate'. And less pretentious than the other alternatives: President, Emperor, First Minister... [[TakeThat Emissary]].
-->'''Sisko:''' How about "Dominion puppet"?

* Nicaragua is ripe with this trope. Back in the 1930s, rebel leader Augusto C Sandino who had no official title whatsoever and started out with a RagtagBunchOfMisfits for an army (he borrowed his starting capital from local prostitutes) came to control half the country, until he was murdered by Anastasio Somoza, who went on to become "Head of the National Guard", and even though he (and later his two sons) were in and out of the presidency due to constitutional constraints on infinite reelection, nobody was fooled as to the true ruler of the country until the fall of Anastasio Somoza Jr. in 1979.