History Main / ModestRoyalty

* Blaze the Cat of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' is a princess, and wears a relatively simple purple jacket and white pants. It is fancier than what most characters wear (mostly by virtue of being ''[[HalfDressedCartoonAnimal more]]'' [[HalfDressedCartoonAnimal than most characters wear]]), but not unduly so. She also [[DontCallMeSir dislikes being addressed as "Your Highness"]].

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'': Hiccup, who as the chief's son could technically be considered Viking "royalty", wears the same kind simple outfits as the rest of the Vikings. He's not even treated as the chief's son by anyone except Trader Johnan in the TV series, who calls him "Master Hiccup" as opposed to just "Mr. Whomever" like he calls everyone else. [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2 The second film]] does place more emphasis on Hiccup's role in the clan, especially [[spoiler:at the end when he is formally installed as chief]], but his outfits don't get any royal upgrades. Even in [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonTheHiddenWorld the third film]], where he is explicitly in charge, there's nothing especially standout with regards to his clothing, except when he wears his dragonscale armor.

* Thief from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', though far from modest in any other sense, is the Prince of Elfland and wears simple leather armor. His post-upgrade outfit ({{Ninja}} gear), though far from casual, might count as well, since it doesn't signify his status in any way.
** Which, when you consider what a JerkAss he is, almost seems OutOfCharacter...

* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': Queen Serenity and her daughter have fairly simple dresses as [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]] royalty goes, even Chibi Usa's princess dress in the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]] is pretty modest, if you ignore the colour and frills. Even their jewelry is understated: Neo-Queen Serenity's crown (which is more like a tiara in the manga) isn't excessive and that's about the most ornate thing any of them appears with, minus the scepters, of course.

* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'': The titular character always chooses practical clothes for flight, exploration and combat. At the beginning she wears the same uniform as the old male pilots of her valley.
* Relena Peacecraft from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' tends to wear modest clothing in her everyday life, and even during the period where she was ruler of her own nation she alternated between a [[http://aboutgundamwing.com/SC/SC29/vlcsnap-77749.jpg modestly fancy outfit]] for formal occasions and [[http://aboutgundamwing.com/SC/SC29/vlcsnap-146557.jpg the local school uniform]] for day-to-day wear. The fanciest she gets is [[http://aboutgundamwing.com/SC/SC40/vlcsnap-292384.jpg this dress]], worn during the four episodes[=/=]two weeks in-universe where she was [[spoiler:Queen of the World]].
* Queen Diana Soriel of ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' dresses in a very practical manner that seems to prize function over fashion: she wears a rather plain black and white uniform with pants rather than a dress, and while she does have very long hair, she keeps it heavily gelled so that it stays in place in zero gravity. The fact that she's the only one who wears anything remotely like this uniform implies that it's the standard Moonrace royal garb.

* ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'': Although Hotohori is always well-dressed (and interested in fashion), he doesn't wear anything ''too'' fancy most of the time.
* In ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'', flashbacks show that Sankt Kaiser Olivie Sägebrecht and Hegemon Claus Ingvalt commonly wear outfits reminiscent of warriors and knights rather than kings. Even Olivie's more formal outfits are simple dresses.

* ''Manga/Area88'': Justified with Saki Vashtal who is a prince of Asran while also commanding the mercenary base at Area 88. He is the son of Prince Abdael, who was passed over for kingship in favor of his brother Zak. Abdael turned traitor, becoming leader of the anti government forces. Saki either dresses in regular military fatigues, a flightsuit, or a simple shirt and tie. Additionally, despite being royalty, in the Asran military, Saki is only a Lt. Colonel and not even a full Colonel, let alone a Brigadier General. He's not a crown prince so Saki has no real reason to wear more princely garb, and especially since Asran is supposed to be a poor country, he probably hasn't got the means to.

* ''Manga/CastleTownDandelion'' features the Sakurada family, who're technically the royal family of the country, and yet mostly live like a typical middle-income family: they have a two-floor house in the suburbs, the kids go to a public school, and barring the fact that dad Souichiro still commutes with a motorcade, and he often forgets to take off the crown from his head while at home, would easily pass for a {{salaryman}}.
* Empress Yui of ''Anime/RegaliaTheThreeSacredStars'' lives and dresses like a fairly normal highschool student most of the time.
* The Reiss Family in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' appears to be this; while we only see a few members more than once, they all seem to dress simply, though this could be because [[KingIncognito they were hiding their royalty and masquerading as just minor nobles]] and Historia wasn't raised as a royal and was forced to hide the fact that she even was a Reiss due to her [[HeroicBastard illegitimacy]].
** After her heritage is revealed and she publicly becomes queen, Historia makes a few changes to her attire and appearance, donning a new outfit and a [[PrimAndProperBun more respectable plaited updo]], but it's still quite simple; she only dons the RequisiteRoyalRegalia for [[AwesomeMomentofCrowning her coronation]] and a few official ceremonies.
* The titular character of ''Anime/FenaPiratePrincess'' is this, spending most of the series in completely normal clothes. The fanciest thing she wears is the gown from her failed wedding [[spoiler: and the gown she wears as [[BarrierMaiden The Maiden of Choosing]]]]. Subverted a bit since she was unaware of her royal heritage until recently.
** Abel is a more straight example, having been raised as a prince but still favoring normal clothing. Though his blue naval uniform is nice-looking, it's no fancier than his fellow officers' uniforms.
* Van Fanel (as did the rest of the Fanelian royal family, as seen in flashbacks) in ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'' dresses very plainly, to the point that people outside of Fanelia -- noble and peasant alike -- don't even ''realize'' he's royalty unless someone points it out.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' zig-zags this. Plenty of members of the Britannian Royal family dress rather modestly consisdering their status - however this is justified for various reasons such as piloting HumongousMecha (Cornelia), being [[KingIncognito undercover]] (Lelouch and Nunnally), or otherwise slightly fancier looking everyday attire. When the characters appear in more fancy looking outfits, they are generally doing things royals would do such as making public appearances and ruling.

** Princess Nefertari Vivi of Alabasta. Granted the majority of her time onscreen was [[TheInfiltration infiltrating an underground criminal organization]] that was trying to take over her kingdom and later fighting alongside the [[{{Pirates}} Straw Hats]] as an honorary crew mate, but she's only ever shown once in a PimpedOutDress and that was for an official occasion. Mostly she's seen wearing comfortable and practical clothes for [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething everyday duties]]. To some extent, Dalton from Drum Kingdom, but then again he didn't inherit the throne and doesn't like to be called "King" to begin with.
** [[spoiler: Donquixote Doflamingo, the (now former) king of Dressrosa,]] is a double subversion. His main outfit is extravagant all right, but it's definitely not something you'd expect a king to wear either.

** Princess Kida from ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', spends most of the movie wearing a bikini and sarong. [[TheHighQueen Kida]]'s [[spoiler: coronation dress]] at the end of the film, which is completely free of any detail except on the sash hanging down from the front of said dress, also counts.

** Princess Kida from ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', spends most of the movie wearing a bikini and sarong. [[TheHighQueen Kida]]'s]] [[spoiler: coronation dress]] at the end of the film, which is completely free of any detail except on the sash hanging down from the front of said dress, also counts.

** [[spoiler:[[TheHighQueen Kida]]'s]] dress at the end of ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', which is completely free of any detail except on the sash hanging down from the front of said dress.

** Leonidas. You don't get much simpler than a pair of tight leather shorts and a cape.

* Authoritarianism: It has been normal for military dictators of communist regimes to wear the uniform of the lowest-ranking private, without insignia or decorations – Mao and Stalin are major examples (though the latter dropped this habit after World War II and started to wear a white CustomUniform made for him specially).
** For fascist rulers, Hitler's toothbrush moustache stood in contrast to the extravagant facial hair of the old German upper classes.[[note]]It was also his way of showing his own past as a common soldier; elaborate mustaches would interfere with gas masks, which became necessary in WWI, but the toothbrush mustache wouldn't.[[/note]]

* UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily: The modern royals don’t get much more dressed up than business formal, except for truly pomp-inducing ceremonies like a royal wedding or coronation. Even Prince Charles' investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969 (when he was 21) was an understated affair, with his mother the queen in a white hat and matching dress/overcoat thing and the Prince himself in military uniform.

* Corporate variation: Big-box store Costco was founded and run by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Sinegal James Sinegal]] for decades, whose net worth measures in the billions and who managed to keep the company's stock growing to five thousand percent of its starting value in 27 years. Yet he was rarely seen in anything other than a simple button-up shirt, slacks, and his Costco employee badge. He is seen occasionally in open-front suits or comfortable sweaters and almost never in a tie, befitting his textbook BenevolentBoss and HonestCorporateExecutive demeanor.

* Most of the time, [[Characters/StarVsTheForcesOfEvilStarButterfly Star Butterly]] from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' wears extremely casual dresses, even when she leaves Earth and moves back to Mewni in the second half of the series. She does wear fancy dresses for formal occasions, however.
** Tom also dresses rather casually for the Prince of the Underworld, to the point where the only hints that he's royalty at all before being confirmed in side material and the third season are the fact that he rides around in a carriage (which he's later revealed to have built himself) and the fact that he's apparently the one hosting the Blood Moon Ball. While he can dress quite fancily when he wants to, sometimes he'll just wear a simple suit instead.

** Emperor Palpatine, ruler of the Galaxy, EvilOverlord Supreme? A black robe and hood. Even the crimson-clad bodyguards and personal advisors who accompany him have fancier outfits than he does. This may reflect the fact that he considers himself a Sith first - a WarriorMonk of sorts, for all that he's dedicated to the Dark Side - and Emperor second.

** Princess Bubblegum counts, too. Her costumes of choice consist of long, flowing formal dresses and gowns. However, when she isn't on the job, she prefers more casual attire, like jeans, hoodies, shorter skirts, and T-shirts. [[EmperorScientist She also wears her lab coat a lot.]]

** The Fire Nation royals are fairly modest, with both Zuko and Azula wearing what basically amounts to military uniforms. Ozai's Fire Lord outfit is a bit more elaborate, but he's perfectly willing to lose [[ShirtlessScene everything but the pants]] when it's time to get serious. The crown, meanwhile, is a simple flame-shaped piece that fits into the hair.
** Ozai in particular tends to [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzag]] this; he goes full [[TheCaligula Caligula]] and promotes himself to the new title of [[AGodAmI Phoenix King]] with a more elaborate crown and costume, but still shucks it without hesitation when it's time to fight.

** Ruling princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance wear crowns, collars, and metal hoof covers akin to slippers, but nothing else, not even for most special occasions. Only once ([[spoiler:Twilight's coronation]]) have they ever sported a PimpedOutDress – in Cadance's case, twice, the other was her own wedding.
** [[spoiler:Twilight Sparkle]] is the same way, once she [[spoiler:becomes an alicorn princess as well]]. She won't even wear her crown unless it's a special occasion, and even then it's a very small and simple model; she completely forgoes any other regalia. In fact, her crowns get progressively simpler; her original crown as [[spoiler:the bearer of the Element of Harmony]] was more ornate than the one she wore at her coronation, despite [[spoiler:both containing her Element]]. When she wears a dress, rest assured that it has nothing to do with her social standing. She didn't even have a castle at first, preferring to continue living [[spoiler:at the library]] and only leaving because [[spoiler:it got blown up.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' is this entirely by necessity; like the ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' example above, he is the WarriorPrince of Japan, and by default, the Emperor since his father is dead. However, he has no kingdom, and wanders from place to place as a destitute nomad. His only possessions are a plain white robe, his sandals, and his sword.

* Most of the time, Star Butterly from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' wears extremely casual dresses, even when she leaves Earth and moves back to Mewni in the second half of the series. She does wear fancy dresses for formal occasions, however.

* Franchise/WonderWoman may be a princess but her jewelry is usually limited to her tiara, which doubles as a weapon, and her "bracelets" which are unquestionably designed as protective armor rather than for looks and her clothing tends to be jeans or very simple gowns.