History Main / ParentalMarriageVeto

* One episode of ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'' dealt with this. Robert tried to propose to his girlfriend, but asked for her parents permission first just out of respect. Given he's just doing this as a formality, he's shocked when they say "No." ("But thanks for asking!") When he goes ahead with the proposal anyway, which is very romantic and gets an enthusiastic "yes" from the bride-to-be, he's slightly distraught when she asks, "I know it's just a formality, but could you go to my father and ask for his blessing?"

** Smith's infatuation with a local woman called Talas gets shut down when her uncle-in-law forbids them to see each other (in accordance with local law and custom, Talas having married into his family makes her his to give away, even if her blood family was still alive. This despite both the son she married and the son's father are both dead). [[spoiler:Talas ends up leaving the household after her mother-in-law dies and eventually meets up with Smith again, who promptly offers to marry. The couple then has to deal with Smith's mother back in Britain, who refuses to acknowledge his betrothal to a foreigner.]]

* In ''Literature/LittleWomen'', Aunt March tries to do this to Meg when she wants to marry John Brooke, a poor Englishman and Laurie's tutor, mistakenly believing that he's a GoldDigger who wants to use her to get Aunt March's riches. It backfires, rousing Meg's anger and turning her reluctant 'no' into a defiant 'yes.'

** Prince Albert Victor, a grandson of UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and second in line to the British throne after his father Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), fell in love with the Princess Hélène of Orléans and sought permission to marry her. The marriage was vetoed by both sets of parents, mainly because Hélène was Catholic and Albert Victor was Anglican. Even if Albert Victor's parents decided to approve the marriage, Hélène would have to convert to Anglicanism because marrying a Catholic would cost Albert Victor his succession rights. Hélène's father would not allow her to convert, and she even unsuccessfully lobbied the pope to intercede. The courtship ended soon after that, Hélène later married the Duke of Aosta, while Albert Victor became engaged to Princess Mary of Teck but died before they could marry.

** Prince Albert Victor, a grandson of UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and second in line to the British throne after his father Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), fell in love with the Princess Hélène of Orléans, a Catholic, and sought permission to marry her. The marriage was vetoed by both sets of parents and marrying a Catholic would have cost Albert Victor his succession rights. Hélène offered to convert to Anglicanism but her father would not allow it, and she even unsucessfully lobbied the pope to intercede. The courtship ended soon after that, Hélène later married the Duke of Aosta, and Albert Victor became engaged to Princess Mary of Teck but died before the wedding.

** Prince Albert Victor, a grandson of UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and second in line to the British throne after his father Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), fell in love with the Princess Hélène of Orléans, a Catholic, and sought permission to marry her. The marriage was vetoed by both sets of parents and marrying a Catholic would have cost Albert Victor his succession rights. Hélène offered to convert to Anglicanism but her father would not allow it, and she even unsucessfully lobbied the pope to intercede. The courtship ended soon after that, Hélène married the Duke of Aosta, and Albert Victor was engaged to Princess Mary of Teck but died before the wedding.

** Prince Albert Victor, a grandson of UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and second in line to the British throne after his father Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), fell in love with the Princess Hélène of Orléans, a Catholic, and sought permission to marry her. The marriage was vetoed by both sets of parents and marrying a Catholic would have cost Albert Victor his succession rights. Hélène offered to convert to Anglicanism but her father would not allow it, and she even unsucessfully lobbied the pope to intercede. The courtship ended soon after that.

** King George VI initially vetoed [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethII then-Princess Elizabeth's]] marriage to Philip Mountbatten, mostly because she was underage and he was still largely seen by the public as a Greek and Danish prince, even though he had given up the titles of the recently-defunct Greek monarchy. After World War II, when Philip was a British war hero and Elizabeth had turned 21, her father finally consented to the marriage.

** King George VI initially vetoed [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethII then-Princess Elizabeth's]] marriage to Philip Mountbatten, mostly because she was underage and he was still largely seen by the public as a Greek and Danish prince, even though he had given up those titles. After World War II, when Philip was a British war hero and Elizabeth had turned 21, her father finally consented to the marriage.

** For the longest time, the sovereign of Great Britain had veto rights over the marriages of ''anyone'' in the succession who could claim descent from George II. If they married without permission anyway, they'd lose their place in the succession. This was eventually repealed (but not until ''2013''!), and the current law only limits the sovereign's veto rights to the first six people in the line of succession.[[note]]Current list: Prince William (married with the late Queen's approval), Prince George (born in 2013), Princess Charlotte (born in 2015), Prince Louis (born in 2018), Prince Harry (also [[Creator/MeghanMarkle married]] with the late Queen's approval), and Prince Andrew (married with the late Queen's approval as well).[[/note]]

* This happens ''a lot'' in royal families, where the monarch has the constitutional authority to veto marriage prospects of their children, which if defied could result in the loss of royal titles and/or being booted from the line of succession:

* Then there are of course the royal families:

** In ''Doctor Thorne'', Frank Gresham's parents don't want him to wed Mary Thorne, who is illegitimate and poor. However, [[spoiler:illegitimate and rich is fine]].
** In ''Framley Parsonage'', Lady Lufton doesn't want her son to marry Lucy Robarts, whose brother has become involved in someone else's financial scandal. But mainly because she doesn't think Lucy's is 'significant' enough (character-wise) to be the wife of such an important man.
** In ''The Last Chronicle of Barset'', Major Grantly wants to marry Grace Crawley. The Major's father is appalled at this, because Grace's father has been accused of forgery and theft.
** In ''The Duke's Children'', the last of the ''Literature/{{Palliser}}'' novels, the Duke of Omnium is trying to stop two marriages. His daughter wants to marry a poor man. His eldest son wants to marry an American.

* Elsie Dinsmore's father vetoes ''two'' proposals. The first is from a sickly childhood friend; Horace is afraid he won't reach twenty-one (and he doesn't). The second is from a con man after her inheritance. Elsie honors her father's wishes both times and ends up marrying the man who exposed the second candidate as a drunk and gambler.

* There are ''three'' plot lines in Michelle Magorian's ''A Little Love Song'' (which is set in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 1943]]), and they all deconstruct this trope in one way or another:

* This was one of the early plots in ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}''. Before they were married, Dagwood's wealthy parents disapproved of Blondie, feeling she was a GoldDigger (and initially, she was), and tried to get him to marry a woman of their social class. They finally gave in and allowed Dagwood to marry Blondie after he went on a 30-day hunger strike, but warned him that if he married her, they would [[PassedOverInheritance disown him.]] They went ahead with the wedding, and the rest is comic strip history.

* ''Fanfic/{{Enslaved}}'': More like a ''tribal'' marriage veto, in that the Tribe's shaman is very against Katara and Zuko's union. The fact that they're already technically married doesn't sway him in the slightest.

* UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, who had a thing for arranging marriages around him, pulled this on his youngest brother Jérôme when he married an American heiress in 1803 ; when he became Emperor, Napoleon annulled the marriage with a decree in 1805 on the grounds that Jérôme was a minor when he married. Napoleon also objected to the second marriage his brother Lucien made out of love, but could not convince him to divorce and Lucien preferred to go into exile rather than renouncing his beloved wife.

* ''Literature/TheSunneInSplendour'': Richard and Anne are moving toward a HappilyArrangedMarriage when her father switches political sides and breaks off her betrothal. Anne and Richard are heartbroken, especially as her father marries her off to his political enemy, Edward of Westminster. Similarly, their siblings Isabel and George wish to marry and the king vetoes it, but with the help of Anne and Isabel's father, they marry anyway, infuriating the king. It's only after Anne's father dies and she's widowed that Anne and Richard can reunite. These same historical events are portrayed in a LighterAndSofter novel, ''Literature/TheVirginWidow''.

* ''Fanfic/{{Strings}}'': Korra and Tarrlok's cover story is that Korra's BoyfriendBlockingDad refused to let them get married and they ran away together.

* In ''Manga/AiShiteNight'', [[spoiler: OverprotectiveDad Shige forbids his daughter Yakko from marrying her rock-star boyfriend Go when they ponder getting married as soon as he returns from the USA. When they persevere, Shige finally gives in.]]

* ''Fanfic/{{Strings}}'': Korra and Tarrlok's cover story is that Korra's OverprotectiveDad refused to let them get married and they ran away together.

* In ''Literature/DavidCopperfield'', David's boss [[OverprotectiveDad Mr. Spenlow]] isn't thrilled when he shows interest in his daughter [[DaddysGirl Dora.]] (It's not helped by the intervention of [[KnightTemplar Jane Murdstone]] either.) [[spoiler: And in the same chapter, Spenlow [[DroppedABridgeOnHim dies in an accident]].]]

** the God of Storms Susano-o [[OverprotectiveDad wasn't thrilled]] when the minor god Okukinushi fell in love with his daughter Suseri-hime and she came to like him back. He tried at least ''thrice'' to kill the guy (by sending him to sleep in a room full of snakes, then having him clean his hair of which is full of either [[ScaryStingingSwarm wasps and bees]] or CreepyCentipedes, and later setting a fatal archery challenge involving [[KillItWithFire a field in fire]]), but Okunikinushi lived through each attempt on his life. Then he [[OutGambitted outsmarted]] Susano-oh by tying his long hair to his rafter when he was asleep so he and Suseri-hime could elope, also taking Susano-oh's treasures (his bow and arrow and his beloved ''koto'') with him. When Susano-oh woke up and caught up with them, he relented and gave the lovers his blessings.

-->-- "Rude", '''MAGIC!'''

** The legend of [[https://justanimeforum.net/threads/japanese-culture-princess-hachikatsugi.5389/ Hachikatsugi-hime]] has the youngest son of a nobleman falling for [[UptownGirl a young maid]] named Hachikazuki, who always hides herself behind a huge wooden bowl doubling as a hat. The guy's parents, logically, oppose to this romance. [[spoiler: They talks to Hachikatsugi and stage a "wife contest" to make her "give up"; the girl has an HeroicBSOD right befoe it, but when her boyfriend reassures her... the hat, which until then was stuck to her head, suddenly falls off and reveals a small wooden box, containing a mix of BagOfHolding and MementoMacGuffin that reveals [[FallenPrincess the girl's noble heritage]] ''and'' has the riches and clothing she needs for the contest. Her confidence restored, Hachikatsugi passes the "contest" with flying colors, so the parents revoke the veto and let her marry her son.]]