History Main / RagstoRoyalty

May combine with SheCleansUpNicely and LineageComesFromTheFather.

* Aragorn/Strider, of TheLordOfTheRings, is somewhere between Goose Girl and Snow White. He's the heir to ''two'' dynasties (one a dynasty and people without a proper state, the other a land without a king), lives with his identiy hidden for safety reasons, and was kept ignorant of his heritage during his childhood in Rivendell (which was nowhere near "rags" territory). As an adult he takes on the leadership of his people, and spends most of his time away from home fighting the horrors of the Enemy, wether to protect unwitting hobbits and Men in Eriador or as leader in the armies of Rohan and Gondor under the name Thorongil. Additionally, his line has been living this way for more than a dozen generations before their kingdom is finally restored.

* Princess Letizia Ortiz married to the spanish heir Felipe de Borbón was a commoner [[ScrewtheRulesImBeautiful thought beautiful]] journalist, she studied in a public school and high school her parents are nurse and an unkownm journalist. The Prince felt in love making this story a Cinderella type.

* King Charles XIV John was born as Jean Bernadotte and came from a lower-middle class family in Pau, France. He joined the army early on and eventually became Marshall of France under emperor Napoleon, the 1st Sovereign Prince of Ponte Corvo and also married Napoleons ex-fiancee Désirée Clary. Later on, because of a number of strange circumstances, he was adopted by the childless king of Sweden and made successor and founded the house of Bernadotte who still rules Sweden to this day.

* [[GraceKelly Princess Grace of Monaco]]. Not exactly rags, since his father was a self-made millionaire, but she still was a descendant of Irish bricklayers, and became a princess by marriage.

* Disney's [[{{Disney/Aladdin}} Aladdin]].

* Marianne of ''CodeGeass'' was a commoner by birth who rose to prominence as one of the Knights of the Round, before becoming one of TheEmperor's imperial consorts.

* 'KatekyoHitmanReborn' uses this trope in the form of a "Tippetarius Style". Sawada Tsunayoshi is a normal highschooler until the hitman tutor shows up at his doorstep and tells him he's a candidate for the tenth generation boss of a mafia. Hilarity ensues

* 'Katekyoushihitmanreborn' uses this trope in the form of a "Tippetarius Style". Sawada Tsunayoshi is a normal highschooler until the hitman tutor shows up at his doorstep and tells him he's a candidate for the tenth generation boss of a mafia. Hilarity ensues

* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/crane/storycatherine.html Catherine and Her Fate]]'', Catherine, having chosen to be miserable in youth and happy in old age rather than the other way round, ends up as a SculleryMaid -- except that her Fate, being an AnthromorphicPersonification, is always showing up and wrecking her position for seven years. Finally, however, her Fate gives her a MacGuffin, and when the king needs it, he decides to give her its weight in gold. It takes his whole treasury, he demands the story, and when she is done, he decides to marry her.

** Named for Tip, in the [[WonderfulWizardOfOz Oz Series]], who was not only sent into servitude by [[MagnificantBastard The Wizard]] so he could claim the throne, but bespelled into a boy. Not only was Tip heir to the throne, but he was a ''she'' named Ozma.

* A bizarre one from [[BioWare the same family]] goes the Sleeping Beauty route. Turns out the [[KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Jedi Council]] was pulling a massive amount of CertainPointOfView in regards to your PlayerCharacter...

** He's not the only one who gets this landing on his plate. Graham was a Cinderella style - son of a minor knight who worked his way up the ranks, returned the kingdom's lost treasures, and was given the crown by the childless King Edward. Edgar in the forth and seventh game was under a situation closer to Gwydion's. Cassima was put into a Goose Girl situation in the fifth game by Mordak. {{Fanon}} speculates the Cinderella route comes full circle with Connor after the eighth game. Of course, that depends [[ContestedSequel on whether or not]] you want to [[{{Discontunity}} acknowledge the game even exists]].

** He's not the only one who gets this landing on his plate. Graham was a Cinderella style - son of a minor knight who worked his way up the ranks, returned the kingdom's lost treasures, and was given the crown by the childless King Edward. Edgar in the forth and seventh game was under a situation closer to Gwydion's. Cassima was put into a Goose Girl situation in the fifth game by Mordak. {{Fanon}} speculates the Cinderella route comes full circle with Connor after the eighth game. Of course, that depends [[ContestedSequel on whether or not]] you want to [[{{Discontunuity}} acknowledge the game even exists]].

* '''Tippetarius Style:''' This is a sinister twist on the Sleeping Beauty and Goose Girl styles. The prince or princess was born to royalty, but kidnapped and placed into servitude. This is either to get the true heir out of the way so that the EvilAdviser can take the throne, to hurt and weaken the king, or both. The prince/princess was usually taken too young to remember anything different. Usually things go to hell very fast and it's up to the true heir to not only step up and reclaim their heritage, but put a stop to the forces that put them into slavery in the first place.

* '''SleepingBeauty Style:''' Like the SnowWhite, she's royalty and forced into hiding for protection. Conversely, it could be because an enemy wants them out of the way so they can claim the throne, or because they want to break the king. Unlike the SnowWhite, she has no idea she has a SecretLegacy. Of course, her GenreBlind guardians [[PoorCommunicationKills feel she's safer]] (or less dangerous, in the "kidnapping" version) [[LockedOutOfTheLoop not knowing]] her ancestry ''or'' that there are evil forces seeking to harm her, or possibly they don't know either. You can guess how that ends. (''Note: Named after the Disney version of the story only.'')
** Other classics of this type: Princess Ozma of [[TheWizardOfOz Oz]]

* '''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/goosegirl/index.html The Goose Girl]] Style:''' Those who plotted against the princess succeed, and she is forced into a menial position until her story comes out.

* In ''King's Quest III'', [[spoiler: the slave Gwydion is actually the long-lost Prince Alexander of Daventry]].

* '''SleepingBeauty Style:''' Like the SnowWhite, she's royalty and forced into hiding for protection, but unlike the SnowWhite, she has no idea she has a SecretLegacy. Of course, her GenreBlind guardians [[PoorCommunicationKills feel she's safer]] [[LockedOutOfTheLoop not knowing]] her ancestry ''or'' that there are evil forces seeking to harm her, or possibly they don't know either. You can guess how that ends. (''Note: Named after the Disney version of the story only.'')

* In C.S. Lewis' Horse and His Boy: [[spoiler: Shasta is Prince Cor, heir to the Archenland throne.]]