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1[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/youngprince.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:340: My first edict: Shorter walls.]]
3
4->''"Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!"''
5-->-- '''[[Literature/BookOfEcclesiastes Ecclesiastes 10:16]]''', ''Literature/TheBible''
6
7Youthful rulers are common in literature and history. If children, they are depicted as adorable; if in their teens or twenties, they simply create a sense of awe and protectiveness in their older advisers. Their [[ChildrenAreInnocent naive simplicity]] may in fact make them [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure good (and sometimes ruthless) rulers]], as they prefer to cut through the red tape of [[DecadentCourt court etiquette]].
8
9Because of their youth and inexperience, they are [[JustAKid often underestimated]] by the villains, who are frequently {{Evil Uncle}}s/[[EvilChancellor Chancellors]]/[[TheEvilPrince Princes]] who were responsible for the assassination of the previous ruler, are [[RegentForLife currently in control, and do not intend to give it up]]. If the Queen Mother is regent, she is likely to [[MyBelovedSmother over-control the young monarch]] and [[RegentForLife be unwilling to put down her power]], though she is less likely to be [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen actively evil]].
10
11They usually exhibit [[WiseBeyondTheirYears great wisdom]] in the course of the story, thus justifying their enormous power despite their youth. They may [[NiceToTheWaiter have friends (or adventures) among the servants or guards]], giving them an insight into the lives of their subjects that their stuffy courtiers would scorn. They may have to resort to KingIncognito to get anything done. {{Rebellious Princess}}es sometimes become good examples of this trope.
12
13The {{Trope Namer|s}} is a line from Literature/TheBible, specifically [[Literature/BookOfIsaiah Isaiah 11:6]] ("...and a little child shall lead them.").[[note]]Though note that the verse in question does not suggest a child in a position of literal or metaphorical leadership, but is being used in tandem with the imagery of animals that would normally be predator and prey hanging out together, to suggest a world so at peace that a little child could safely lead a collection of both dangerous and not-so-dangerous animals without fear of being mauled or eaten. It's one of the most cherry-picked verses in the entirety of Literature/TheBible.[[/note]]
14
15Compare RoyalBrat and YoungConqueror. TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone or the EvilChancellor etc. may actively try to encourage this, and the young ruler must shake them off. The corporate version of this is the GradeSchoolCEO, the petty leader YoungAndInCharge. If the entire government is children, not just one ruler, you're looking at a TeenageWasteland.
16
17----
18!!Examples:
19
20[[index]]
21* AChildShallLeadThem/AnimeAndManga
22* AChildShallLeadThem/FanWorks
23* AChildShallLeadThem/{{Literature}}
24* AChildShallLeadThem/LiveActionTV
25* AChildShallLeadThem/VideoGames
26* AChildShallLeadThem/WesternAnimation
27* AChildShallLeadThem/RealLife
28[[/index]]
29
30[[foldercontrol]]
31
32[[folder:Audio Plays]]
33* In ''AudioPlay/ThePrincessThieves'', Queen Victoria flees Britain, leaving her estranged granddaughter, Princess Gwendoline as the heir to the British throne, which is currently held by her regent, the Duart Archduke of Buckingham.
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:Comic Books]]
37* Jenny Sparks, leader of ComicBook/TheAuthority, died with the 20th century; her successor, [[GooGooGodlike Jenny Quantum]], was soon born and adopted by the team's OfficialCouple. Eight years later, after everything had gone to hell in a handbasket, little Jenny Quantum got sick of watching the adults screw it up: she aged herself to 14, reassembled the team and has led them ever since.
38* ''ComicBook/Prez1973'' depicts Prez Rickard, the first 18-year-old President of the United States. He's WiseBeyondHisYears and a staunch opponent of the political machine.
39* ''ComicBook/Prez2015'' features Beth Ross, a teenage girl elected president by Twitter in 2036.
40* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' #54 has a story-within-a-story about Prez Rickard that takes his noble qualities up to eleven. He does a perfect job for eight years, creates a golden age of peace and prosperity, and [[IncorruptiblePurePureness resists the temptation]] of [[LightIsNotGood Boss Smiley]]. Then he [[WalkingTheEarth walks the earth]] until he dies and moves on.
41* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim Drake's classmate Danny is brought in against his will to be the new leader of Kobra due to a birthright.
42* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: In two of the ComicBook/WonderGirl imaginary tales Diana meets young magical princesses who are the rulers of their own magical lands due to their queen mothers being missing.
43[[/folder]]
44
45[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
46* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': [[spoiler:Vanellope von Schweetz]], the nine-year old [[spoiler:Princess, and later President,]] of ''Sugar Rush,'' a racing video game.
47[[/folder]]
48
49[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
50* ''Film/TheClimax'': The King appears to be about 10. (He was played by Scotty Beckett who was 14 at the time, but looks much younger).
51* In ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005'', the leaders of Magrathea are young children.
52* ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'': In the future, the Secretary of Energy is in his early teens. Things like this happen when you give out Cabinet positions in a contest, though he didn't seem any worse at his job than anybody else... although when the population at large is composed of idiots, this isn't too difficult.
53* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'': The Maharaja is about twelve.
54* In ''Film/TheLostMedallionTheAdventuresOfBillyStone'', the king is killed over his magic medallion, and so his son, who's roughly thirteen, becomes the new king and ends up joining the heroes in a quest to stop the evil Cobra from taking over.
55* ''Film/LouisTheChildKing'': Louis is just above eleven and must learn how to rule as the King of France admist the Fronde civil wars while his mother, Anne of Austria, served as regent.
56* ''Film/RoboCop2'': A preteen ends up in charge of a Nuke ring.
57* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Queen Amidala of Naboo, as shown in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', who was aged fourteen (and may have been even younger when first elected). In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', she mentions that she was ''not'' the youngest Queen in Naboo's history, showing that this is an enforced trope.
58* In ''Film/TowerOfLondon'', Prince Edward becomes king after his father passed away. It doesn't last long.
59* ''Film/TropicThunder''. The heroin ring was run by a little kid, who was as ruthless as you'd expect a leader to be, and far more capable in combat than one would expect.
60* ''Film/WeeWillieWinkie'': She isn't a queen or anything, but little Creator/ShirleyTemple manages to get warring British and Afghan factions to make nice to each other and make a peace, just with the power of her cuteness.
61[[/folder]]
62
63[[folder:Music]]
64* Music/{{Sabaton}}'s album ''Carolus Rex'' is predominantly about [[UsefulNotes/CarolusRex Charles XII]] of Sweden, in the Real Life examples below.
65* Music/{{Vocaloid}}'s ''Story of Evil'' series of songs features Rin as a fourteen-year-old ruling princess. [[EvilOverlord The result is definitely not pretty.]]
66[[/folder]]
67
68[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
69* Literature/TheBible provides the page quote, and the {{Trope Namer|s}} is an unrelated but famous passage about the Messiah.
70** Judah had several child rulers, such as Joash, crowned at 7, and Josiah, crowned at 8. Ironically, they were more likelt to "do what was right in the eyes of the Lord." Unfortunately, the former went off the rails in his adulthood.
71** While David didn't become king until he was 30, he was Israel's champion and General as a teenager. His son Solomon succeeded him as king when he was twelve.
72* Myth/ArthurianLegend: By most sources, Myth/KingArthur was somewhere in the 15-to-18 range when he was crowned High King. The other rulers were not happy.
73* The eighth Guru of UsefulNotes/{{Sikhism}}, Guru Har Krishan, inherited the role from his father when he was five and died before his eighth birthday, making him the religion's youngest and shortest-reigning leader. One of his epithets is Bal Guru, "Child Guru."
74* Back when gaining the papacy was more about political maneuvering and outright conquest, Count Alberic III of Tusuculum managed to bribe his twelve-year-old son into becoming Pope Benedict IX. Notably, Alberic's two brothers were his immediate predecessors.
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder:Podcasts]]
78* Janus in the ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'' game ''Small Magic'' is destined to find a way to keep the Oni asleep and the world at peace. Maggie and Stege are called upon to protect him during his Journey.
79* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' gives us Tamika Flynn, twelve when she let an uprising of children out of the feared Night Vale library, killing a librarian (one of the most feared creatures in the town) in the process. Thirteen now, she has been training an army of children with militaristic precision and the hand of her kill hung around her neck, and [[spoiler: appears to be taking the reins against Strex-Corp as of "Missing."]]
80[[/folder]]
81
82[[folder:Radio]]
83* In the ''Radio/CabinPressure'' episode "Vaduz", the king of Lichtenstein turns out to be a BrattyHalfPint with a tendency to threaten to try OffWithHisHead on his schoolmates, despite his long-suffering sister Princess Theresa telling him he can't actually do that.
84[[/folder]]
85
86[[folder:Roleplay]]
87* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', [[WiseBeyondTheirYears Gerard Aurelac]] becomes the King of Maar Sul in his early teens and comes up with a plan to capture [[GloriousLeader Pronin]] whose [[DirtyCommunists forces]] are besieging Maar Sul City in the Godslayer era.
88[[/folder]]
89
90[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
91* ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'': Jaela Daran, the 11-year-old head of the Church of the Silver Flame. She started at 6. Note that this is not standard for her position; by all indications, most Keepers of the Flame are called to their task somewhere in their early adulthood, and her predecessor reigned for sixty years. She is specifically the ''spiritual'' head of the church; the Council of Cardinals handles the day-to-day business, and Jaela can only offer advice, except in the rare instances where she receives direct orders from the Flame to pass along.
92* Elisabetta Barbados, the 13-year-old Holy Sacred Empress of Abel in ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy''. In fact, she's known as the ''Child Empress''.
93[[/folder]]
94
95[[folder:Theatre]]
96* Shakespeare's Theatre/HenryVI (also a historical figure) was crowned king at nine months old after Henry V died. This is an instance of a child king being portrayed as wholly negative, as he is too young and unknowledgeable to keep his courtiers from the petty in-fighting. Because he has no father to guide him, Henry stays weak and naive, which eventually leads to the War of the Roses.
97--> "Henry VI, in infant bands crowned King/Of France and England, did this king succeed/Whose state so many had the managing/That he lost France, and made his England bleed." (epilogue, ''Theatre/HenryV'')
98* ''Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra'': Octavius Caesar, though older than most examples, is noted in play by various characters for only being in his twenties and ruling Rome.
99* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'': Robb Stark, the King of the North, is explicitly stated to be technically fifteen when made King and to have turned sixteen in the Act II song focusing on him.
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder:Web Originals]]
103* ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'': In the "classic" and "space" arcs, Arthur becomes king in his teens as in the myths, but the modern arc abides by modern law, and he isn't informed that he owns controlling shares in Excalicorp until he turns 18 and he doesn't run for POTUS until years later.
104* ''Website/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'': In the story ''[[https://thecrewofthecoppercoloredcupids.wordpress.com/2022/07/16/marksmanship-526-and-the-secret-society-stratagem-part-two/ Marksmanship-526 and the Secret Society Stratagem]]'', the Prince of the House is described as a "boy" and "young man", and behaves like a shy teenager, but he is apparently a DimensionLord.
105* ''WebAnimation/OverSimplified'': The Han dynasty of China was led by child emperor after child emperor and The Holy Roman Empire had a number as well. [[DeconstructedTrope Their complete inexperience and inability to rule led them to be easily manipulated by others hungry for more power]].
106[[/folder]]

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