Fallen Princesses in Anime and Manga.
- In the beginning of Black Clover, Noelle Silva is a royal who's essentially been exiled from the House of Silva because of her bad magic control and rejected from her family's squad, the Silver Eagles. She only joins the Black Bulls, the worst of the squads, thanks to Yami.
- Yoruichi Shihouin from Bleach, who threw her life as the princess of one of the most noble Seireitei clans when her best friend Kisuke Urahara was framed for treason and ran away to Earth.
- Code Geass has a "from bad to worse" example with actual royals — Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally were already pretty looked down on in the royal family because their mother, Empress Marianne, was a commoner. After her assassination, they are completely abandoned and exiled to a country their father the Emperor is about to invade. They survive only due to the Ashford family, a noble family that lost their rank because of association with Empress Marianne: Reuben Ashford helps them fake their deaths and live as commoner students — until Lelouch gets the titular power and becomes the masked rebel leader everyone knows and loves.
- Subverted in that they actually got more respect as students in the school than they did as royalty, as did Reuben's daughter Milly — she's the Student Council President and Lelouch is her Vice President.
- Cross Ange:
- Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi, a.k.a. Ange, starts the series as a princess and is then outed to everyone (and herself as well) as a Norma. She's then arrested and shipped off to a hellhole of a prison where she's told her only value is in piloting mechas in highly dangerous battles against dragons. She provides the main page image and the first episode is even named this trope.
- Her Creepy Child sister Sylvia, at the end of the series, becomes this when Ange refuses to take her in to the new world.
- Lamda Nom from Dangaioh turns out to be this, as she's the Sole Survivor of her royal family.
- In Delicious in Dungeon, Namari's family served the Island's lord before her father ran away and stole money. Her father's action not only ruined the family name but also made the lord hates dwarves.
- Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics adapts several stories told by the Grimm Brothers, therefore it features fallen princesses. Some of these tales are the below mentioned "Snow White", "Cinderella", Elise from "The Six Swans" and the Haughty Princess from "King Thrusbeard", but there's also their adaptation of "The Coat of Many Colors/Allerleirauh" (where a princess runs away from her kingdom after her father goes mad and tries to force her to marry him and spends years as a Scullery Maid), and some male examples like Elise's brothers from "The Six Swans", the Prince from "The Water of Life" (who's forced away from his lands after being falsely accused of attempted patricide) and the Prince from "Rapunzel" (who spends years as a blind traveler, searching for the missing Rapunzel; once he finds her and meets their son, the three head to the Prince's realm and are warmly welcomed there).
- The Gundam series has a long history showcasing this trope.
- Sayla Mass of Mobile Suit Gundam and is the Ur-Example in Gundam. She was once Artesia Som Deikun (whom, next to the Zabi family, is considered to be Spacenoid/Zeon royalty), sister of Casval Rem Deikun (The Char Aznable), and heir to Zeon via its founder, Zeon Zum Deikun.
- Audrey Burne of Gundam Unicorn, another Ur-Example via being a Guile Hero. She was formally Mineva Lao Zabi, and is the last of the Zabi line.
- Relena Darlian of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing via imposed exile. She is a member of the Peacecraft family along with her brother, and heir to the Sanc Kingdom.
- Fllay Alster from Gundam SEED, as a part of her Character Development and as a result textbook example. Started out as a Lonely Rich Kid and Rich Bitch, became a Yandere after losing everything, finished as this and a Bridge Bunny and then was killed off.
- Princess Marina Ismail from Gundam 00 becomes this in the second season, after being removed from power by the Federation. To makes things worse Ali Al-Saachez burns her kingdom to the ground later on.
- Countess Larissa Mikhailovna from Haikara-san ga Tooru, who lost literally everything after the Russian Revolution.
- Another male example: Mamoru Takamura from Hajime no Ippo, disinherited by his rich family because of his violent behavior. He finds solace in boxing and a sort-of adoptive family in the Kamogawa gym.
- Margot from Hana no Ko Lunlun is a beautiful girl from Blue Blood, but she and her father have lost pretty much all of their wealth and they're pressured by a rich Dirty Old Man who wants to force her into marriage. Luckily for her, Lunlun arrives in her life and decides to help her.
- A male version in Haou Airen. Hakuron was a Chinese nobleman, and he and his Missing Mom tried to escape from his abusive father. Upon being recaptured, Hakuron's mother urged kid Hakuron to leave her behind, and he had to do so. It went From Bad to Worse soon afterwards.
- Heavy Object:
- According to legend, the feud between the Winchell and Vanderbilt families originated due to a princess who was to be executed. The Winchell hid the princess and tried to give her a life in hiding while the law-abiding Vanderbilt pursued her relentlessly.
- Princess Staivia is a claimant to the throne of Volga which is at the heart of a Succession Crisis. The Bastard Bastard Prince Dimiksy is attempting to eliminate all other claimants and Staivia is the last one standing. She's been on the run from assassins ever since Dimiksy arranged the destruction of her personal bodyguard unit.
- Izumi Himuro from Princess Nine starts the series as an almost literal princess. From a good (rich) family, going to a good (all girls) school (where her mom is the chair of the board), championship tennis player, and childhood friends with the future star of the (brother-school) baseball team. Quickly she finds out that her mother is forming a girls' baseball team (to play in the boys' league), and is taking a LOT of interest in their prodigy pitcher (as is her childhood friend). She drops tennis and takes a crash course in baseball, at first to destroy the team (in a challenge) later to prove something to her mother (and keep an eye on that pitcher/hussy). By the end of the story, she's batting cleanup and driving the team to victory at all costs but isn't speaking with her mother and she's lost her "boyfriend". As her (American) voice actress said, "Izumi has...issues."
- The dodgeball master and elite high schooler Eiko: as we begin to see her as less prissy and cruel with even a few sympathetic traits, she's seen less and less with her other elite friends and more with the possible, plucky love interest Naoya (who's a second year, the people she formerly tormented).
- Oriko Mikuni from Puella Magi Oriko Magica, who once was the most popular and rich girl in her social circle and her school until her father's dirty businesses were revealed and he committed suicide. When Kyuubey found her, Oriko was about to fall into Death by Despair after being abandoned by literally everyone.
- This is essentially the series metatrope of Revolutionary Girl Utena, with various characters, including Anthy, Kanae, Mrs. Ohtori, and Akio of all people... all playing with this trope in a harsh deconstruction of both prince and princess tropes.
- Ironically Inverted with Anthy. Being a literal Princess is NOT a good thing, and putting that role firmly behind her is an unambiguous sign that she's getting better.
- Juliet, from Romeo × Juliet, is unknowingly the true Crown Princess of Neo Verona, being the last of the Capulets who was sent into hiding when she was a child after Lord Montague murdered her entire family and usurped control of the floating continent.
- Minako Aino/Sailor Venus of Sailor Moon became this from her duties as a hero. She isn't stated to come from a rich family, nor is she an Alpha Bitch, but she was the only Senshi besides Usagi to have a completely happy childhood. She was athletic, talented, and well-liked by her peers. Upon becoming Sailor V, peers started shunning her because working as Sailor V left her too busy for a social life. At the end of Codename: Sailor V, she learned that her love interest was a Dark Kingdom member, and she had to kill him, knowing that though she was the soldier of love, she'd never get to fall in love, because her duty would always come before all, even her own personal happiness. Unlike Ami, Rei, or Makoto, who were all loners until they became each others' and Usagi's True Companions right after becoming Senshi, her status as a Senshi actually made her life worse, at least until she found companionship in her fellow Senshi, a year after becoming Sailor V.
- Sara from Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry. And the other anime based on A Little Princess, Princess Sarah, as well.
- Doc from Texhnolyze.
- The Twelve Kingdoms:
- Youko herself goes through a brief one at the beginning of the series. Though not a princess, she does go through the standard development of being very cowardly and quick-to-crying before transitioning into a short selfish phase where she fights only for herself. She finally reconciles this when she decides to fight to survive and to protect those who are close to her.
- Shoukei began as a sheltered and snobby Royal Brat, then she lost everything when her Knight Templar parents were slain in a rebellion. It took her a lot of time and a brutal Break the Haughty process to grow out of her mentality and develop into a better person.
- The King of En, Shoryuu, was a male example, as a Japanese warlord who was on the losing side of a feudal war. He then was contacted by Enki, the kirin of En, and accepted to become the sovereign.
- Mio of The World God Only Knows becomes this after her Capture, accepting her more modest lifestyle and even taking a part-time job to help her family.
- Yona from Yona of the Dawn, which aired the same season as Cross Ange, incidentally, even though its storytelling goes in a very different direction. The story begins with Yona's 16th birthday party, where her biggest worry is that the boy she likes doesn't like her back... but then that night that boy kills her father, the king, forcing her and her bodyguard to flee the palace and embark on a long and arduous journey where she gradually learns what life is really like in her country, gains important allies, and matures as a person.
- Lulu Yurigasaki from Yuri Kuma Arashi. Her back story reveals her to have been a spoiled princess that became jealous of her little brother, leading to his accidental death. After she met Ginko, she abandoned her kingdom to follow her across the Wall of Severance and tries to help her as atonement.
