Basic Trope: A woman is referred to as a princess despite not being of royal birth.
- Straight:
- Alice is referred to as the "Princess of Tropers" due to her many notable contributions to a trope-related wiki.
- Alice is affectionately referred to as "Princess Alice" by her friends, being the mainstay of the group.
- Alice has won a "Princess for the Day" contest and is temporarily treated as such as part of her prize.
- In the village of Tropeton, as part of the annual Summer Solstice celebrations, local girls compete to be awarded the ceremonial title of "Summer Princess" and have pride of place at the festivities.
- Alice is a senior in high school and the runner-up to her year's winner of Prom Queen. As the runner-up, she gains a tiny tiara and the title of "Prom Princess". Alternatively, the school has a junior high and a high school, and the junior high prom has the title of "Prom Princess", as opposed to "Prom Queen" for the high school.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is the owner of Troper Hall and its surrounding estate, which she operates as a micronation. All her staff and tenants call her "Princess Alice" and address her as "Your Highness", even though it's a courtesy title without proper legal recognition.
- Alice considers not only herself but all women who want to be as princesses. (At least as long as they are willing to act like one.)
- Alice is the elected head of state in Tropetania, a position only open to women and usually occupied in the long term, so the office comes with the informal (if satirical) title "princess".
- Alice is The Chief's Daughter and is referred to as her tribe's "princess" by foreigners who don't know better.
- Downplayed: Alice's husband Bob affectionately addresses her as "princess" on occasion.
- Justified:
- Alice is respected enough by those around her that they consider her a 'princess' even though she isn't.
- Alice is called a "princess" derogatarily due to her haughty demeanour and insistence on geting her own way.
- The setting follows the Real Women Don't Wear Dresses rule, and so Alice is derisively called a princess in-universe for her girlier attributes.
- Inverted: Princess Alice really is a princess of royal birth, but she just acts like a "normal person" and everyone just calls her Alice.
- Gender-Inverted: Bob sees himself as a prince. Or a princess, maybe because he's a Drag Queen.
- Subverted: Everyone thinks Princess Alice is only called that affectionately, but as it turns out...
- Double Subverted: The evidence "proving" "Princess" Alice's claims to royalty turn out to be a hoax.
- Parodied: When Alice's niece Catherine visits for the weekend and starts insisting "all girls should be princesses" to her, Alice reluctantly dubs herself the "Princess of Late Nights" due to how she prefers to spend her evenings, followed by "Princess of Hangovers and Lazy Sundays" the following morning.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: ???
- Enforced: The Trope Co. franchise relies heavily on princess-heroines to market to young girls, so Alice has to be classed as a "princess" somehow.
- Lampshaded: "Oh look, here comes Alice. Make way for the Princess!"
- Invoked: Alice tells everybody to call her a princess, and they do so for whatever reason.
- Exploited: Prince Bob has turned into a frog and can only be brought back to his sexy human prince form if he is kissed by a princess. This trope's rule applies to this world, thus, any girl who believes herself to be a princess or who others believe to be so due to her pure heart and strong will is capable of breaking the spell with a kiss. Alice's kiss works, and they get hitched within the next month!
- Defied: "Stop calling me a fucking princess, Bob." "But—" "I said stop."
- Discussed: "Why does Alice call herself a princess? She ain't one!" "She is if she believes herself to be."
- Conversed: "This show is so desperate to force the princess narrative onto little girls that they even try to force an everyday American girl from a low-income family into the stupid princess mold. You're not a princess, Alice! Live with it!" "And? You wanna tell all the little girls watching this show that?"
- Implied: Alice is never once referred to as a princess, even by herself, but she is always shown wearing a pretty pink dress, and a small but not too impractical tiara, and kitten heels.
- Deconstructed: Others make fun of Alice for believing herself to be a princess(especially if she's in middle school and above) and tell her to grow up.
- Reconstructed: Alice doesn't care what the naysayers say. She doesn't need a literal claim to any throne, a Prince Charming husband, or parents who are a king and queen to be a princess. She knows she's one in her heart, and carries herself like one.
- Played for Laughs: Alice is waited on hand-and-foot by everyone who lays eyes on her.
- Played for Drama: Alice enters a beauty pageant that appeals to the childhood Princess Phase. Or she gets a role playing Princess Tiana at Disney parks.
- Played for Horror: a dragon that kidnaps princesses includes Honorary ones in the definition as well. It's Alice's birthday and she just so happens to be wearing a princess tiara. In swoops the dragon.
- Plotted a Good Waste: The writer wanted to show little girls who are insecure about not being princesses that they still are princesses at heart even if they don't live in a fancy castle.
- Tropes Are Flexible: Alice sees herself as a Queen!
I may not have a prince, but I'm still a princess!
