Basic Trope: A highborn but poor character is matched with a lowborn but rich one.
- Straight: Impoverished Lady Alice Lineage marries Rags to Riches magnate Bob Newmoney. She gets the money and he gets the title.
- Exaggerated: Alice used to be an empress but now she's a beggar, and Bob was a beggar yesterday and now he's top of every Forbes list.
- Downplayed:
- The poorer Lady Alice Lineage, descended from a very minor branch of the royal family, marries well-to-do Sir Bob Newmoney.
- Bob's family may have more cash on hand, but Alice's family has more wealth in valuable assets passed down by generations.
- Justified: Lady Alice is about to lose her ancestral home due to her incapability to pay their real estate taxes. She marries Bob, hoping that being her husband would obligate him to cover her dues. Bob agrees because Alice has connections to the royal family, whom he wishes to prospect into investing into his business expansions.
- Subverted:
- Alice has been lying about her poverty for some reason. She's just as rich as Bob.
- Bob has been lying about his money. He's just as poor as Alice.
- Alice has been lying about her title. The Lineages have died out and she is just an ambitious impostor.
- Bob has been lying about his origins. He is a nobleman and marries Alice for love or to gain a Trophy Wife, not for her title.
- Just before the marriage, Alice finds a new source of fortune. She dumps Bob as she no longer needs his money.
- Bob meets Lady Caroline, who is both Old Money and rich. He dumps Alice for Caroline, as he can gain the title without having to marry a penniless woman.
- Bob Newmoney courts Lady Alice. Everybody expects them to be married soon. They get engaged, but then Alice breaks it off.
- Parodied: Lady Alice Lineage marries a large chest of gold.
- Zig Zagged: Impoverished Lady Alice Lineage is engaged to marry rich magnate Bob Newmoney. She gets the money and he gets the title. Bob breaks off the engagement because, Lady Alice turns out to be an illegitimate daughter without the title. However, he starts courting her sister Lady Beatrice Lineage who is legitimate. Then his business goes bankrupt and it turns out out Bob's not rich at all. Lady Beatrice wants to find another man of fortune because she needs money to invest in their big fancy house and to sponsor her family's expensive lifestyle. However, after so many scandals and broken engagements, there are no rich suitors for her. Miss Alice (formerly known as Lady Alice) falls in love with an aristocrat who is moderately well off. They live together but don't get married. Alice's biological father bequeaths a vast fortune to her and she then marries her aristocratic lover.
- Averted: Alice and Bob are of equal wealth and status.
- Lampshaded: "I know you're marrying me for the title; you know I'm marrying you for the money. I promise I'll treat you decent, though."
- Invoked:
- King Charlie arranges these marriages to strengthen the nobility.
- "Yes I am willing to do business with you, but in exchange you must offer your daughter's hand in marriage to my oldest son."
- Exploited: Danielle, a distant cousin of Alice's, reveals her lineage to Bob's brother Ed, hoping to get married and get some of the money for herself.
- Defied:
- Alice tries to flirt with Bob, but Bob does not wish to associate with the nobility, much less marry one of them.
- Alice's family arrange a marriage between her and the wealthy Bob. Alice refuses to marry a commoner, even a rich one.
- Discussed: "The Lineages are ever so lucky. They have entrapped one of the richest men from America. His name is Newmoney. He's supposed to marry Lady Alice."
- Conversed: "I don't mind that Alice is in it only for the money and that Bob's family only wants the title. They are my favourite characters and I ship them so hard. It's the cutest arranged marriage ever."
- Implied: The restoration works in Alice's old castle are explicitly shown to be paid for by her husband.
- Played For Laughs: Alice is poor and snobby but very refined, Bob is rich but crude and tacky. She attempts to teach Bob basic table manners over their very first lunch.
- Played For Drama:
- Alice and Bob don't fit in each other's circles. It drives them increasingly frustrated, angry and disappointed with marriage and life in general.
- Bob's family is regarded with suspicion, due them not earning money "the proper way". Meanwhile Alice's family has to deal with scheming nobles who want to take advantage of their financial situation. Alice and Bob's marriage is clearly done out of desperation.
