History Main / KingIncognito

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' has the {{youkai}} [[LittleBitBeastly Rabbit]], Tewi Inaba. As a mere Mid-Boss, fans interpreted her as a lowly servant and, indeed, based on ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento:_Reisen_Udongein_Inaba Perfect Memento]]'', it's assumed in-story that she serves under [[MoonRabbit Reisen]]'s command. Of course, the truth is that Tewi barely listens to anyone at all. When Reisen finally had enough of her in ''[[Manga/TouhouBougetsushou Cage In Lunatic Runagate]]'', she asks her master [[PhysicalGod Eirin]] why they even allow Tewi to run around freely in Eientei. For whatever reason (possibly pride) Eirin doesn't tell her the truth: in reality, ''Tewi'' is the master of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, where Eientei was built. ''Tewi'' is the leader of all the youkai Earth Rabbits, who only serve as Eientei's servants because Tewi tells them to and wouldn't listen to the Lunarians at all otherwise. Furthermore, ''Tewi'' is basically treating the Lunarians as tenants; she approached them long ago with the deal that she and her rabbits would help the exiles hide from the whole world, so long as the Lunarians shared their knowledge with Tewi. Ergo, it's not the Lunarians who tolerate Tewi running around freely in Eientei; it's ''Tewi'' who tolerates ''them''.

* ''Manhua/RetiredHeroes'': Chris faked his death and hid in a random village basically because he didn't want to be king. He left his old friend Jean in charge, who does seem to be doing a better job than Chris ever did, but Jean is still annoyed by it.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'' Fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3875254/1/Hero-High-Earth-style Hero High: Earth Style]]'' [[spoiler: it is revealed that Gwen's boyfriend is actually the CEO of Sphinx Corp and the BigBad in the worse possible way]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsThePrincessAndThePauper'', King Dominic disguises himself as a page so he could glean a little bit more about his [[ArrangedMarriage betrothed]] Princess Anneliese.

** The First Lord Gaius Sextus does this whenever he feels like delivering a message personally. It's actually justified since having powerful watercrafting allows him to shapeshift. It then gets subverted in that Tavi and Marcus see right through it despite the shapeshifitng, because they know the First Lord's mannerisms and body language and the First Lord fails to change them when he's incognito.

** Rahallion the Scaled Lord disguises himself as [[spoiler:Remus Virgilae, Royal Advisor,]] so he can interact with the inhabitants of Wyverngarde without being bothered by worshippers.

[[folder:Video Games]]

* A variation in the ''Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg''. The stories follow the [[KnightErrant hedge knight]] Ser Duncan the Tall (or Dunk for short), who has taken the boy Egg as his squire. Egg is short for [[spoiler:Aegon, as in Prince Aegon Targaryen, who is later crowned King Aegon V and is nicknamed [[SpareToTheThrone "the Unlikely"]]]].

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': When we first meet Aragorn, the rightful king, he's a ranger named Strider. We don't find out his true identity for quite some time. (Tolkien himself didn't know at first: in the first drafts, he was considering making the character a Hobbit badass who had had adventures with Gandalf and been captured and tortured in Mordor). And before the events of the War of the Ring, there was this mysterious advisor to Steward Ecthelion (Denethor's father) of Gondor...And before that, when Théoden was a child, there was a mysterious foreigner who rode with the Rohirrim and just up and left one day...

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': When we first meet Aragorn, the rightful king, he's a ranger named Strider. We don't find out his true identity for quite some time. (Tolkien himself didn't know at first: in the first drafts, he was considering making the character a Hobbit badass who had had adventures with Gandalf and been captured and tortured in Mordor). And before the events of the War of the Ring, there was this mysterious advisor to Steward Ecthelion (Denethor's father) of Gondor...And before that, when Théoden was a child, there was a mysterious foreigner who rode with the Rohirrim and just up and left one day...

* ''Literature/{{Chalion}}'':
** In the backstory of ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'', Royse (Prince) Bergon dy Ibra was kidnapped by agents of his elder half-brother and sold to Roknari slavers. Had they learned of his identity he would have been [[GildedCage given every comfort]] as treasure and political concessions were extorted from his father, so he kept to a childhood nickname and resigned himself to a truncated life in an anonymous SlaveGalley.
** Ista's [[CoughSnarkCough vaca-*ahem*]] pilgrimage in ''Literature/PaladinOfSouls'' was taken using the surname of a distant cousin and most minor noble title available to avoid the entourage deemed fitting for the sister of a ruling Provincar[[note]]think 'Duke'[[/note]] and mother of Royina[[note]]think ''Queen''[[/note]] Iselle.

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/AWitchShallBeBorn", Salome throws the head of a murdered man to a deaf beggar and casually discusses the true queen's imprisonment. Not only is Valerius not a beggar but a leader of LaResistance, he's [[ObfuscatingDisability not deaf]].

** In ''Literature/{{Barrayar}}'', the five-year-old Emperor Gregor is hidden from the usurper Vordarian's forces by being passed around various 'parents' and 'guardians' in the backwoods of Vorkosigan District.
** In ''Literature/TheVorGame'', Emperor Gregor has a crisis of confidence and runs away from home for a while.

* In ''Film/TheCircle2017'', Mae meets someone at the company after-party and they start making jokes with each other. She meets him again a couple of months later and he introduces himself officially. He's actually Ty Lafitte, a begrudged ex-employee who developed software for the company and occasionally haunts the workplace.

** The Solm royal family of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'' are very ModestRoyalty overall, with both crown princess and younger prince preferring to go around adventuring and beating up bandits personally rather than attending to political matters. The party meet Fogato the desert sentinel long before they find out about Prince Fogato of Solm, and it becomes quickly clear that this is not an isolated incident, to the point their retainers were friends with them for years before even finding out they were hanging out with royalty. Merrin in particular remembers her complete surprise at the reveal: she told her best friend Timerra that her dearest dream was to become a knight, even if her social status made it nigh impossible. Timerra borrowed her sword and knighted her on the spot.

* In keeping with the older RobinHood ballads, King Richard does this in the ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'' episode "The King's Fool".

* King [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9phas_Bansah Céphas Bansah]], a King of several tribes from Ghana, works in an automobile repair shop in Germany. (Note: He also worked there before he became king. He became king because, after the death of his predecessor, he was the only one of his family who could become the king according to law. So, this is also partly UnexpectedInheritance. [[https://www.theafricancourier.de/special/black-people-in-germany/exclusive-interview-with-konig-bansah/ After he became king, he wanted to continue life as a commoner, and so, he stayed in Germany living a normal life while doing his work as a king]].)

* In the early years of the Wrestling/{{WWE}} (back when it was called the World Wrestling Federation), Vince Mcmahon in his younger days was known as a color commentator and interviewer. It wasn't until the Wrestling/MontrealScrewJob, that people found out he was the owner and CEO of the whole operation.

* [[spoiler: Jeatar]] of the ''Healing Wars'' trilogy is the Duke's nephew and the legitimate heir to the throne, and has been in disguise since the Duke razed a city in an attempt to [[GenocideBackfire kill off him and his father]]. Nya puts together the clues [[spoiler:(his obvious aristocratic background, scars from the invasion of Sorille, and slight family resemblance to the Duke)]] and confronts him about it. Eventually [[spoiler: Jeatar]] gives up the disguise in favour of becoming a figurehead for the LaResistance.

* In ''Film/{{Napoleon}}'', the title character sneaks off into the crowd and asks what's going on when a crowd gathers to celebrate him for saving the National Convention. He gets taken for an ignorant peasant and is told that General Bonaparte saved France.

* One WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants comic has King Neptune go down to Bikini Bottom to grant one of the citizens a boon (his boon closet was overfilling). When one fish casually greets him, he disguises himself so he could blend in.

* The VideoGame/{{Myst}} fanfic "[[http://www.mystcommunity.com/board/index.php?/topic/22798-may-myst-writings-challenge/page__p__324056#entry324056 Midnight in Shamathen]]" takes the King Incognito rumors about Lemashal and covers a pair of con artists--one masquerades as Lemashal masquerading as a beggar and the other is an off-duty royal guard pretending to be on guard duty. [[spoiler:A merchant gives two generous coins. Four days later, it turns out that King Lemashal sometimes masquerades as a commoner further up the ladder--he tries to scout out the lives of commoners of every level, not just the poorest of the poor--and was the "merchant" in question]].

* In [[Fanfic/WeightlessMassEffect Weightless]], [[Franchise/MassEffect Aria]] spent almost all of her POV's chapter explaining why she does this.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' {{fanfic}} [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/739801/chapters/1377264 The Birthday Present]] Gil, Tarvek and Agatha try to visit Paris without alerting anyone to their true identity. They even book hotels and buy opera tickets under false names. Too bad they don't make any actual effort to disguise themselves, so they get recognized almost immediately after their arrival and become headline news the next morning.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'' FanFic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3875254/1/Hero-High-Earth-style Hero High: Earth Style]] [[spoiler: it is revealed that Gwen's boyfriend is actually the CEO of Sphinx Corp and the BigBad in the worse possible way]].

* [[VideoGame/{{Dishonored}} Empress Jessamine Kaldwin]] in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8901283/23/Diplomatic-Gestures Diplomatic Gestures]] tries to improve the lives of the poor, but her earliest attempts fail. It's only after she disguises herself as a commoner that she makes headway; on her way back from an investigation, she washes her hands in gutter water, only for a man to attack her for polluting his [[{{Squick}} drinking water]]. Her bodyguard Corvo rescues her and explains that there is no clean water in the slums. The next chapter mentions her bill to re-pipe the Lower Districts--which explains why there are clean water taps everywhere in the games.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has the {{youkai}} [[LittleBitBeastly Rabbit]], Tewi Inaba. As a mere Mid-Boss, fans interpreted her as a lowly servant and, indeed, based on ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento:_Reisen_Udongein_Inaba Perfect Memento]]'', it's assumed in-story that she serves under [[MoonRabbit Reisen]]'s command. Of course, the truth is that Tewi barely listens to anyone at all. When Reisen finally had enough of her in ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Cage_in_Lunatic_Runagate:_First_Chapter Cage In Lunatic Runagate]]'', she asks her master [[PhysicalGod Eirin]] why they even allow Tewi to run around freely in Eientei. For whatever reason (possibly pride) Eirin doesn't tell her the truth: in reality, ''Tewi'' is the master of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, where Eientei was built. ''Tewi'' is the leader of all the youkai Earth Rabbits, who only serve as Eientei's servants because Tewi tells them to and wouldn't listen to the Lunarians at all otherwise. Furthermore, ''Tewi'' is basically treating the Lunarians as tenants; she approached them long ago with the deal that she and her rabbits would help the exiles hide from the whole world, so long as the Lunarians shared their knowledge with Tewi. Ergo, it's not the Lunarians who tolerate Tewi running around freely in Eientei; it's ''Tewi'' who tolerates ''them''.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Parodied in ''WebComic/{{Oglaf}}'' in "Casual Fridays", where a prince goes undercover among the people to find out how they're doing but (because this is ''Oglaf'') finds that all the people are hot, sex-starved women. He assumes that this was a charade set up by the king, but it's implied this is just how it really is in the kingdom.

* ''WebComic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''

* This trope lies at the center of a stymied deportation case in Creator/GKChesterton's story "The Unmentionable Man".
* In ''The Valet's Secret'', Earl Kenneth Winterton meets working-class widow Rebecca Parker while dressed as his valet. Unsurprisingly, she's incredibly displeased when she later recognizes him at a dinner party and realizes he lied to her.

* Subverted in Yulia Latynina's ''Wizards and Ministers'', when the naïve young emperor Varnazd tries to be this [[spoiler: and ends up being coerced to join a street gang which then just betrayed him and took him hostage, easily recognising who he was]]. His [[DeadpanSnarker Prime Minister]] was honestly relieved that this was as far as it went, having previously noted that all the wannabe Haroun ar-Rashid emperors in the Wei Empire tended to end up as irresponsible Robin Hood-wannabe gang leaders ''with complete immunity from law enforcement'' that was afraid to arrest anyone right or wrong for the fear of accidentally arresting the Emperor.

* In the ChivalricRomance ''Sir Orfeo'', Orfeo wanders in the wilderness because of his grief at the loss of his wife, kidnapped by the king of [[TheFairFolk Fairy]]. However, when he finds the fairy court, he exploits it to present himself as a ministrel. When the king [[ThePromise promises]] him a reward, he asks for his wife back. The king objects because he is so tattered. Orfeo says that [[IGaveMyWord breaking his word]] would be worse, and gets her.
* In Claire Madras' ''Sissi in Ireland'', Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary (aka Sissi) disguised herself as a "mere" Austrian countess to travel through a highly fictionalised Ireland of the late XIX century. Only her original hosts know who she is... but due to the gossip of their household staff, Sissi's cover is revealed to a local [[ModestRoyalty noble yet very simple-living]] Irish family, whom she had befriended, and who then swear secrecy. [[spoiler:In the last chapter of the book, Sissi willingly presents herself as the Austro-Hungarian Empress in a high-class ball, much to the shock of these who still didn't know.]]

* In Creator/AnneRice's ''The Mummy'', the eponymous character reminisces about advising Cleopatra that a good ruler ''has'' to do this, on account of never really getting the complete picture from their advisers on the state of the kingdom.