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"All men need something greater than themselves to look up to and worship. They must be able to touch the divine here on earth."
Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth

When it comes to women in positions of power with royal lineage, there are two flavors. On one hand, you have the evil, power-hungry bitches, and on the other hand, you have this trope.

A woman of wealth, power, and near-impossible beauty. She always has a calm demeanor and regal bearing. Her very voice, even if it does not ring with power (and it often does), still lets you know that, in some way, she is probably better than you, even if the lady herself does not look down on you at all.

Her beauty can often be so great, even simple robes look majestic on her.

Her beauty and goodness are usually to be admired passionately but from some distance. The High Queen is rarely a love interest, but the few times she is, expect a little warming up due to the charms of the hero.

A common characterization for non-evil regnant queens, princesses (the more mature ones), and goddesses (especially the non-evil/bastardy ones). May also be the polar opposite of the Rich Bitch. This is what The Ojou and Princess Classic want to be when they grow up. If she can fight, she is a Lady of War. Sometimes we get to see glimpses — or the whole story from the POV — of the queen behind the Tough Leader Façade. She is also very likely to have a Lady and Knight relationship with one of her subjects at some point. For the others, she typically commands such high respect and devotion that her subjects will march to and fight at the Gates of Hell without question if she needed them to.

The presence of a High Queen is sometimes an indication of a Matriarchy. The Iron Lady is the non-royal version of this trope; because non-royals are not born with their position, they have to fight for them and such characters generally combine elements of The High Queen and God Save Us from the Queen!. If she literally fights, she, too, is a Lady of War. If her fighting is more indirect and subtle, she is Silk Hiding Steel.

Despite the name, this is unrelated to The High King. In terms of the ranks of Authority Tropes, the tropes that are equal are God Save Us from the Queen! (her Evil Counterpart), She Is the King, Iron Lady, The Good King (her Spear Counterpart), and President Evil. The next steps down are Princely Tropes (Prince Charming being its ground zero) and Princess Tropes (ditto Princess Classic). The next step up is The Emperor.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Athena in Appleseed holds the office of Prime Minister of the City of Olympus, making her more or less the Supreme Leader of the World. She is not just good at her job and very capable of getting other national leaders in line, she is actually a member of a genetically engineered race specifically enhanced to govern humans.
  • Attack on Titan features two such women in power. Freida Reiss was the previous ruler of the Walls, and known for her beauty and kindness. Years after her death, her younger half-sister overthrows their father and assumes her rightful place on the throne. Though Historia (aka Krista Lenz) was initially forced to take the throne, she grows into this role and uses her authority to improve the lives of her people. As such, she becomes a beloved Queen known for her beauty and compassion.
  • Queen Ciela Lapana from Aura Battler Dunbine fits this despite her youth, she backs the hero's resistance despite being the ruler of a different country because she foresees the Big Bad's ambition to eventually rule the world and when the time comes she leads her army into battle to help save the world without any expectation of remuneration.
  • The Familiar of Zero: Queen Henrietta de Tristain's benevolence earns her a good deal of support from both her noble and common subjects. Several episodes are based around her managing the country.
  • .hack: Helba is a Hacker in The World whose character stats are maxed out, who has the ability to access regions of the game that no normal player would ever be able to access, and who plays her name off as the Queen of Darkness mentioned in the lost poem the game was based around. She prefers to stay behind the scenes to help players out.
  • Lacus Clyne of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. In the original Japanese, her speech pattern is extremely formal and slightly princessy. She is almost always calm (there are only two times she's very emotional: when her father Siegel is killed, and when her Body Double Meer dies in her arms) and is nicknamed The Pink Princess and is referred to as The White Queen in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.
  • Kaguya Otsutsuki of Naruto was originally this. After eating the fruit of the Shinju and gaining chakra, she used her newfound powers to end all wars and was worshiped by the early people of the Ninja World as "The Rabbit Goddess". However, over time, she eventually devolved and became the exact opposite trope.
  • Vital to the plot of Red River (1995), which centers around the royal succession of the Hittites. The Tawananna aka the Queen of the Hittites is required to be the King's Number Two rather than merely a Hot Consort. A past Tawananna, Kail's deceased mother Queen Henti, is depicted as a sweet and kind ruler in flashbacks, in contrast to the Big Bad Queen Nakia.
  • The Rising of the Shield Hero: Queen Mirelia of Melromarc is definitely this, and given her country is a Matriarchy, she is the true power behind the throne. During the early part of the story, she's forced to be away handling diplomatic unrest due to the actions of her moronic husband and sadistic eldest daughter. When she gets back home, she sets Naofumi's situation right and hands out severe punishment to those who conspired against him, while giving Naofumi all the adulation and respect he deserved and then some.
  • Sailor Moon has multiple generations of them, both named Queen Serenity. The previous Serenity was the ruler of the Moon Kingdom during the Silver Millennium and was greatly admired for her beauty and wisdom. Her daughter, the heroine Sailor Moon, will eventually become Neo-Queen Serenity and mature into a similarly elegant and beloved Queen. From their glimpse into the future, she will eventually become the ruler of Earth and lead humanity in creating a Utopia.
  • Slayers light novels mention (but not quite elaborate upon) that Zephilia, the country from where Lina came, is ruled by an immortal queen who is one of the remaining pieces of the Water Dragon God (similar to the anime-specific character Auntie Aqua). From what we know from the novels and Kanzaka's comments, she is The High Queen.
  • Youko Nakajima alias Queen Seikishi of Kei from The Twelve Kingdoms; the novels focus on how this once Shrinking Violet Ordinary High-School Student grows into a Lady of War and The High Queen. Other high queens include the queens of Kyou (Shushou) and Sai (Chuukin) who have reigned wisely and well.

    Arts 
  • Statue of Liberty: She appropriates imagery associated with monarchs and emperors (the crown, the robes, and the tablet of law) to show that the best ruler for mankind is not a king, but a free people.

    Comic Books 
  • Titania, Queen of Faerie, in The Sandman (1989) and The Books of Magic. She's beautiful, imperious, and somewhat manipulative, though her motives are understandable and the miniseries that told her origin story made her more sympathetic.
  • Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Woman's mother and ruler of Themyscira, is usually portrayed as a serene, beloved and beautiful ruler who cares deeply for her people, though some realities and writers do not adhere to this general rule.
  • Elyon Escanor in W.I.T.C.H. is a magnificent queen for Metamoor, even putting herself at risk just to learn how to rule her subjects better. She's the last descendant of a long line of wise queens... With her evil brother Phobos being the sketchy successor for her mother.

    Fan Works 
  • The Bridge:
    • Princess Celestia and the maturing Princess Cadance, naturally fit this for their respective domains in Equestria. Wise, strong in morality and in power in general, and beloved by the populace whom they consider themselves the protectors of. While not incapable of making mistakes, they will own up to it. Princess Luna, due to being out of the loop for 1,000 years, is growing into the role and learning to control her temper and not hide her own pains, lest she cause other pain by proxy.
    • Mothra Lea fits the bill by virtue of being co-leaders with Godzilla Junior, is the matriarch of most Terran kaiju and leadership figure of the Terra Defender faction. Helping direct the less socially capable transferred kaiju, she follows Celestia's example publically by using her new changeling powers to look like an alicorn so she fits the Equestrian ideal of this trope more.
  • A Crown of Stars: Rayana, the Witch Queen Of Avalon. She is powerful, ageless, and very committed to protect and counsel the Empire people, especially women and children. The story begins when his husband brings the main characters — Shinji and Asuka — to their Empire and they endeavor to help them because they consider that it is the right thing to do.
  • FURTHERFELL: Toriel returns to her position of the Underground's Queen in the Rethroned branch and immediately sets to undoing Asgore's more hostile policies regarding humans. Notably, she replaces the Royal Scientist and Head of the Royal Guard with monsters who are far less malicious than their predecessors.
  • Queen Jane of Skaia in the Golden Age series is kind, elegant, and highly respected by her subjects, although she is a slightly more prankster-ish version of this trope.
  • Queen Ava in Nihonverse Pocketville. She still retains most of her traits from the canon show, but she is much more mature, responsible, and brave. She’s even got a title upgrade from Princess to Queen, deeming her especially suitable for this trope.
  • The Night Unfurls has Celestine Lucross, High Elf Queen of Eostia, and the Goddess Reborn herself. Known for her beauty and warmth, she has ruled with benevolence throughout her centuries-long reign as queen, especially during the period of the Forever War between her and her former friend Olga. Deconstructed as those attributes do not make her a Universally Beloved Leader (because it is simply not possible for everyone to like a person, just like in Real Life) like common depictions, the Black Dogs and any traitors affiliated with them being the prime dissidents. Moreover, having a "good ruler" does not magically solve every problem in the country — the ongoing warfare, and the Fantastic Racism, hence enslavement of dark elves (the latter being the underlying cause for a centuries-old war in the past) prove exactly that. Chapter 24 has Celestine coming into terms with this, resolving to step up her game.
  • Queen Maria Pia of Savoy in Ships Ahoy!. She is the co-ruler of 1870s-era Portugal, ruling alongside a king, and is very benevolent and kind towards Oprah and her Odd Squad escort during her time in the country, even allowing the girl to call her "Pia" and allowing her to be exempt from curtseying. She is also very distrustful of adult nobles, which is why she seeks Oprah's help, as well as the help of Oprah's translators Otilla and Osvaldo, to get the duke of another country to cooperate with her on politics.
  • The Stars Ascendant: The story is about Celestia, the benevolent ruling Princess of Equestria, struggling with whether she has truly remained a good ruler in forcing Twilight to hide what was going on from her friends and trying to dissuade her student from facing a threat she was capable of defeating head-on because Celestia didn't believe in her enough.
  • Queen Clarion in They're Not Pussywillow Pixies. She not only willingly takes in the Smurfs, but she is more than happy to help them settle in. She also tries rather hard to keep them from getting startled or scared by her and her people.
  • Time to Plan:
    • Future Celestia and Future Luna have become queens of Equestria ten billion years into the future. While they still love their subjects dearly, it's implied they have ascended as bona fide goddesses, which has prevented them from living or interacting among mortals for long periods of time.
    • Future Chrysalis also counts. Ten billion years later, she went from a Changeling Queen to a co-ruling Empress of the Crystal Empire, following her Heel–Face Turn and marrying Love. Her Changeling subjects now live among Ponies and other races in peaceful coexistence.

    Films — Animation 
  • Several in the Barbie films:
  • As the measured, diplomatic counterpoint to her more impulsive husband, Queen Elinor from the film Brave carries the weight of the kingdom on her shoulders. Elinor is also very elegant and ladylike, befitting her role as the queen.
  • Frozen (2013): Queen Elsa is a benevolent and wise queen who cares about the well-being of others, including her own sister. However, due to her inability to control her ice powers, she deliberately cultivates a calm demeanor and royal aloofness, and when her powers get exposed, she is fully willing to exile herself to protect her subjects from her powers, although it doesn't last long, since her exile doesn't fix anything. In the end, once she finds the key to controlling her powers (thanks to her sister, Princess Anna), she remains a benevolent queen and is eventually beloved by everyone in Arendelle. The sequels show just how well she is adored.
  • Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World has the Queen Anne of Denmark — a beautiful and kindly woman who welcomes Pocahontas graciously to the court. She also acts as a voice of reason towards her rather impatient husband.
  • The Queen's Corgi has, of course, Queen Elizabeth II, monarch of the United Kingdom and proud owner of four (later three, since Charlie leaves with Mitzi to America) corgis, named Rex, Charlie, Margaret, and Nelson. She was known to be quite compassionate and caring towards her husband and corgis, especially after Rex's fake death. However, she was also very firm too, like when she scolded Rex for embarrassing the American president.
  • Shrek:
    • Princess Fiona is initially portrayed like a queen from fairy tales, speaking formally in matters of courtship and presenting high expectations of how she is to be rescued, who is to rescue her, and so forth.
    • Her mother Queen Lillian is kind, courteous, and gracious. She is also far more accepting of Fiona's marriage to Shrek than her husband — who vehemently opposes it. The third film shows that she is also Silk Hiding Steel when it comes to escaping from prison.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • The White Queen from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010). Her sister (who is the opposite) laments that she can make anything fall in love with her — even the furniture. Word of God says that part of this is a ruse and that she surrounds herself with bright imagery because she's too tempted by the dark side.
  • The real Queen Elizabeth II from Children's Party at the Palace. She shows her Friend to All Children side as she hosts a party not just to celebrate her 80th birthday and over 100 years of British children's literature, but also for the children to have fun.
  • Discussed in Elizabeth (see the above page quote) when Sir Walsingham coaches the young Queen Elizabeth I in how to win the love and devotion of her divided people. The end sequence of the film shows Elizabeth 'remaking' herself as a virgin to better embody the trope, and it seems to work; in the sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, the older Elizabeth is shown as being a great and powerful Queen who is beloved and almost treated as a deity by a majority of her subjects.
  • Implied in FairyTale: A True Story with Mab, the Fairies' Queen. She seems to be this trope when she appears before Elsie and Frances at the end. It is also implied she helped return Frances's father home from the war.
  • The Light Queen from MirrorMask, who represents everything Helena loves about her Mother. Granted, she's in a coma for most of the film, but she definitely falls under this trope.
  • In the prequel trilogy of Star Wars, the queens of Naboo are generally portrayed as just, kind, and competent rulers. The fact that Naboo's queens are elected instead of inheriting the throne like most royals may have something to do with that.
  • Thor and Thor: The Dark World: Thor and Loki's mother Frigga of Asgard is beautiful, gracious, and regal... not to mention deadly. Her benevolence is not limited to her own subjects, either — she dies fighting to protect Jane from Malekith. She returns to the spotlight briefly in Avengers: Endgame, and has lost absolutely none of these attributes.

    Literature 
  • A Brother's Price has Queen Elder (and her sisters, who don't appear much), a wise and kind ruler, who does everything in her power to ensure the safety of the country. The story doesn't dwell much on her beauty, though it is mentioned that she shares her daughters' delicate features.
  • The Chronicles of Dorsa: Tasia grows into this after becoming Empress. She's already very beautiful and well-trained in political acumen (even if she hadn't always been so attentive to her lessons in this before), using both along with her genuine cornern for people to win over many, inspiring loyalty.
  • The Divine Comedy: The Queen of Heaven is so noble that the Creator became a creature through her, yet despite being given a title greater than any being, she remains the model of humility and perfectly conveys the love of God to all his children rather than relying on her own power. It's by her compassion that Dante walked through Hell, by her smile that all the saints flame with happiness, and by her prayers that Dante's vision, memory, and poetry can reflect the wonder of her son, the Trinity.
  • The Dragon Egg Princess: Nanami, the former dragon queen, is heavily revered by the nackwon, and in her human form, was considered more beautiful than Empress Luzee.
  • Queen Ehlana in The Elenium and The Tamuli trilogies by David Eddings. At the beginning, she is a Damsel in Distress who was poisoned and put into sleep in crystal to keep her alive until the heroes find a cure. When she is finally awakened, she plots revenge against the one who poisoned her, easily Batman Gambits a church into choosing her own candidate for a pope, lectures another country's king on how to be a true Magnificent Bastard... She is on the good side, do not worry.
  • Queen Selenay and High Priest Solaris in Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar books, especially from a distance.
  • In His Dark Materials Serafina Pekkala is the Queen of the Witches of Lake Inara. She is a wise and benevolent ruler, as well as very helpful to the protagonists across all three books.
  • Journey to Chaos: Starting in Looming Shadow, Kasile is a powerful and regal queen that enjoys the respect of her people.
  • Alette of Kitty Norville certainly counts as this. She's even got the Really 700 Years Old thing going for her: a very long lifespan to allow her to accumulate wealth and power... and all used to protect and shelter her family. Even better, she's set up to look like the Rich Bitch by the local lycanthropes until we learn she's wearing a Tough Leader Façade.
  • In the 12th-century Georgian epic "The Knight in the Panther's Skin'', Tinatin is described as (among other things) very beautiful, very wise, and generous to a fault. Her father, king Rostevan, abdicates early in the story, appointing her as the next "king". One of the two main heroes, Avtandil, is in love with her. She is a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of the real Queen Tamar of Georgia,(a.k.a. King Tamar) to whom this work was dedicated. The poem begins with a preface where she is also described as a High Queen. There is a theory that the author was in love with her.
  • Hedwig in The Knights of the Cross is beloved by her husband and practically worshiped by her people.
  • Land of Oz:
    • While Ozma of Oz holds the title of princess, in the later books she definitely has all the other qualities required. She is powerfully magical (some of the books indicate that she is a fairy, although the series is not known for its consistency with many details), beloved by the entire kingdom, and loves her people every bit as much as they love her. She also recognizes how much Dorothy is loved by the people of Oz and, rather than resent her as an interloper, makes her a princess as well; she even later brings her, as well as her beloved aunt and uncle, to live in Oz permanently. When Ozma is kidnapped in one book, the effort to rescue her is enormous.
  • Glinda the Good is this, as well; she is universally kind and generally regarded as the wisest being in Oz, to the point that all of the good characters look to her for advice and encouragement. She is also an exceptionally powerful sorceress, probably the most potent magic-user in the realm, as well as beautiful and regal.
  • In Last Sacrifice, Lissa Dragomir is eventually elected Queen of the Moroi. She is beautiful, calm, and regal, and intends to use her authority to resolve the injustices of the Moroi world.
  • The Lord of the Rings and its lore:
    • Lady Galadriel, though technically never a queen. She is what she is due to having lived in Valinor and seen the faces of the Valar, having one of the Three Rings, and being over 7000-years-old and thus older than the sun itself, and thus possessing the wisdom of a very, very long life. In the film adaptations, she is played by Cate Blanchett as a beautiful, ethereal, elegant, and supremely powerful leader who definitely embodies the trope.
    • The story ends soon after Lady Arwen becomes the first Queen of Gondor after centuries of absence. Like her husband is as king, she is the model of what a royal woman should be, with all the wisdom of the great elves, compassion enough to accept mortality to be with her king, and beauty not seen since the passing of Lúthien.
    • Melian from The Silmarillion also qualifies. A lesser deity (like Gandalf), older than the world itself, she was Queen of Doriath; her husband Thingol ruled (unfortunately, since he was much less wise than she was) but it was she who protected their realm. She knew and taught Galadriel, by the way.
    • And on a higher level, Varda is the High Queen of all Middle-earth. Of all the Valar, the Elves hold her most in reverence.
  • Catherine of Aragon as interpreted in Mary, Bloody Mary. Most novels written about the same period have her in this trope and typically contrast her with Anne Boleyn, who rarely gets this treatment. Jane Seymour is hinted to be this as well, though she only appears at the end of the book after Anne's death.
    • The diary book My Tudor Queen does this with Catherine also, covering her journey from Princess of Aragon to her coronation as Queen of England. The trope is really played straight towards the end of the book where Catherine rallies the troops against King James of Scotland, while Henry is away fighting in France.
  • Patricia A. McKillip:
  • Old Kingdom: In "Lirael" and "Abhorsen" Sabriel becomes a wise, powerful queen. People are often intimidated by her mere presence and Lirael mentions that she is practically legendary for her role in the restoration of the kingdom.
  • Yasmina Devi in "The People of the Black Circle". Even Howard, who had an ambivalent attitude toward civilized society at best, describes her as "true aristocracy" in his narrative.
  • Queen Irene of Attolia in The Queen's Thief Series and Queen Helen of Eddis are both this trope, though Eddis is not beautiful but is described as almost ugly. However, Eddis is much beloved by her subjects, who do not at all care that she is not pretty. She herself is rather insecure about this and thinks she should be beautiful to fit this trope, and wears uncomfortable, but pretty dresses to make up for her lack in beauty by increasing her elegance and regal bearing. Irene is more traditionally beautiful and takes care to present herself as regal and calm at all times. Although she had to fight very hard to gain and keep her throne, her current subjects are fiercely loyal to her.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire:
    • Margaery Tyrell, a beautiful noble-born girl, possesses a reputation of purity and benevolence that is largely the result of having a very PR-savvy grandmother, Olenna. Margaery is a shrewd, intelligent girl, and ingratiates herself with the citizens of King's Landing, buys food from the market, purchases dresses from local seamstresses, and gives great shows of charity. She also is helping to shape Tommen Baratheon into The Good King, advising him to ride in sight of his subjects and observe the small council so that he can see how things are run (though Tommen's mother Cersei Lannister forbids them from doing so).
    • Sansa Stark starts the series thinking that Queen Cersei Lannister is wise, kind, and benevolent, being easily taken in by her beauty, grace, and regal bearing. As with many other things, Sansa is dead wrong about this, and quickly realizes what Cersei is really like.
    • Daenerys Targaryen's crusade to end slavery in Slaver's Bay inspires religions to worship her, as well as no end of adoration from slaves and the Red Priests of R'hllor, the former of whom dub her Mhysa ("mother" in the Ghiscari language) and the latter to regard her as the messianic Azor Ahai. That said, she also has no shortage of enemies, many of them slavers who see her as a cruel queen.
    • In the distant past of the Targaryen dynasty, Queen Alysanne Targaryen was the very definition of this trope. She is remembered for her wisdom, poise, acts of charity, and royal dignity. Queen Alysanne is the reason a lot of unjust and harmful noble customs like the First Night were made illegal since she was the only highborn woman to actually pay attention to the commoner women. The name Alysanne (a typical Valyrian name) is highly popular in Westeros even years after the fall of the Targaryen dynasty.
  • Ingrid Sterling, the Queen of Mirrelia, from "The Tale About Ingrid" and the collection of poems "The Crown of Her Brilliancy" written by Russian poet Igor-Severyanin. She is described as a beautiful woman who loves her people. She is "famous as poetess, as composer and as queen" and "is glorified by all-glorying of glories".
  • Aislynn, the White Queen in Terra Mirum Chronicles is strongly implied to have been this, admired by her son, her subjects, and the Red Queen.
  • Thayet from the Tortall Universe. She is a legitimate badass and founded a paramilitary force to protect the more remote places in the realm, but she is also an excellent host and diplomat, serving as an excellent co-regent to her husband Jon.
  • The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: Good Queens will be like this, competent and determined to put right whatever has gone amiss. They may have to be rescued by the heroes first, however.
  • Desiderata of The Traitor Son Cycle is the Queen of Alba and World's Most Beautiful Woman. She is regal, intelligent, and beloved by her people, to the point that even when the Galles shred her reputation to pieces, most of the country still adores her. She eventually assumes the throne as her infant son's regent and becomes Alba's Big Good.
  • Titania from John C. Wright's War of the Dreaming is this, having grace, power, serenity, and beauty, as well as being a Physical God. However, when her lover shows up, she turns into a Genki Girl.
  • Bluestar from Warrior Cats is treated this way, though Clans have no monarchy so she is officially just their leader. She is a regal blue-furred cat with Icy Blue Eyes who leads ThunderClan with wisdom and dignity. She is a Broken Bird but that doesn't stop her from being the Big Good. That is, until Tigerclaw's betrayal causes her to undergo a Sanity Slippage.
  • In The Witchlands, Empress Vaness of Marstok is elegant, focused solely on the wellbeing of her people, and both a capable politician and an excellent fighter.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In Korean Drama series Faith aka The Great Doctor, Princess Nogook embodies this trope — beauty, intelligence, serenity, and well-concealed iron will — to the point of (initially) annoying and intimidating her husband.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Sansa Stark, the beautiful highborn daughter of House Stark who initially aspires to be a Princess Classic before she gets her wish and it all goes very, very wrong. While doing what she can to survive in a Decadent Court, Sansa starts to show signs of this trope as well as Silk Hiding Steel in episode "Blackwater", when she calms down a room full of anxious noble ladies shortly after a drunken Cersei mentions the harm to befall them when the city is sacked before leaving the room. Later, Sansa stands up to the Hound without once losing her resolve. In Season 6, after being sold to the Boltons, raped and tortured by Ramsay Bolton, Sansa flees to the safety of her older half-brother Jon Snow at Castle Black, where she resolves to reclaim their home, Winterfell, from the Boltons. Sansa and Jon gather an army to save their brother Rickon (but he is killed by Ramsay Bolton), succeed in defeating Ramsay and take back Winterfell for House Stark. When Jon is elected the King in the North by Northern lords and Knights of the Vale, Sansa — now the Lady of Winterfell — becomes Jon's regent when he must leave on a diplomatic mission to seek Daenerys Targaryen's help in defending the realms against the army of the dead. As her brother's regent, Sansa rules in his stead, doing her best to prepare the kingdom for the oncoming winter. The series ends with Sansa declaring the North to no longer be one of the Seven Kingdoms, and its people proclaim her their queen.
    • Daenerys Targaryen, the beautiful exiled daughter of House Targaryen who is believed to be the last scion of her family. Having spent most of her life on the run from assassins after her family's dynasty is overthrown, she climbs her way back up by earning the devotion of those who follow her and hatching three dragons. Daenerys later becomes the queen of Meereen after she takes it from the slave masters and works to abolish slavery. Due to her experiences in leadership and rulership, Daenerys develops a more nuanced understanding of ruling over time and earns Undying Loyalty from individuals due to her strength of character, including Jorah Mormont, Tyrion Lannister, Missandei, the Dothraki, the Unsullied, and later earns the respect and loyalty of Jon Snow, with whom she falls in love. While extreme in her methods of punishing her enemies, Daenerys also possesses empathy for the oppressed and seeks to liberate them. She tells Tyrion that if she returns to Westeros, she wants to change and abolish the feudal power and that she wants to revise the system in favor of the poor rather than aristocrats. She also wants to break from her family as well, seeing them as being just as bad as the other houses that overthrew her family's dynasty. However, by the end of Season 8, Daenerys ends up decimating the civilians of King's Landing, even after the city surrenders, putting her firmly in God Save Us from the Queen! territory. When Daenerys' lust for power wins out over her positive traits, she resolves to do this all over the world and conquer it with fire and blood — placing herself as the sole power — and she herself becomes the wheel she wanted to break.
      Daenerys: Lannister. Targaryen. Baratheon. Stark. Tyrell. They’re all just spokes on a wheel. This one’s on top, then that one’s on top, and on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground.
      Tyrion: It's a beautiful dream, stopping the wheel. You're not the first person who's ever dreamt it.
      Daenerys: I'm not going to stop the wheel. I'm going to break the wheel.
    • Margaery Tyrell projects the image of a kind, benevolent ruler when she is married first to Renly Baratheon, later when betrothed to King Joffrey and then when she marries Joffrey's brother King Tommen after Joffrey's death. She ingratiates herself with the smallfolk, takes an interest in charity, and helps the poor, especially orphaned children.
  • As of the end of Series 4 of Merlin, Queen Guinevere Pendragon. As of the Series 5 finale, it's revealed that she was the monarch that finally revoked the magic ban.
  • Queen Anne in The Musketeers is one. She is kind, courageous, gracious, idealistic, and resolute. The heroes all have Undying Loyalty to her because of her genuine desire to do what's right.
  • Isabella Rossellini's Athena in the TV miniseries of The Odyssey has an affectionate, conversational, almost casual relationship with her mortal. Her relative lack of imperious posturing (along with a gently teasing/chiding attitude) serves to enhance her confidence and thus her authority.
  • The Outpost: Gwynn grows into this when she's shown to be the late king's heir. She's regal, calm, and lovely, though still struggling at times with the weight of her new responsibilities.
  • In the episode "Liege Lord" of Reign, Lord McKenzie, her late father's loyal man, believes that Queen Mary does not care about Scotland since she has been living in the safety of France. Mary tells him about the secret clause in her wedding contract which gives Scotland to France if she dies without an heir and that she cannot risk the freedom of her country. She asks him to tell everyone when he returns to Scotland. He accepts and all of his men place their swords at their Queen's feet as he kisses her hand and says that they have waited a long time for her to rise.
  • Of King Henry VII's six queens in The Tudors, Queens Katherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Parr fit this trope the best, being self-assured and conscious of their duties. (In comparison, Anne Boleyn is a Femme Fatale, Catherine Howard is The Ditz, and Anne of Cleves never gets the chance to technically become a High Queen.)
  • Willow (2022): In this Sequel Series, Sorsha is the ruling queen of Tir Asleen. Backstory not clearly indicated in the theatrical release states that Bavmorda magically seduced the prince of Tir Asleen in her bid for power, and their daughter Sorsha is thus Tir Asleen royalty, apparently heir to her throne. As queen she is a beautiful, good ruler, but also flawed by keeping secrets from her children and Elora (also pushing her daughter Kit to be more feminine like her, which goes against Kit's desires, along with her unwanted arranged marriage).
  • The White Queen miniseries has successive high queens that take the throne. Elizabeth Woodville projects the image of the High Queen marvelously, but it is clear that behind closed doors she can be very cunning and demanding. Following in her footsteps is Anne Neville, who is painfully aware of her own shortcomings in comparison to the beauty and charisma that her predecessor possessed. Finally Elizabeth of York takes the throne, who is the epitome of the trope — save for the fact that unlike the other two, she has no desire to be Queen.
  • Lao Ma from Xena: Warrior Princess ticks nearly every box: calm, composed, wise, regal, beautiful, and so on.

    Manhwa 
  • Serene, graceful and benevolent Fassa from Chonchu is one of these, despite being betrothed to a Dark Lord that she doesn't really love.

    Myths & Religion 
  • Deborah from The Bible, fourth Judge of Israel and Lady of War. So inspirational that her appointed military leader did not think he could win the impending battle without her.
  • The Virgin Mary for Catholics (and Orthodoxes, to a lesser degree), who believe she is the literal Queen-Mother of Heaven, by virtue of being the King's mother.
  • Egyptian Mythology: Isis, being Osiris's benevolent queen consort and Horus's mother, was generally compassionate and a loving maternal figure for the Egyptian people (though she wasn't without a dark side). This was best exemplified by the story "Isis and the Seven Scorpions", where she not only forgave a rich noblewoman for insulting her and refusing her shelter (as Isis had been in a beggar's guise), but also healed the woman's son when he was poisoned by the eponymous scorpions as revenge against the noblewoman. Compare that to, say, the Greek gods, who had many stories where they killed mortals for similar transgressions.
  • In Scythian Mythology the leader of the gods was Tabiti, a goddess that the Greeks equated with Hestia of all people, being above even Papaios (the god the Greeks equated with Zeus). Kurgan depictions show her as a well-dressed woman bearing suns on her hands.
  • Amaterasu from Japanese Mythology. She was made queen of heaven due to her radiant beauty and compassion, and was loved by all as the goddess of the sun. She was rarely, if ever, overshadowed by any of the male deities or portrayed as having a dark side.
  • Classical Mythology: Hera was generally benevolent when interacting with anyone who wasn't involved with Zeus in an intimate way, or was the product of such a union. Basically, don't sleep with her husband or be one of his bastards, and pay her godly respects loyally, and she will bless and reward you quite generously. This is best shown in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, where Hera is an unambiguously heroic presence who aids Jason throughout.
  • In Arthurian Legend, Guinevere was portrayed as this in sympathetic iterations, where she is a kind and virtuous queen who feels great remorse for her role in Camelot's downfall and becomes a devoted nun and abbess afterwards.
  • In Danish folk ballads, Queen Dagmar of Bohemia, the first wife of King Valdemar II of Denmark, is portrayed as extraordinarily kind and wise. While on her death bed, she pleads with her husband to pardon outlaws and prisoners so they may return to their families, and discourages him from marrying "Bengerd" (Berengária of Portugal). Berengária became Valdemar II's second wife and her sons eventually threw the country into civil war, so Dagmar is imbued with an almost prophetic wisdom.
  • In Hindu Myth, Mahabharata, Queen Draupadi is the daughter of King Drupad married to the five Pandava Princes (a cause of much Slut-Shaming), later the sole Queen of Indraprastha and finally the Queen of Bharata. Born out of literal fire, she is among the most beautiful women of her time. During the time she and her husbands remain on the Throne, she is the only Queen of the city. She is known to be a benevolent ruler and while she is often considered the cause of the great war after Rape as Drama, she doesn't instigate it.

    Tabletop Games 
  • In Dungeons & Dragons, Queen Ehlissa (after whom the artifact known as the Marvelous Nightengale is named) is always portrayed as a wise and just ruler who is beloved by her subjects.
  • Queen Aurala of Aundair in Eberron is (literally) good, wise, compassionate, and all kinds of positive traits. The commoners and nobles both love her because she genuinely wants the best for the nation and has the ability to make it happen. Beyond its own borders, Aundair is also diplomatically active, an ardent supporter of the Treaty of Thronehold that ended the Last War which wracked the continent for a century. However... Aurala also believes a new war is inevitable since nobody came out of the prior one truly satisfied. She is building up the military in secret and already planning her first strikes — her desire to protect her realm and belief in her own fitness to rule is turning into a Fatal Flaw which may lead her to reignite the war because she thinks she should be High Queen of the continent.
  • Princess: The Hopeful, being about (P)rincesses (aka, magical girls), has many grown-up Princesses who are this trope. They're mostly NPCs who have just enough time to advise and encourage young heroines in between the business of actually ruling. Having a Queen as one's mentor can be such a valuable relationship that players must 'buy' it in the Merit system.
  • Princess D'larna of the Martian city-state of U'valik in Rocket Age. Attempting to advance and protect her nation from imperialistic Earthlings, D'larna only allows those Earthlings with high morals into her court. Always described in positive terms, she is poised, kind, and elegant.
  • Warhammer
    • Alarielle the Radiant, Everqueen of Avelorn and one of the two co-rulers of High Elf Kingdoms of Ulthuan. She fits the trope perfectly, especially the magically majestic end (she is also a living vessel of the Elven mother goddess Isha). A slightly more rustic and earth-motherly version is found in Ariel, Mage-Queen of Loren, her Wood Elf counterpart.
    • Khalida is the High Queen of the city-state of Lybaras. While her beauty has somewhat abandoned her after over 3,000 years of being dead, she is still every bit the noble and well-intentioned ruler she was while alive as long as her Berserk Button (mostly involving vampires, and spitting on her authority) aren't pressed. While strictly speaking she is subordinate to The High King of Nehekhara, Settra, the city-states of Nehekhara have enough autonomy that Settra can only really override her authority on matters that involve the Tomb Kings entire; on matters within Lybaras' borders she rules unopposed.

    Video Games 
  • Lady Shurelia, the Tower Administrator of Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia, and the other Tower Administrators, to the degree that the three are worshiped as goddesses.
  • Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:
  • Catie from BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm may be a particularly young and feisty example, but she is a queen, and her subjects greatly respect and admire her. At the Great Summit, her suggested plan is the only one that's able to gain support from all the bickering factions in the room.
  • Empress Jessamine Kaldwin of Dishonored was much beloved by the populace. The player mainly learns about her from the various in-game books as she dies in the intro of the game. Her daughter, Emily, can become one in the sequel providing you, the player, make honorable choices. At the beginning of the sequel, Emily is an okay Empress, but it takes seeing her kingdom from up close to realize she's not as wise or benevolent as she'd thought. It's only after the events of the sequel if the player takes the Low Chaos regardless of who they play that Emily will eventually evolve into this, most especially if the player chooses to play as her instead of Corvo that they can see her Character Development as she retakes her throne from her usurping Evil Aunt Delilah.
  • Dragon Age has its share of High Queens, at least in theory.
    • Queen Anora of Ferelden in Dragon Age: Origins is an interesting aversion. She plays the role of a High Queen, being poised and elegant and charming. The people of Ferelden love her, and even the Empress of Orlais describes her as "a rose among thorns"... but once you get to know her, she quickly proves herself to be a manipulative and power-hungry politician. She isn't evil, and she really wants what's best for Ferelden and its people; it's just that she is convinced she needs to be in power to make that happen.
    • If the Warden in Origins is a female human noble, she can become Queen of Ferelden by the end of the game by marrying Alistair and making him king. Even if she does not, a female Warden holds the position of Arlessa of Amaranthine (basically a countess) in the expansion Awakening. In either case, this character can fill the trope through noble behavior and character, benevolence to the people, and great heroism.
    • In Dragon Age: Inquisition, we meet Empress Celene of Orlais, a great patron of the arts and a scholar who professes interest in maintaining peace with allies. As with Anora, some of this is an act; supplemental material reveals that behind the scenes she can be ruthless, manipulative, and sneaky. However, she truly loves her empire and its people, and she does put on an excellent display of manners, graciousness, and willingness to compromise. She is also genuinely grateful to the Inquisitor if they save her life.
    • Likewise the Inquisitor can take on a role similar to this if female and the player takes mostly diplomatic, compassionate choices. Especially true in the case of a human Inquisitor, who is a member of the noble Trevelyan family, and/or a Faithful Inquisitor who genuinely believes themselves to be the Herald of Andraste. A Faithful Inquisitor even gets special dialogue options when addressing the Templars (should they choose to recruit them) and to offer divine forgiveness to a potential prisoner while sitting in judgement.
  • Dragon Quest V: Treacle, Queen of Faerie Lea, is kind and compassionate, and believes that everyone can coexist peacefully.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • Barenziah, former Queen of Morrowind and Wayrest and later Queen Mother of Morrowind in the backstory through her final appearance in Morrowind, is portrayed as such in her official biography, Biography of Queen Barenziah, as well as in Imperial and Tribunal Temple propaganda. In those, she possesses beauty and goodness of the highest order and exudes loyalty to the Empire with her every word and action. However, it is subverted and heavily deconstructed in her "unofficial" biography, The Real Barenziah. It reveals that in her youth as Lost Orphaned Royalty, she got into all sorts of adventures that would be unbecoming of a Queen, including spending time as The Artful Dodger (as a member of the Thieves' Guild no less) and engaging in The Oldest Profession for a time. She had some extremely negative experiences when dealing with Tiber Septim and his Empire, and any loyalty to it came out of love for her husband, Symmachus, a retired Imperial Legion General, or because the Empire was the "Gray" in a Black-and-Gray Morality scenario. Naturally, The Real Barenziah version of events is denied by the official Imperial histories and the Dunmeri Tribunal Temple, who wanted to put the author to death for heresy, but Barenziah herself is said to have enjoyed the book, befriended the author and spared his life. Make of that what you will.
    • For The Elder Scrolls Online, Queen Ayrenn, queen of the High Elves and founder of the first Aldmeri Dominion. She does not possess any of the extreme Fantastic Racism that many of her predecessors (or future successors) cling to, viewing her Wood Elf and Khajiit allies as well as her underlings as valued partners and equals, and while she is opposed to a human-dominated Tamriel, she would ultimately prefer peace and co-existence with humanity over conflict.
  • Frost Archer Ashe in League of Legends, on top of being a skilled marksman, is also a Queen in the snowy Freljord region, with heavy emphasis on maintaining peace and unity and abhorring violence, when compared to the other warlord, Sejuani.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • In Hyrule Warriors Zelda is treated this way. She has been referred to as essentially being a queen in supplementary material but is officially known as a princess. She is the sweet and poised ruler of Hyrule. She lacks the aloofness and stoicism of most examples though. Zelda is also a Lady of War willing to fight for her kingdom as the commander-in-chief. Link is actually a knight in training, making the Lady and Knight aspect even more explicit than in the main series.
    • Oracle of Ages has Queen Ambi. While she is a God Save Us from the Queen! in the game, that only started after she was first manipulated and then possessed by Veran. Conversations with her subjects reveal that she was a benevolent and kind queen before Nayru's arrival.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess:
      • Zelda is depicted this way. Her status is reflected in her colours, which are purple, gold, and ivory rather than the more standard pink. Zelda chooses to surrender in order to stop Zant from hurting her people, rather than trying to rage war and is an All-Loving Heroine even towards the Big Bad Ganondorf. She is presented as more stoic and regal than she usually is as well. She is the only Zelda thus far to be a queen. Zelda spends the game as a "princess," but it's mentioned that her kingdom was attacked just before her coronation. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl she is referred to as a queen.
      • The beautiful and regal Queen Rutela of the Zora was this — until Big Bad Zant had her executed in order to force the Zora to yield to him. She was a good queen in life and watches over her son as a ghost.
  • Queen Fay of Overlord II, the ruler of Light Magic creatures who serves as the foil to your Evil Overlord and his Always Chaotic Evil Minions. Later on during an Enemy Mine situation with the Overlord she sacrifices her energy to power up his Artifact of Doom, with the side effect of being driven insane by his dark magic, thus becoming a Fallen Hero and one of his Mistresses.
  • Queen Gwendholyn of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is a wise, kind, and just ruler, and a Reasonable Authority Figure who wants only what's best for her people. The player character is devoted to her.
  • Suikoden V has Queen Arshtat, the mother of the main character. Her reign has been something of a golden age when the country had been on the verge of civil war. She is highly respected and certainly beautiful.

    Webcomics 
  • Queen Olda in Crimson Knights is the current monarch of Lecia, and is by all accounts a just ruler who's much-concerned with the well-being of her people, even wishing to restaurate the Lecian branch of the Order of the Black Rose after 150+ years of disbandment.
  • In Drowtales, Sharess, legendary dokkalfar queen, and patron goddess to the drowolath and drowussu people, is regarded as having been this by those who still revere her. According to the legend, besieged by Shapeshifting, body snatching Eldritch Abominations, she willingly sacrificed her (earthly) life to give her people a fighting chance of survival in exile.
  • God-Queen Albia of England, from Girl Genius. She has ruled her nation for millenia and has defended the realm from all manner of evils. Although being a Spark means she can be a bit on the nutty side, even if she is a benevolent monarch.
  • The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!. Princess Voluptua pulls off this image quite well. While not especially formal in her demeanor (as most of her immediate court are dragons, she's the only one who doesn't speak in pseudo-Elizabethan highfalute), she always exudes an air of supreme confidence and competence.

    Web Original 
  • Queen Lilie from Britsune Garden. Although she often suppresses her emotions when showing herself in public, on the inside she has shown to be down-to-earth, kind, caring to her subjects, playful towards children, and especially affectionate towards her family. She surely has a big heart!
  • Open Blue: Octavia Augusta, Caesar of the Iormunean Imperium in the Back Story, who was a wise and benevolent ruler. In fact, one of her recorded actions was giving the credit for a well-placed strategic move that she was clearly responsible for to wisdom from their goddess. She was also a Lady of War who died fighting in defiance of her empire's destruction.

    Western Animation 
  • Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time.
  • When Tommy is directing a sci-fi film in All Grown Up!, he has Angelica play the Alien Queen. The character is apparently written as a villain but Angelica changes her lines to make the character nice.

    Real Life 
  • Although she was technically a princess, Matilda of Scotland was known as a kind ruler. She built many public bathhouses and the like for the poor, as well as building multiple leper hospitals. She was almost declared a saint, but never officially canonized.
  • Almost every single depiction in media of Queen Elizabeth II, and even herself in real life. Not only was she well-known, she was also known to be very kind and considerate of not just her own subjects, but people around the world, despite what some people brewed up of her. Multiple media depicted her as a wise, caring, and especially motherly monarch who loved her surprisingly well-behaved corgis and showed consideration of whoever's the protagonist(s). She was often one of the most popular exceptions to the trope God Save Us from the Queen!.

Alternative Title(s): The Good Queen, The Noble Queen

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