The prince is usually the heir to a throne.
Prince is a notion that derives from the Latin term princeps and that usually refers to the heir of a Crown . The prince, therefore, is the one who will succeed the king to the throne and will become the ruler of a region when the current monarch dies or abdicates.
The concept, however, can refer to a noble title not directly linked to the king's heir or even to a kingdom. Prince Albert of Monaco , for example, is the sovereign of this European country and not the future president.
The case of Prince William of Wales , who is in the line of succession to the throne of the United Kingdom , is different. King Charles III has been the president of this nation since 2022 : in the event of his death or if he decided to abdicate, Prince William would become king.
In Spain , specifically, the former Prince of Asturias ( Felipe de Borbón ) managed to become king of the country in 2014 , when his father, the monarch Juan Carlos I, decided to abdicate. Thus, from that moment on the king is Felipe VI , who is married to Queen Letizia and has two daughters, Leonor and Sofía . His title of prince has fallen to the first-born and second in the line of succession, Leonor , who has become the Princess of Asturias .
Prince in literature
"The Prince" , on the other hand, is the title of a work published by Niccolò Machiavelli in the 16th century . In this essay, Machiavelli reflects on the exercise of authority by a sovereign. In this case, therefore, the prince is not an heir to power, but the monarch .
It should be noted that, in fairy tales, the prince is a character whose stereotype shows him as a handsome, kind and brave man. The prince, in these types of stories, usually falls in love and helps a woman who will become his princess.
Princes are common characters in fairy tales.
The term in cinema and TV
Within the world of cinema and television there are many productions that revolve around the figure of a prince, as would be the case with these:
- «The prince of Zamunda» . This is a 1988 film starring Eddie Murphy . He plays the heir of an African country who must get married. However, before doing so, he gets his parents to allow him to live an experience: travel to the United States and experience what it feels like to be an ordinary citizen.
- «The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air» . The renowned actor Will Smith became known with this emblematic series from the 90s , in which he plays a young street boy who begins a new life with his uncles and cousins in a luxurious neighborhood called Bel-Air .
- «The prince» . One of the great television successes in Spain in recent years is this production, starring Álex González , Hiba Abouk and José Coronado . It tells the love story that is established between a young Muslim woman and an infiltrated spy, whose mission is to destroy a jihadist card.