So as today is a bank holiday in light of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, I thought it would be good to take a look at a few characters of royalty we have seen on screen. Although I will largely be focusing on fictional ones, I will also include portrayals of real life ones too. These are all characters that are royalty (or have received a title considered to be royalty at least such as emperor or ruler), have worn the crown or come close to it and for obvious reasons in some instances, there will be spoilers. All the ones that will be listed, come from films, TV shows and video games that I have seen and/or played. All personal preference and all that, so let's take a look:
25 - Davros (Doctor Who)
Creator of the Daleks and self-proclaimed emperor of the race when there isn't a Dalek Emperor around, Davros is the sole reason why The Doctor considers the Daleks one of his greatest enemies. With their lack of emotions and a means to be the most superior race across time and space, they are pretty scary with their motives. But of all the times when their plans have been thwarted, Davros always finds a way to survive. Kind of like the Joker in
Batman: The Animated Series who, until the
Batman Beyond film, always found a way to die and then suddenly come back without much explianation. Who knows if Davros will return again in the revival era, but he is a ruler and self-proclaimed emperor, so who knows.
24 - Teridax (Bionicle)
For most of the 00s, Lego had much success with their story telling original themes, with their most successful one being Bionicle. Aimed for an older kids-teen audience, this theme looked at the idea that cybernetic beings each have a destiny to fulfil and more. Their greatest enemy is this guy who, for a long time, many considered to be Makuta. Lord of darkness and the sole reason why Mata Nui who bought life to the world, is in a deep slumber (and later on, we learn he is dying). But eventually this guy would be known as Teridax, a form of Makuta but ultimately the superior one as he succeeds in becoming the ruler of the Matoran universe by taking over Mata Nui's true body. Of course, after a while, his rule would end in a climatic battle with Mata Nui himself. Darkness can take over, and this guy used that to become a ruler.
23 - Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda)
So moving on from evil tyrants (there will be some more later on), let's talk about Zelda. One of the people that holds a piece of the Triforce and a character of royalty who actually does try to make an effort to protect the kingdom of Hyrule from evil. Living up to the name of the franchise, despite us not playing as her, but instead her warrior Link. Nevertheless, Zelda has proven her worth as her royal status and has done enough to be a recognizable character and a capable fighter, whether it's as a princess or as her alter-ego Sheik. Does what she can to protect her kingdom, even if she has to rely on Link.
22 - Prince Ling Yao of Xing (Fullmetal Alchemist)
As an anime series, Fullmetal Alchemist didn't exactly work out well in its first run. But credit to it for giving us a fresh and new take on the manga whereas the second series
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was a more faithful adaptation. Still undecided about the live action films, but of all the things I like about it, Ling is one of them. An interesting character who wants any advantage he can on becoming the next emperor of his home nation, Xing. Eventually he does in fact get an advantage of sorts through the means of a Philosopher's Stone and becomes the new Greed. But in an unusual change to how the Homunculi take over their host's body, Ling willingly lets him take over with a promise of a nation to rule. After some time of being in his body, Greed would eventually turn anti-hero and assist in the heroes efforts to stop the main villain Father before sacrificing his very soul to allow Ed to deliver the final blow. In the end, he would go on to become the emperor of Xing and turn things around for the better there.
21 - Empress Kitana of the Netherealm (Mortal Kombat)
Kitana is an iconic character in the Mortal Kombat franchise, often depicted as a heroine. But would eventually die and become a revenant who would go on to be the empress of the Netherealm. For the majority of the series, she went through a lot of hardships, usually at the hands of her stepfather Shao Kahn. I like her the most when it comes to rulers and those of royalty in the series because she went through a lot and was able to just be herself when becoming the empress. A worthy one indeed.
20 - Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part)
Now we have a queen that can shape-shift. In all the trailers and so forth to do with the Lego Movie sequel, many of us would have assumed that Watevra Wa'Nabi was the villain. But she is far from it, in fact. People love her personality, her singing, and just the many things she decides to turn into. That and her devotion to marry Batman and just be a nice ruler of the Systar System. This queen is certainly entertaining and bubbly, for sure.
19 - Prince Amleth (The Northman)
Coming from something a bit more recent (this year in fact), Amleth was always meant to be the rightful heir to the throne of his father. But when his father got beheaded, he narrowly escaped his own demise, swearing vengeance. Years later he would get his vengeance, despite not getting the throne. Definitely a formidable person who never truly got the throne, but would do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Though unlike the man that beheaded his father, he would do so with allies beside him. Check out
The Northman film if you want more info, but yes some people of royalty or who have been given that title, can be people that should not be messed with
18 - Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom (Super Mario)
Peach may be a very different Nintendo princess to Zelda, but much like with her, she does all she can to help Mario in his many attempts to save her. Although in most of the games, the most she does is just be a damsel in distress, in the RPG games, she's actually more helpful than her mainstream form. For example, in the early Paper Mario games, she has her own playable scenes where she helps Mario from afar and then together with Bowser and Luigi in the surprisingly emotional
Super Paper Mario. Not only that, but she's had her own game and is an instantly recognizable character in video games, much like with many Nintendo characters. Though some would argue that she, Bowser and Mario just set all these things up just for the heck of it.
17 - King of all the Cosmos (Katamari)
This guy is an overarching ruler of the cosmos in the Katamari games. He often has his prince and other subjects go out to collect objects onto a rolling ball, which seems to please him despite the massive destruction the ball makes. Nevertheless, the king is always happy, and I guess a happy king means a happy galaxy, even if you have to roll over things just to do that.
16 - Queen Elsa of Arendelle (Frozen)
I don't think I really need to go into detail about Elsa here because we all know the story. But in case you have been living under a rock for a whole decade, Elsa is a queen. Yes you heard correctly, a Disney film finally has a queen instead of a princess. Of course not the first queen they have ever had, but a queen nonetheless that was afraid of her powers and what she could do with them. But would eventually learn just to let it go and not hold back which ultimately led to her embracing her role as Queen of Arendelle and later on, be the protector of the Enchanted Forest while her much cuter and attractive sister Anna (at least in my opinion anyway), becomes the new queen.
15 - The Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves)
Sticking with Disney, let's return to the villain side of things. In Disney's very first feature length animated film, we have a character known simply as the Evil Queen (real name being Queen Grimhilde). As a ruler, the most she did was just wanting to be the fairest in the land. But had to do a lot of bad things just to do that. A ruler with not much depth to her character would make many of you wonder why she is on the list. Well, if you look her up in various wikis, there is actually more to her than you may realize. For instance, she found a way to harness dark magic, became the ruler of a kingdom following the demise of her formerly widowed husband and king, and she would rule said kingdom with an iron fist. She was also feared by her subjects, had a magical mirror at her disposal and despised her step daughther Snow White to the point where she would have her be dressed in rags and would do whatever it takes to be more beautiful than the original Disney Princess that Snow White would end up becoming. Many of these traits would then be used on other versions of this character, especially in the TV series
Once Upon a Time where Regina Mills would use these powers to bring everyone into the real world with only her having memories of her old life (until later on that is).
14 - Player King and/or Queen (Kingdom)
Sometimes the best kings and queens come in the form of ones that you can play as. In the Kingdom series of video games, you play as a king or queen (or both in later instalments) who rides back and forth on a horse in a quest to build up your kingdom with money, defences set up and more. It's quite a chilled series of games and one that shows just how much a king and/or queen cares for their kingdom and will do anything to ensure its survival and prosperity. Speaking of which...
13 - King or Queen of Albion (Fable 3)
I know a lot of us really don't like Fable 3, but for me, it was my first exposure to the seires and I absoultely adore it. Sure the gameplay is a bit rigid and laggy, but it's got some fun to it and has a great cast of characters voiced by some well known actors and British people such as Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Michael Fassbender and Simon Pegg. For the whole game, you play as a prince or princess on a mission to start a rebelion against your brother to take the throne. Then just as victory is at hand, a new threat from afar, makes itself known and you have to make the right decisons to ensure the kingdom's survival and happiness on things. It's definitley one of those games that you can toy around with a lot just to see the impact your decisons make. Kind of like with the Mass Effect games in a way.
12 - King Arthur (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
A film not to be taken too seriously, but one that has a king who is after the Holy Grail and will do whatever he must do to get it. King Arthur in this film is a graceful person who appreciates the help people offer him and goes about trying to get the Holy Grail even if he must find a shrubbery, use a holy hand granade and deal with the French. Though in the end, police get involved and his quest is sadly left unresolved. But he will always be seen as a good king even with the things he did to at least try to get what he wanted.
11 - Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry VIII (The Tudors)
Now we come to some real life kings and queens and the first is King Henry VIII. Now the TV series
The Tudors basically depicts the real life story of Henry from beginning to end with a large focus on those wives he had. With violence, sexual stuff and more, Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays a very good King Henry that is emotional, can tolorate all things and all that jazz. A great performance for the whole series I'd say.
10 - King T'Challa (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
Onto the top 10 and we start with the guy that was formally Black Panther. T'Challa took up his father's place and was once on a mission of vengance against the Winter Solider. But that all changed when he learned of his Hydra manipulation and sought out to remove all of that from within Bucky Barnes. With Wakanda techology and all that, he soon rose to become the new ruler of Wakanda, but not before dealing with a couple of guys that challenged him to it. Since then, he has assisted the Avengers in their fights against Thanos and his minions and even though he got snapped out of existance, he came back with his army for their final fight. Trully a warrior worthy of being the ruler of Wakanda. A shame his actor had to pass away before the sequel.
9 - "King" Ezekiel (The Walking Dead)
Not quite royalty, but Ezekiel had to make do with what he had with his community. He became the self proclaimed king of The Kingdom community and ruled it as a beloved person and all that. At first its clear that he has made peace with the Saviors who in turn have honoured his deal to not go into the community, but things soon take a turn for the worst when a supply run goes sour and he then has his people join Rick's army in their fight against Negan and the Saviors. It is nice to see a ruler who is beloved and doesn't want harm to come to his people and goes to great lengths to ensure just that. But even the most beloved of rulers have to make sacrifices.
8 - Queen Kida of Atlantis (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)
Kida and many princess and female characters in Disney, are often overlooked. You'd think with every film they make, every character of royalty is automatically considered to be an official Disney prince, princess and so forth. But no when a film does badly somewhere, its a no. Yet somehow Pocahontas is a Disney Princess despite her film not doing well at all. But anyway, Kida wants nothing more than to keep Atlantis safe and secure. When people from the surface start visiting, she wants their help to figure it all out and Milo does that. But ultimately some of the surface people prove to be dangerous, but others set out to stop them and save Atlantis. Thus making Kida worthy of being the queen of the Lost Empire and just a great person that cares deeply about her people. Including her father.
7 - King Aragorn (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy)
Once a ranger of the North, Aragorn was instrumental in the war for Middle-Earth. Leading the fellowship when Gandalf fell and then playing a part in the battles of Helm's Deep and Pelennor Fields. Then after leading a big army to the Black Gate and successfully distract Sauron, he becomes king of both Gondor and Arnor. Acclaimed by his subjects, he would rule for a long time as someone worthy for the throne. Though he would bow to hobbits due to their courage in the fights that took place and therefore, bow to no one.
6 - King Leonidas (300)
We've all heard the memes, the remixes and all that jazz.
300 isn't perfect, but it was that one film that put Zach Snyder on Warner's radar who would go on to make more films based on comics with them. One of the great things it had going was the main character King Leonidas who took 300 of his men to fight the Persians. He was a great leader full of rage and some sorrow and would be hailed as a mayter in the years that followed.
5 - Mufasa (The Lion King)
Well with a film like
The Lion King, you get what you paid for. A king that happens to be a lion. Now Mufasa may not be in the film for long, but he is a king who is wise, very protective of his kingdom and his son Simba and has the deep voice of James Earl Jones. Plus his presence even after death is still there in the world of the Pride Lands. What a king he was in whichever version of the film you prefer.
4 - Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga)
Palpatine is certainly an interesting character. Of all the characters in the prequels, he was the most well written. Especially in
Revenge of the Sith when he slowly reveals his true nature as an evil tyrants who wants nothing more than to rule the Galaxy as it's emperor. Which he ends up doing in the end... at least for a while anyway. Ruled it with an iron fist and had an army at his disposal to use on his enemies. Definitely a guy not to be messed with for sure.
3 - Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II (The Queen)
When people talk about those that have portrayed Queen Elizabeth II, most would consider Helen Mirren as the best or rather most definitive actress to play her. Mimicking her good nature, good humor and kind spirit while also adding her own flavour to the mix, this Queen is a good one. Just like her late real life counterpart who cares a great deal for her family and the people too.
2 - King Joffrey "Baratheon" (Game of Thrones)
Of all the people to take or come close to taking the Iron Throne, Joffrey is that one monarch you just love to hate. Born out of incest and sworn into the throne by going against the wishes of his late "father", he is just plain nasty. Causes rape, humiliation and loads more unspeakable acts that many were glad when he got killed of. He's one bad monarch that compared to most of the villainous characters on this list, has done much worse things. Hence why I like him because you just can't talk about
Game of Thrones without mentioning him.
Now I'm sure there are many other monarchs and people of royalty that I could list here. But I think I know a good character when I see him/her/they. Now onto my number one pick.
1 - Colin Firth as King George VI (The King's Speech)
One of the difficult things for any actor to do is accurately portray a character with a condition of some kind. In this case, it's a stammer and Colin Firth is King George VI. In a film that takes place at a time where he needs to make a speech at a very crucial point of the UK's declaration of War upon Germany. He plays the part really well and it made me realise that he can do more than just comedy roles. I mean this performance alone is the reason why I enjoy seeing him on screen and also why I consider this the best person of royalty on the list (or at least the performance anyway).
Agree or disagree and have your own list to share? Leave it in the comments below and have a great Monday whatever you are doing.
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