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{{trope}}
[[File:Oglaf Incognito.jpg|link=Oglaf|frame]]
{{quote|''You mean, the guy who collapsed on the side of the road and mooched food off of us was the son of the emperor?''
|'''Edward Elric''', ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]''}}
A special case of [[Chekhov's Gunman]]. The heroes and/or villains run into a seemingly unimportant person, usually a beggar or common criminal. Later we discover this person is actually someone of great fame and importance (a king/powerful wizard, etc), and that he/she had disguised him/herself to walk among the general populace unnoticed.
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This may be a [[Rags to Royalty]] situation, if the king must stay hidden for his own safety. However, it is never a case of a [[Secret Legacy]]; the king always knows that he is the king, and is generally plotting for when the [[Rightful King Returns]], or has been using a [[Decoy Leader]] to rule. If the central character is the King Incognito, then this is [[I Am Who?]].
Frequently serves as a [[Deus Ex Machina]], or can lead to a [[Right in Front of Me]] moment. [[Kneel Before Frodo]] often results. Is often a cause (or side effect) of an [[Emergency Impersonation]]. [[God Was My Co-Pilot]] and [[Angel Unaware]] are the supernatural versions of this trope.
If this character isn't that good at passing for common, he may be [[Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense]].
Compare [[Modest Royalty]], [[Secretly Wealthy]]. Contrast with [[Ermine Cape Effect]] and [[Mock Millionaire]]. [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Secret Identity]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', Chazz runs into a scruffy-looking guy outside North Academy who tells him about the requirements to get in. When he finally does get in and beats every student in the school, the scruffy guy reappears and reveals that he's actually the one who runs the academy.
** In season 2, Jaden beats Aster Phoenix, supposedly the best duelist in the world. [[Achievements in Ignorance|He doesn't learn Aster's name until Syrus tells him]].
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* Happens frequently in ''[[The Five Star Stories]]''. It's a favorite activity of Emperor Amaterasu, but then, disguising yourself is the easiest thing in the world to do when you're a literal [[Physical God|divine emperor]].
* Shi Ryuuki from ''[[Saiunkoku Monogatari]]'' does this a lot. Not that he always succeeds; Shuurei saw through his disguise immediately when they first met (he was using the name of someone she had met not ten minutes ago, among other things). He does manage to pull it off at other times, though - at least once so well that when he reveals his identity, his subjects don't initially ''believe'' him.
* Ling Yao and Mei Chan in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', although in Mei's case, being the emperor's daughter doesn't really get her all that much. Ling on the other hand is such a dork that when the other characters find out who he is, they almost injure themselves laughing.
** Actually, they're picturing him in pantaloons with a white horse and a shiny crown. The Eastern concept 'son of the emperor' and the Western concept 'prince,' especially as
** Also, [[Obfuscating Stupidity]], even if the falling-over-and-demanding-food thing was later Ling's [[Something Only They Would Say]] in a plot-relevant way. {{spoiler|It helped that his teeth stopped being pointy when he was in control.}}
* Usagi, Mamoru and Chibiusa of ''[[Sailor Moon]]''. Though to be fair, the former two were only a royalty in their past lives and of Kingdoms that have been defunct for an unknown amount of time and weren't aware of this until after the series starts. The latter is a [[Kid From the Future]] where Usagi and Mamoru have become Queen and King of the earth and is known to be a princess in her time.
* The fifth episode of the second season of ''[[Strike Witches]]'' is essentially an extended [[Shout-Out]] to [[Roman Holiday]].
* In the ''[[The Legend of Zelda (manga)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' for ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', Link, during his trip to Hyrule Castle Town, meets a little girl and plays with her all day (including going on a semi-
* In ''[[The Heroic Legend of Arslan]]'' [[Anime]], Arislan is hoping to get some information out of some prisoners his forces recently captured, so he disguises himself as a servant and arranges things so that he gets assigned to deliver food to each of the prisoners he's most interested in. Estelle/Etoile confides in the "servant" that she has heard that Arislan is a [[Complete Monster]]. He responds by feeling the top of his head. When she asks him why, he replies that he's checking to see if he has horns, giving away his identity.
* Queen Dianna in ''[[Turn A Gundam|Turn a Gundam]]'' is incognito
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* In the ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' comic, Lo'Gosh, an amnesiac human with uncanny fighting skills who was forced into being an [[Our Orcs Are Different|Orc]] [[Gladiator Games|gladiator]], turns out to be {{spoiler|Varian Wrynn, the kidnapped and subsequently shipwrecked king of [[The Kingdom|Stormwind]]}}.
* In one issue of ''[[The Sandman]]'', Augustus Caesar disguises himself as a beggar to make plans that will not be overheard by the gods.
* For a few issues of ''[[Iron Man
== Fan Works ==▼
* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship
== Film ==
* Queen Amidala of ''[[Star Wars]]'' frequently disguises herself as one of her own handmaidens. (OK, in this case it's just so that the assassins will shoot the wrong woman, which proves to be entirely justified.)
* In Kurosawa's ''[[The Hidden Fortress]]'' (which later went on to influence ''[[Star Wars]]''), a princess and a general of a defeated kingdom disguise themselves as peasants in an attempt to smuggle themselves and their kingdom's treasury to safety.
** One of the princess's
* Prince Edward in ''[[A Knight's Tale]]'', who pretends to be a knight of no great repute in order to compete in tournaments.
** Played with in that his disguise fools no one, and his opponent backs out of the tournament rather than risk the king's wrath. William, on the other hand, has no compunctions about challenging him.
*** The disguise worked fine, as William faced "Sir Thomas Colville" in the previous tournament without realizing who it was. Even Adhemair, who was running commentary for Jocelyn during that joust, had no idea who Colville was the first time around. It just didn't stay a secret in the next tournament.
* In ''[[Dogma]]'', God herself takes a human form in order to visit [[Joisey|the Jersey Shore]] and play skeeball.
* The twist at the end of the [[Sherlock Holmes]] movie ''Pursuit To Algiers'' is that Holmes has disguised the about-to-be-crowned-king prince as a ship's deckhand and a cop as the prince to throw the prince's enemies off the trail. [[We Would Have Told You But|He doesn't tell Watson]] because he fears that Watson would give it away by treating the "deckhand" with the sort of respect he would normally show royalty.
* Subverted in Alexander Korda's ''[[The Thief of Bagdad]]'', in which the [[Evil Chancellor|vizier]] convinces the king to walk among his people dressed as a commoner—and then takes over the kingdom in his absence.
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* Becomes a major part of the plot of ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (film)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]''.
* Prince Akeem in ''[[Coming to America]]''. Unsatisfied with [[Extreme Doormat|how passive]] his [[Arranged Marriage|bride-to-be]] is, Akeem and his friend Semmi travel to New York, where they pose as working-class African college students, so that he can find a woman who will love him for who he is, rather than what he is.
▲== Fan Works ==
▲* In the ''My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'' fanfic "Sunny Skies All Day Long", Princess Celestia tires of everypony constantly kowtowing to her out of fear and respect. At her sister Luna's suggestion, Celestia spends a day in Ponyville disguised as an ordinary pegasus named Sunny Skies.
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* In a way, {{spoiler|Carrot}} in the ''[[Discworld]]'' books.
** Elsewhere in ''Discworld'', Nanny Ogg reflects on an (unrelated) story that fits this trope and her suspicion that the King in question sent his people around beforehand to make sure everyone knew what was really happening "in case anyone tried to get ''too'' common."
** Prince Heinrich of Zlobenia in ''[[
* When we first meet Aragorn, the rightful king, in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', he's a ranger named Strider. We don't find out his true identity for quite some time.
** Tolkien said when he first showed up in the story he didn't know who the guy was either. Hell, the original character concept was a hobbit with wooden feet.
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* {{spoiler|Nat Whilk}} in ''The Dragons of Babel''. It helps that he's been gone for a number of years and no one saw that much of him to begin with. {{spoiler|And at the end, Will comes back after twenty years or so and does the same thing.}}
* The Eternal Emperor, Ruler of the Court of a Thousand Worlds, in the ''Sten'' series by Chris Bunch & Allan Cole, liked to take a break from the Imperial rulership thing by dressing up as a seedy starship engineer named "Haroun al-Raschid" (in a deliberate homage to the Arabian Nights) and go out bar crawling. And getting in bar fights.
* The Connatic, benign dictator of the Alastor Cluster in [[Jack Vance]]'s ''Alastor'' trilogy, not only frequently goes out into the public in disguise, but makes sure that the people know of this habit. He only appears as his official self once in the series. It's implied that Ryl Shermatz, a government agent who appears in two of the books, may be one of his cover identities.
* Sir [[Walter Scott]]'s ''[[Ivanhoe]]'' features [[Richard the Lion Hearted|King Richard I]] going around as a mysterious knight searching for adventure upon his return to England. His loyal retainers' advice not to risk his life in this manner is ignored.
* In Fiona Patton's ''The Painter Knight,'' the mildly insane king goes bar-crawling. This doesn't work, however, because members of the royal family are quasi-divine and have literally flaming eyes. Whatever tavern he enters is forced to uncomfortably maintain the fiction, under pain of having the bar burned down. When he is assassinated and his daughter and heir is on the run from her enemies, her eyes are disguised by blindfolding her with a thin cloth, so that she can see but others think she is blind. Her distinctly red hair, another family characteristic, is darkened with dirt.
* Prince Jonathon in the ''[[Tortall Universe|Song of the Lioness]]'' quartet.
* Prince Roger and his surviving bodyguards do this in [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[Prince Roger|We Few]]'', literally remolding their bodies with supertech to go undercover.
* [[King Arthur]] did this in ''[[A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]]'', to no one's benefit. Twain hated the monarchy. However he did give King Arthur a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] when he knowingly exposes himself to infection by carrying a smallpox
* The King and the Duke from ''[[
* Another [[Mark Twain]] piece, ''[[The Prince and the Pauper]]'', features the eponymous prince swapping places with the eponymous pauper, effectively becoming this.
* In [[James Thurber]]'s ''[[The 13 Clocks]]'', the wandering
* In the [[Chivalric Romance]] ''Sir Orfeo'', Orfeo wanders in the wilderness because of his grief at the loss of his wife, kidnapped by the king of [[The Fair Folk|Fairy]]. However, when he finds the fairy court, he exploits it to present himself as a
* In Greg Costikyan's book ''Another Day, Another Dungeon'' {{spoiler|Vic, the senile old man who tells long, pointless stories and begs for spare change, turns out to be the last polymage, a type of sorcerer thought to have died out more than ten thousand years ago.}} This definitely counts as a [[Deus Ex Machina]], but it's completely forgivable because it's ''hilarious.''
* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|Chessmen of Mars]]'', Gahan the Jed of Gathol met, and rather repulsed, John Carter's daughter Tara.
** John Carter himself went incognito a few times after becoming Warlord -- especially in ''Swords of Mars''.
* Ruthlessly subverted in Yulia Latynina's ''Wizards and Ministers'', when the naive 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 [[Deadpan Snarker|Prime Minister]] was honestly relieved that this was as far as it went,
* ''[[1632]]'' has King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, as in [[Real Life]] below.
* In ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]'', Miles Naismath does his work for Barrayaran Imperial Security under the cover of Miles Naismath, a mercenary warlord, who by strange coincidence often takes contracts from Barrayar. He is not a king but he would be in the Imperial line of succession were it not for physical disqualification (not to mention the other four of the five claims that lie morbid somewhere in the tangled family trees and legal precedent of Vor nobility). He is also heir to one of the sixty counties on the planet which may make him equiv to ruler of a nation. A deconstruction of this is Emperor Gregor who does this as a typical teenager who runs away from home and gets in trouble, except being an Emperor, more trouble could come of it.
* The initial love interest in ''[[Variable Star]]'' is addicted to this in an almost literal fashion, discovering just how much she can find out if nobody realizes who she is. (She's not technically royal, but her financial status is about a step above [[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]].)
* Murtagh of the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'', despite seeming to be an ordinary rogue, is {{spoiler|the son of the Empire's most powerful general, the Dragon Rider Morzan, who died fifteen years earlier}}
* In [[Andre Norton]]'s [[Ruritania]]n novel ''The Prince Commands'', [[Overly Long Name|Michael Karl]], soon to be King of Morvania as a result of his cousin Urlich Karl's suspicious death, is captured by a bandit known as The Werewolf, a prime suspect, who makes no secret of his dislike for the royal family. {{spoiler|The Werewolf '''''IS''''' Urlich Karl, who dodged an assassination attempt and is now using that role to build [[La Résistance|a loyal army]] while '''also''' posing as an American journalist to ferret out [[Aristocrats Are Evil|traitors among the nobility]].}} Michael Karl for a time claims to instead be a (nonexistent) American friend of his, and reinforces the deception with a few snide remarks alleging that Michael Karl is a coward.
* In [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[Sylvie and Bruno]]'', when Sylvie and Bruno chase after a beggar driven off by their uncle, aunt, and cousin, they find it's their father—who has become the King of Elfland.
* In [[Scott Westerfeld]]'s
* In the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' series, {{spoiler|Tavi starts out as a [[Secret Legacy]], but is finally told the truth about his heritage early in the fourth book}}. However, it fits this trope for the fourth book, as he travels around the country as a soldier or spy rather than openly admitting who he really is. It's partly a King Incognito in the fifth book as well. The Alerans know, but to most of the Canim he is just another soldier from among the demons and he has to bargain or bully his way through. It's unlikely that knowing who he was would have affected how they treated him, though.
** The First Lord does this as well when 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 the [[Genre Savvy]] 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.
* Henry VII ([https://web.archive.org/web/20081206105642/http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_kingsjob1.htm supposedly]) posed as a leper in "The King's Job" (aka ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20090419111422/http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_kingsjob.htm The Tudor Monarchy]'') by [[Rudyard Kipling]].
* In ''[[The Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'', a highly competent but otherwise unassuming servant turns out to be {{spoiler|''the Elder God of the sea'' in disguise, who decided to live among humans in an attempt to avert [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]}}.
* In [[Bernard Cornwell]]'s ''Azincourt'', a disguised Henry V talks to his soldiers the night before the battle. Almost certainly an homage to Shakespeare's use of the trope (see below).
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* The Medieval Dutch epic poem ''Karel Ende Elegast'' recounts the adventures of Charlemagne, disguised as a common thief, and his companion Elegast, who may or may not be an elven king. Charlemagne takes advantage of his thieving alter-ego to break into the castle of his brother-in-law, who he then conveniently overhears plotting regicide.
* In [[Anne Rice]]'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 advisors on the state of the kingdom.
* In Claire Madras's
* Wizards in the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' seem to make a second profession out of this. Zedd (several times), Adie, Richard (several times, never of his own volition, and invoked by the books), Ann, Nathan, Nicci (with Richard), Kahlan (in the Chainfire arc).
== Live Action TV ==
* In the ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' episode "The Once and Future Queen", Prince Arthur discovers the other knights are letting him win duels and jousts, so disguises himself as an ordinary knight to compete in a
** Arguably, Merlin does this every single episode, as he is the most powerful sorcerer of all time, and he's disguised as a clumsy, slightly foolish manservant.
* Subverted in the first season of ''[[Blackadder]]''; Edmund, Baldrick and Percy visit a plague-ridden village to visit an informative old crone, and after several people greet Edmund, Baldrick suggests that he disguise himself so no one will deliberately infect him. Edmund then places [[Paper-Thin Disguise|a strip of cloth over his eye]], and the peasants just play along.
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* King Sukjong in ''[[Dong Yi]]'' likes to inspect his country in such a manner. And it was in one such tour when he bumped into the eponymous character. Hilarity ensues when she acted rather rudely (albeit not on purpose) in front of him, unaware of his real identity.
* Trick, the bartender in ''[[Lost Girl]]'', is secretly the Blood King of the Fae.
* This trope is the primary conceit behind the long-running [[Jidai Geki]] series ''[[Abarenbo Shogun]]''. The eponymous Shogun disguises himself as an ordinary samurai to hang out with firefighters, uncover corruption, and solve mysteries. Every episode ends with a [[Big Reveal]] where he confronts the evildoer of the day, which nearly always results in a big sword fight.
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* Zeus, and others of the [[Classical Mythology|Greek Gods]] would also occasionally walk the earth in the guise of old hags or beggars, so they could reward those that showed them kindness, or punish those that didn't. The most famous story of this is the tale of Baucis and Philemon, where Zeus and Hermes, disguised as beggars, are shown [[Sacred Hospitality]] by the poor, elderly couple Baucis and Philemon after their richer neighbors had shut their doors to the gods. This leads to Zeus providing some [[Laser-Guided Karma]] to the rich people and Classical Myth's [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].
* [[Norse Mythology]] has Odin doing this a lot as well, sometimes accompanied by Loki.
**He is usually instantly seen by the reader,"Now just who is that weird old man with the eye patch who always talks in riddles...?
* And Japanese folklore has [[Youkai]] which fill this role.
* According to the [[The Bible|New Testament]], God the Son became a mortal man in order to reconcile with fallen humanity, and even after his return to heaven remains The Son of Man as much as of God.
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** On the other hand, the prophet Elijah favored this trick, doing it willingly to gauge the temper of the Israelite people. On the other hand, he was often forced to do it (he was hunted by King Ahab, so he ''had'' to hide).
* Angels are said to do this, as in the story of Lot.
* Also used by Odysseus in ''[[
* King Alfred the Great of Wessex traditionally infiltrated the ranks of his Danish enemies disguised as a minstrel; more famously, in disguise, he was taken into a poor woman's hut and told to watch her baking cakes, and slapped by her when he burned them. (Both incidents are included by [[G. K. Chesterton]] in ''The Ballad of the White Horse''.
== New Media ==
* In ''[[Descendant of a Demon Lord]]''
** Celes claimed to be "a sorcerer" when she was in 9.3 to some people that were trapped in fairy land. When she got them out and they found out she was a pretender to the throne, they apologized for their impudence. Celes didn't think they were rude, but she accepted their apology (provided they would serve her, since they said they would if she got them out of fairy land) instead of telling them the apology wasn't necessary since she thought that would make them more disciplined subordinates.
** Rowena got conscripted to defend Magma Guard against Celes. In the process of taking Magma Guard being taken, Rowena got smashed by artillery. Rowena got healed by Celes (presumably during Celes’s healing spree after the acting commander of Magma Guard surrendered). Later on Celes was walking around in robes and Rowena didn’t recognize Celes (nor did Celes recognize Rowena) and Rowena took Celes on a date. During this date, Rowena said that Celes sounded like an airhead and that she’d find and scold Celes if Celes walked around in her bare feet again. Celes’s inner-monologue at the end of the date indicated she wanted to give her name but needed to leave in a hurry because [[Power Incontinence]].
== Theater ==
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* In ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' divine minions do it frequently—Elminster more often than Khelben, and Erevis Cale constantly lives as a "head butler" of a wealthy merchant family.
** Azoun IV Obarskyr of Cormyr, before he became king, joined an adventuring group fittingly named "the King's Men" soon after it was founded, as a swordsman named "Balin", but revealed his identity to them after a few months. The [[Court Mage|Royal Court Wizard]], of course, both kept an eye on and covered for the prince, pretending he's on an expedition or pilgrimage.
* ''[[Traveller]]'': This is so regular a habit among Imperial Nobility that there are are procedures for registering secret identities with the police. A common fashion is to use literary characters for the cover ID.
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*** And, of course, {{spoiler|<s>Prince Mildain</s> Elphin the bard}} from the sixth game.
* Princess Nadia of ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' disguises herself and takes on the pseudonym Marle in order to see the Millenial Fair. It's only after they're sucked into the past that the heroes figure out who she really is when [[Identical Grandson|she's mistaken for her ancestor Queen Leene]].
* More a Princess Incognito, but from ''Zelda'', the eponymous princess, while disguised as Shiek in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** Not at first for {{spoiler|Tetra}}. She has no clue about her royal lineage in the first game, but then she continues to disguise herself as her normal {{spoiler|Tetra}} persona at the end of the first and the whole second.
*** I got the impression she was having more fun as {{spoiler|Tetra}}.
*** Well, would you rather be {{spoiler|princess of a vanished land, or a pirate?}} [http://hail-nekoyasha.deviantart.com/art/The-Pirate-s-Life-or-Not-29083290 This comic] sums it up nicely.
** Then, in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' is full of these. {{spoiler|Lord Larsa starts out pretending to be a mysterious boy named "Lamont", Princess Ashe masquerades as Amalia, and Judge Zecht forfeits his rank and title and becomes the Pirate King Reddas. Baltheir was also a Judge in the past and gave it up long before the game started}}
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', by Post-cataclysmic Edgar. The heroes, having met him before, see right through the ruse. After several denials, he finally fesses up.
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** One of Elminster's cameos has him taking the pseudonym "Terminsel" during Jaheira's personal quest. She figures it out quickly enough.
* ''[[Suikoden IV]]'': Soon after making landfall on the Island Kingdom of Obel, the [[Player Party]] is given directions to the King's place by some guy on the street wearing worn sandals and an open, salmon pink vest. Congratulations! [[Hello, Insert Name Here]] was just introduced to [[Active Royalty|King Lino en Kuldes]], one of the fan-favorite characters.
* ''[[Quest for Glory
* {{spoiler|Alistar}} in ''[[Dragon Age]]''.
* {{spoiler|Joshua}} in ''[[The World Ends With You]]''. Instead of being {{spoiler|a regular player, he's actually ''[[A God Am I|the freaking Composer of Shibuya]]''. Doesn't stop him from being any less of a [[Jerkass]] though}}.
* Roan in ''[[Grandia II]]'', who first appears as a bratty [[Tagalong Kid]]. When the party reaches his hometown, he's revealed to be the crown prince. In the epilogue he
* ''[[Fable]] III'' will live and breath this trope once you succeed in overthrowing the corrupt king of Albion and take his place.
* ''[[Persona 4]]'': Remember {{spoiler|the gas station attendant who, other than making your controller vibrate and causing you to feel dizzy, seemed just like any other attendant?}} Well, turns out she's {{spoiler|Izanami, the [[Big Bad]] and the [[True Final Boss]].}} And you don't find out about this unless you decide to go for the True Ending.
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{{quote|'''Eirin:''' It was clear that Tewi wasn't just a normal youkai rabbit. All the earth rabbits listened to everything she said. Though there was nothing at all dignified in her appearance, the idea of her being able to control a great number of rabbits at will brings to mind the image of an ascetic who has achieved enlightenment.}}
* N from [[Pokémon Black and White]] is actually the king of [[Animal Wrongs Group|Team Plasma]]. He reveals this to the player just before you get your fourth badge in Nimbasa City, while on the ferris wheel.
* In ''[[Deus Ex:
* {{spoiler|Huepow}} of ''[[Klonoa]]: Door to Phantomile''. You don't find this out until the ''last world''!
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[The Phoenix Requiem]]'': {{spoiler|Anya}}.
* ''[[Collar 6]]'': Sixx admits to being a high ranking mistress, but not to being incredibly rich.
* ''[[Impure Blood]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20130626060807/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter004/ib019.html No one needs to know who I am.]
* In ''[[Strays]]'', [http://www.straysonline.com/2011/05/page-171/
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** ...While one Polish king did leave his chambers frequently, go out for a drink incognito, get into barfights and do similar funny (if unkingly) stuff.
* Queen Elizabeth II did this recently, to enjoy a trip in a steam train.
** On V-E Day after the defeat of Germany, Elizabeth - then a Princess - and her sister Margaret wandered
* There was both a Bourbon Prince and a Bonaparte prince who served in the Free French Foreign Legion during World War Two, as both their families were officially forbidden French citizenship for fear that they might cause a succession crisis.
* Nero was said to have done this and gone around beating people up (and robbing them), in a [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] that everyone saw through but could do nothing about. After one senator beat him up anyway, he started having bodyguards follow at a distance.
* [[Richard the Lion Heart|Richard I, the Lionheart]], traveled incognito after returning from [[The Crusades]], trying to escape capture (he wasn't
* The empress Mathilda, who had a claim to the English throne, escaped Oxford castle dressed completely in white sheets. Since it was snowing, she wasn't seen.
* King Henry V of England. He used
* James V of Scotland was said to wander his kingdom as "the Guidman of Ballangeich". ("Guidman" = "Goodman" = "Mister".)
* As mentioned above, Haroun Al-Raschid.
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** Lech, yes. Drunken and selfish, not so much. And he played the lazy thing as [[Obfuscating Stupidity]], while actually managing to outmaneuver some of the shrewdest politicians in English history (like [[wikipedia:Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury|Shaftesbury]]). His brother James was much more conscientious, and much stupider, and lost the kingdom as a result.
* Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands once participated in a [[wikipedia:Elfstedentocht|legendary 200 kilometer ice-skating endurance race]] under the pseudonym W.A van Buren. After a while he got recognized, both the Queen and his father were present when he finished.
** As King, he's spent over 20 years [http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/europe/netherlands-king-willem-alexander-klm-pilot/index.html occasionally flying regional jets for KLM], and was seldom recognized. This is partly because he [[Modest Royalty|always flies as a co-pilot]] (so that he can address passengers on behalf of the captain and crew, rather than in the name of the King, thus reducing the attention called to his royal self), and partly because post-9/11 security measures reduce contact between passengers and pilots.
* Sigismund of
** Inspired by his predecessor's odd habit, Mathias Corvinus would occasionally travel dressed as a commoner. Rumours also claim he did some
* There is a story about the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII - a hotel in Swanage, Dorset (England) claims that he spent time travelling incognito without a retinue and arrived at the hotel only to find it full. They managed to find him a couch to sleep on - and he never let on that he was the son of Queen Victoria. That was, of course, in the days before even illustrated newspapers could print photographs of anyone, including the royal family.
* King Bansah, a King of several tribes from Ghana works in a automobile repair shop in Germany. (Note: He also worked there before he became king. He became king because after the death of his
* Prince Harry, younger son of Charles and Diana, once came as close to this trope as he could ever get in this day and age by participating in a "homeless for a day" event with a load of other volunteers. The half-dozen [[MI Bs]] loitering at a discreet distance probably didn't improve the already dubious authenticity of the stunt.
** For that matter, the Prince's service in Afghanistan with the British Army might also count as this, as the government went to a lot of trouble to keep the details under wraps. It doesn't seem to have worked terribly well, as even before the story leaked he'd acquired the rather unflattering nickname of "the bullet magnet".
***Though as far as that goes that may not have been so bad. As irregulars almost invariably get slaughtered in a stand up fight(which is why they fight a guerrilla war in the first place)anything that can tempt them to give battle is arguably a net advantage.
* Doing this can have embarrassing results. During a visit to the theatre in the 1920s, King Alfonso XIII of Spain was unceremoniously pushed aside by a deputy mayor's bodyguard that didn't recognize him. One can only imagine his face when he got told.
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