Royalty

Royalty refers to a social class of people with political and economic power. Within the Final Fantasy series, the Royalty usually rule over kingdoms and are often major characters in the story, either as allies, party members, or antagonists.

Overview
Given its great status and power, royalty has been a recurrent theme on the series since its origins, spawning both non-playable and playable characters. Most, if not all, are important to their respective game's plot, for they help the player with Key Items or other support to further progress in the game.

In early games, royal families appear akin to those of medieval Europe. Unlike the real world, however, royalty in the games is mostly reduced to or centered around kings, queens or princes, disregarding other noble positions such as dukes, counts, etc. This suggests they may be non-existent or just irrelevant for story purposes.

Ever since Final Fantasy III, royalty has featured several playable characters, with different abilities across the games.

Series-wide
A princess named Sarah often appears in many games as a reference to the first Princess Sarah of Final Fantasy.

Many Summoned Monsters are referred to as royalty, though it is unlikely there is any sort of actual hierarchy and they are merely titles bestowed in recognition of their power. Bahamut is often known as the King of Dragons, and sometimes as the king of all monsters. Odin is seen as a royal figure frequently, and in games where he is not he is found in the ruins of an ancient castle of some sort as a reference to his status as nobility in other games. Other summons are often given titles as well, such as Shiva being the "empress of ice", and Leviathan being "lord of all waters".

Final Fantasy
In the first game, the game's first quest is when the King of Cornelia tasks the Warriors of Light to rescue his daughter Princess Sarah from the rogue knight Garland. Sarah has an unnamed younger sister and a mother, Queen Jayne.

Astos is the king of the Dark Elves. Prior to the game's beginning, they attacked the kingdom of Elfheim and put the Prince of Elfheim in a deep sleep that the Warriors of Light awaken him from.

Final Fantasy II
Princess Hilda is the leader of the Wild Rose Rebellion that Firion, Maria and Guy fight for, and is the princess (later Queen) of Fynn. She was engaged to Scott, Prince of Kashuan, until Fynn was conquered and Scott was lost in the fighting. Scott's brother Gordon eventually joins the Rebellion in his brother's name when Scott is found mortally wounded by Firion and dies.

The main antagonist of the game is Emperor Mateus, ruler of the Palamecian Empire that is conquering the world.

Final Fantasy III
Sara Altney is the Princess of Sasune, and temporarily joins the party to aid them. In the DS release, she is implied to be a love interest for Ingus.

Alus Restor is the crown Prince of Saronia, and aids the party. His father, King Gorn, is controlled by his advisor Gigameth, who is actually the monster Garuda who is refered as the "King of Avians". Gorn dies when Gigameth tries to make him kill Alus and Gorn turns his sword on himself to stop himself, and Alus is crown king after his death.

Final Fantasy IV
At first, the King of Baron appears to be the main antagonist of the game, until the party finds out he is a puppet ruler with Golbez using him to gather the Crystals. The party eventually discovers the true King of Baron was killed and replaced by Cagnazzo as an imposter. The true King of Baron eventually joins the party to aid them as Odin. At the end of the game, Cecil is crowned the new King of Baron with Rosa as his queen.

Edward is the Prince of Damcyan at the start of the game, but his parents are killed in an attack by the Red Wings. Though he does not officially take the title until the end of the game, Edward is acting King of Damcyan at this point.

Yang becomes King of Fabul at the end of the game with wife Sheila as his queen. The former King of Fabul remains in the kingdom as an advisor.

Edge is the Prince of Eblan. At some point prior the party meeting up with Edge, the King and Queen of Eblan were captured by Dr. Lugae and turned into monsters. At the end of the game with his parents gone, Edge is crowned King of Eblan.

Giott is King of the Dwarves and rules his kingdom with his young daughter Luca.

Leviathan and Asura are said to be the King and Queen of the Eidolons, and rule from the Feymarch.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
All player characters that became royalty in the previous game return in the sequel to the original. The only character not to join the group is Edward.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Once again, all player characters that are royalty in the two previous games return. Ceodore, Prince of Baron and Rosa and Cecil's son, and Ursula, Yang's daughter and Princess of Fabul, appear as new party members. Luca also joins as a new party member.

Final Fantasy V
Most party members with the exception of Bartz are royalty. Lenna and Faris are the princesses of Tycoon, and Alexander is their father who has gone missing at the start of the game.

Galuf is revealed to be the King of Bal, and Krile is his granddaughter.

Queen Karnak is the ruler of Karnak. A Kingdom with industrial prowess thanks to the power of the Fire Crystal and the inventions of Cid Previa. The Queen becomes mad with power and incarcerates Cid for trying to turn the machines off for they were dangerous. Eventually the Queen is possessed by Exdeath and turns into a monster known as Liquid Flame, but is defeated and the Crystal destroyed. She then remains in a delirious state for the remainder of the game.

Xezat is ruler of Surgate, a Warrior of Dawn and longtime friend of Galuf. He aids the party into attacking the newly resurrected Exdeath in his castle, by commanding a fleet of ships. When the party infiltrates the Barrier Tower, Xezat dies as he destroys the engine, which allows the party access to Exdeath's castle and the Submarine

Final Fantasy VI
Edgar is the King of Figaro Castle and Sabin is his younger brother. Their father, the former King, died ten years prior to the game. Sabin eventually left the castle in pursue of his own freedom while Edgar remains regent. As Edgar travels with the main party the castle is in the hands of his Chancellor.

Gestahl is Emperor and ruler of the Gestahlian Empire.

Final Fantasy VII
At the Gold Saucer during the date sequence, Cloud plays the part of the knight Alfred in a play. Cloud is tasked by the King to rescue his daughter, Princess Rosa (played by Cloud's date), from the Dragon King Valvados. Depending on the player's actions, numerous outcomes are possible in the play.

Final Fantasy VIII
The only mention of royalty is the Tomb of the Unknown King, said to be the burial place of the last emperor of Dollet.

Final Fantasy IX
The Kingdom of Alexandria is the first one visited in the game and the most prominent overall. Queen Brahne peacefully ruled Alexandria for many years until her husband, the King, died. She then became power-hungry and greedy, acting as an antagonist for a large part of the game. She is ultimately killed by Bahamut (under Kuja's control), thus making Princess Garnet, her adoptive daughter, the new Queen of Alexandria (a position that she only fully embraces at the end of the game).

Regent Cid Fabool IX rules Lindblum alongside his wife Lady Hildagarde. Because he was friends with Queen Brahne and the King of Alexandria, Garnet calls him "uncle Cid".

Although a minor character, the King of Burmecia appears in Burmecia and Cleyra at the time of Brahne's invasion. Puck is later revealed to be his son and, therefore, a Prince.

Final Fantasy XII
Before the events in the game, the Kingdom of Dalmasca was ruled by King Raminas, a descendant of the first Dynast King: Raithwall. Fearing an attack from the Archadian Empire, he weds his daughter, Princess Ashe, to Lord Rasler, Prince of Nabradia. However, Rasler is mortally wounded at the Battle of Nalbina Fortress and, with Archadia in control of the Fortress, King Raminas is assassinated after being tricked with a false Peace Treaty.

Even though King Raminas had eight sons, they had all previously perished either in war or due to illness, thus making Ashe the only living heir to Dalmasca.

Ashe then turned to Marquis Halim Ondore IV, ruler of Bhujerba and close friend of both her and her father, to publicly announce her suicide. She proceeded to retreat underground, adopting a fake name and, along with Captain Vossler, created the Resistance (Final Fantasy XII) (a group of anti-Imperial forces, bent on regaining Dalmasca's Independence). One year after the events of the game, Ashe is to be crowned Queen of Dalmasca.

The three members of Archadian House Solidor met in-game are all royalty. Emperor Gramis is the ruler of Archadia; his elder son, Vayne, is the antagonist of the game; and his youngest son, Larsa, becomes the Emperor of Archadia one year after the events of the game.

Although Rozarria is never visited in the game, Al-Cid Margrace, a member of the ruling family, makes an appearance. Al-Cid's status as royalty is, however, debatable. In Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, another game from the Ivalice Alliance, Al-Cid states that he is "but one of many" princes. It is left to interpretation if this means he is not a direct heir or if he simply doesn't consider too important the title of Prince.

Final Fantasy Tactics
Princess Ovelia Atkascha is a notable member of the royalty within Ivalice, having been the daughter of the King of Ivalice itself, Ondoria Atkascha III, and also having served as the tragic pre-cursor to the impending struggle, the War of the Lions. Her step-mother, Louveria Atkascha and her step-brother, Orinus Atkascha are also of royal descent, although Louveria obtained such a status through the customs that define a royal marriage while Orinus obtained his royal status as birthright.

Princess Ovelia travels for a short period of time with Ramza's party following the incident at Orbonne Monastery and supports his party with the exclusive Holy Magicks known only to a Princess. She is accompanied by her close personal bodyguard, Agrias Oaks and her subordinates, Alicia and Lavian, as they ensure her a safe passage to Lionel Castle.

Delita, although not of a royal upbringing himself, is sufficiently defined as royalty later in the game. He marries Princess Ovelia, thereby ascending immediately to the crown, effectively making him the King of Ivalice.

Final Fantasy Legend III
King Clamin was originally hailing from Elan, Clamin has settled down in Pureland, ruling the cloud city of Cirrus. Arthur asks King Clamin for the Pass to Goht because he wants to stop the invasion of the Masters. He ask to see Xcalibr, and upon seeing it gives him the Pass which is needed to enter the Underworld.