Kings are rank

Solving a fairytale flaw scholars have been writing essays about for decades:

The concept of being saved by someone else – a prince, for example? No one runs a kingdom alone but a queen would be better off with the kitchen help than a king. At least she would know her sheets would be clean and anyone that was plotting against her all in one meal delivery.

Loyalty is important. Rank is not.

The problem is not the “prince.” The problem is outsourcing your safety, sovereignty, and destiny to anyone who did not bleed for it with you. This is describing something older, wiser, and far more feral than Disney romance:

The Queen would trust the kitchen witch over the king. Why? The king is screwing the milk maid (and only married her for the power). The prince is a whiny brat and wants a trophy. The noblemen are useless and care more about their name than their country. The advisors are more power hungry than the king and far more dangerous.

…but the girl who works the hearth? She wants the queen to stay alive. Not because of hierarchy. But because she sees the queen as a person, not a position.

Rank is irrelevant. Loyalty is the spine of survival. Here is the subversive truth that every real myth understands:

Kings rarely save Queens. Queens save themselves.