There's something so fascinating about the lives of royalty. Whether they're enacting sweeping political changes or simply dealing with messy private lives, a life of nobility is far outside of the realm of most people's reality. That's why the romantic lives of the monarchy can be so interesting - especially when they're anime characters.
For this list, we're counting down some of the best royal romance anime out there. Snow White with the Red Hair is a beloved, well-known anime about an herbalist who falls in love with a handsome prince. The Apothecary Diaries features an herbalist who gets caught up in a historical, Chinese-inspired Imperial court where her medicinal knowledge helps her fight crimes. But there are other great series that aren't quite as well-known, like Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte, an anime that turns the isekai concept on its head.
While some of the shows on this list are great anime about princesses or kings, there are some with other anime royalty like dukes or barons. So, what are the best royal anime shows? You can decide. Vote on your favorite anime series that involve royalty below!
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- The Reason Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion
- Typhoon Graphics
After being pushed off a building and falling to her death, Rinko is reborn into a romance novel. Now as Raeliana, she still remembers her past life, including how this story goes. It's a riveting romance but she's not the protagonist - in fact, the story starts with Raeliana being killed by her fiancé. Aware of this, Raeliana decides she's going to use all her insider knowledge about the characters to change her fate.
To start, she blackmails Duke Noah Wynknight into marriage.
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- The Apothecary Diaries
- OLM, TOHO animation STUDIO
Maomao is the daughter of a talented apothecary, but is forced to work as a maid for the emperor. She intends to make her escape from the palace and finally make her own way in life until the emperor’s young children become ill. There seems to be a more sinister situation afoot, and Maomao tries to lend her aid in secret, but gets singled out quickly by the emperor's brother Jinshi.
After her apothecary skills are recognized she's promoted to a lady-in-waiting. As her own talents develop, she proves herself to be less and less expendable, and continues to catch Jinshi's eye.
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- Snow White with the Red Hair
- Bones
Shirayuki is a commoner who narrowly escapes being forced into becoming her nation's king's concubine by the prince of a neighboring country, Zen Wistalia of Clarines. She ends up moving to Clarines in order to work as a palace herbalist.
Despite her acquaintance with the prince, Shirayuki doesn't want special treatment - she wants to earn whatever she gets. But the rest of the kingdom doesn't see her that way - they think of her as a gold digger trying to scam the prince. Meanwhile, she's actually falling in love with him - and he's feeling the same way.
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- Yona of the Dawn
- Studio Pierrot
Ever since she was a little girl, Yona has enjoyed the life of a pampered princess. But her happy life comes crashing down around her when her cousin instigates a coup against the royal family and slays her father. Yona flees with her childhood friend and loyal bodyguard Son Hak in tow. At first, all she wants to do is survive and escape her family's enemies.
But as she begins to see what life is like outside of the palace, she realizes that she has bigger goals. The kingdom her father ran was not run fairly - in fact, it created massive injustice. She decides to take responsibility and become a true leader - but of course, that's easier said than done.
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- I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss
- Maho Film
After Aileen Lauren Dautriche's fiance, the Crown Prince Cedric Jeanne Elmir, decides to cancel their engagement so that he can marry someone else, Aileen is devastated. What's more, she realizes that she isn't originally part of this world. Instead, she's been reincarnated as the villainess of an otome game who passes away partway through the game.
Hoping to avoid that unpleasant fate, she decides to try and convince the game's final boss, her ex-fiance's brother Claude Jeanne Elmir - also known as the Demon King - to marry her. Claude doesn't trust her at all, so in order to persuade him, she agrees to help him with his larger goal - to create lasting peace between humanity and demonkind.
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- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
- SILVER LINK.
Being reincarnated into your favorite video game sounds great - that is, if you're the hero. But the hero of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! is reincarnated as Katerina Claes, a villainess who meets a horrible end no matter what route the player takes.
Katerina decides to take her fate into her own hands by avoiding all the triggers that could lead to her downfall. To do this, she decides to be as nice as humanly possible to everyone she meets. This earns her the love and affection of countless new friends, including royalty. The only problem is that a lot of them are actually in love with her, but she's totally oblivious!
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- Bibliophile Princess
- Madhouse
Like the rest of her family, Elianna Bernstein is a total bookworm. Despite being the daughter of a baron who is expected to get married, she'd much rather spend her time reading. Luckily for her, she gets an offer from the crown prince, Christopher Selkirk Asherald.
He'll marry her in name only, satisfying both of their alliance requirements while allowing her to pursue her bookish lifestyle in peace. But will their fake marriage really work, or will they fall in love for real?
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- Raven of the Inner Palace
- Bandai Namco Pictures
If you're looking for a series that features a more subtle approach to romance, Raven of the Inner Palace might be right up your alley. If you're interested in fictional but also well-researched accounts of Chinese royalty, even more so.
The series follows Liu Shouxue, the mysterious “Raven Consort” who resides deep within the walls of the Ye Ming Palace. Though her title implies a certain job description, her true role lies in summoning spirits, and purifying and exorcising spirits who need to move on.
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- The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior
- OLM Team Yoshioka
If you enjoy anime like I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss, then this may be a series you'd want to put on your watch list.
This isekai romance starts out like most - a high school student suddenly dies and is reborn as a character from a game they used to play. However, when our main character is reborn into Princess Pride Royal Ivy of the otome game To a Beam of Light With You, she's the furthest from thrilled. Princess Pride is the final boss of the game and as she remembers it, is a cruel, ruthless woman who commits multiple heinous crimes throughout the game.
This new Princess Pride wants to do the exact opposite and change the game - literally. With her knowledge of the game and its story she vows to use her abilities to become a kind leader that anyone would be proud of… and maybe find love along the way.
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The World is Still Beautiful
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- The World is Still Beautiful
- Pierrot
The Sun Kingdom's weather patterns are all sun, all the time. For the Rain Dukedom, that pattern is reversed - the people there can create rain through song.
Three years after being crowned king of the Sun Kingdom, Livius Ifrikia has expanded its empire into the rest of the world. When he learns about the abilities held by the people of the Rain Dukedom, he decides to marry one of the Dukedom's princesses, Nike Remercier. Nike isn't thrilled with this idea, because Livius has a terrible reputation outside of the Sun Kingdom. But when she arrives, she realizes that he's nothing like the person she thought he was.
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Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte
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- Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte
- Tezuka Productions
Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte offers an interesting spin on the whole “reincarnated into a game” thing. Instead of actually entering the otome game MagiKoi, broadcasting club members Shihono Kobayashi and Aoto Endou end up getting noticed by the characters themselves! The characters think that they're gods, so they're able to influence their decisions.
That's great, because Kobayashi has been really frustrated by the fact that her favorite villainess, Lieselotte, never gets a happy ending with the prince she loves no matter how hard she tries. Kobayashi is determined to make it happen, but no one ever said that influencing a tsundere was easy!
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In a nation where women are forbidden from participating in government, what is a woman who wants to influence her country supposed to do? Shuurei Kou, the daughter of a poor but noble family, gets an opportunity to be involved in politics when she's asked to try and turn the nation's lazy emperor into a real ruler.
Whether she can actually achieve her dreams is another story - there's a lot to get used to when it comes to courtly life, and with her royal charge.
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Tada Never Falls in Love
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- Tada Never Falls in Love
- Doga Kobo
Heads up before we get started - this section contains spoilers, so if you're planning on watching Tada Never Falls in Love, keep scrolling.
Tada Never Falls in Love starts off as a typical slice of life story about a teenage boy who has never fallen in love and doesn't particularly want to. Things change when he meets Teresa Wagner, an exchange student who changes many of his preconceptions about himself. It turns out that Teresa is a lot less ordinary than she appears - she's actually the princess of a European nation! Now Tada must not only contend with his own feelings, he has to think about the logistics of being with a princess.
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- Heaven Official's Blessing
- Haoliners Animation League
Heaven Official's Blessing is a Chinese anime (donghua) based on a popular series of novels by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.
Xie Lian was once the beloved Crown Prince of the Xian Le kingdom, but after ascending to the Heavens and being cast back to Earth three times, he now garners far less respect. Still, he's determined to do what's expected of him as a god who has ascended three times. His first task involves tracking down the Ghost King, who turns out to be someone entirely different than he imagined - someone who has been waiting for him for a long time.
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Romeo x Juliet
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- Romeo x Juliet
- Gonzo
Romeo x Juliet is an exciting adaptation of the Shakespeare classic - just don't use it as a source in your English class. In this version, the Montagues and Capulets aren't just enemies - the Montagues slaughtered nearly the entire Capulet family, leaving only one survivor - the princess Juliet Fiammata Asto Capulet. She spends 14 years in hiding, being protected by loyalists who hope to overthrow the Montagues.
As a teenager, Juliet protects the city as a vigilante called the Red Whirlwind. While on patrol, she meets Romeo Candorebanto Montague, the kind-hearted son of the cruel Montague leader. Without knowing each other's identities, the two fall in love. But with their family's bloody feud and a supernatural secret bubbling under the city, their love seems utterly doomed.
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- Maoyu
- Arms
A war has been raging between human and demonkind for fifteen years. A nameless Hero is tired of humankind's failure to advance, so he storms the Demon Queen's castle by himself. Once there, he discovers that not only is the Demon Queen absolutely gorgeous, she isn't actually evil.
Though she acknowledges that the war has caused serious problems, she also points out that it's created some serious benefits, too. What's more, stopping it prematurely could result in mass starvation thanks to inevitable supply redirection. But she has an idea for how to end the war in a way that will make things even better for humans and demons alike - and she needs the Hero's help.
The Hero is reluctant at first, but he is eventually persuaded to help his former enemy.
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The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady
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- The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady
- Diomedéa
Being a royal comes with expectations, and not everybody can meet them. Princess Anisphia "Anis" Wynn Palletia lacks the magical ability she's supposed to have, and she also has no interest in ruling. Instead, she'd more rather work on creating magical items that can help her do things like fly. Meanwhile, her brother Algard is expected to marry Euphyllia Magenta, a girl he barely knows. He eventually breaks it off with her when she confronts him for spending more time with a commoner than with her.
He doesn't do this in private - he does it publicly, at a banquet. Anis rescues Euphyllia from the awkward situation and decides to give her a new role as her assistant. But Anis has non-scientific reasons for wanting to work with Euphyllia. Given the subject of this list, you can probably guess what they are.
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- To Love-Ru
- Xebec
If you like your royal romance more on the ecchi harem side, you might want to check out To Love-Ru.
All 16-year-old Rito Yuuki wants to do is confess to his crush Haruna Sairenji, but he can't seem to work up the nerve. But his modest goal becomes a lot more complicated when an alien princess crash lands onto his lap with no clothes on. This girl is Lala Satalin Deviluke, and she wants to marry Rito. Why? Because she's trying to avoid a forced political marriage.
Rito's life is suddenly filled with beautiful extraterrestrial women and all the wild complications that come with them. This may be a lot more than he can handle.
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