The word prince immediately conjures images of crowns, castles, and fairy-tale endings. But what if we let the definition slip loose from its royal chains? There are ‘princes’ in nature—the lion, often called the king of the jungle, is just one of many animals dubbed with noble titles. In music, there’s Prince, the trailblazing artist whose purple reign redefined what a title could mean.

Look across cultures, and you'll find princes everywhere: mathematicians crowned as "princes of numbers," like Carl Friedrich Gauss, or the chessboard's second-most powerful piece, the princely knight, always one ‘L’ away from changing the game. Even in language, the idea of a prince offers a mirror to our hopes—a symbol of potential, not just privilege.

So, is every ‘prince’ destined to be a ruler… or simply someone (or something) waiting for their moment?

This article was inspired by the headline: 'prince'.