5 h 29 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 29 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What is a prince’s honour worth when pride stands in the way of justice?
In The Proud Prince, Justin Huntly McCarthy places a prince and his pride at the heart of a historical romance. Medieval Sicily provides the setting for a tale of power, redemption and the fight for justice. Here, a noble title matters, but so does the character of the man who holds it.
Sicily is a Mediterranean crossing point, shaped over the centuries by different peoples and rulers. Against this backdrop, McCarthy explores questions of rank and honour through the heightened style of old-fashioned romance. The central concern is personal as well as public: pride, the road back from it, and what justice demands.
What you’ll discover
- A prince defined by pride Meet a central figure whose character matters as much as his place in the world.
- The pull of medieval Sicily Enter an island setting with a past shaped by many peoples and competing powers.
- Rank measured against honour Consider the distance between holding a noble title and living by an honourable standard.
- The possibility of redemption Explore pride alongside the hope of finding a road back from it.
- Justice at the heart Discover a historical romance that places the fight for justice among its central concerns.
Who will love it
Readers who love old legends retold in rich color, romances set in sunlit medieval Sicily, and tales of pride brought low. Anyone who enjoys brave heroines, swords and bells will feel at home.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A hilltop girl meets a bitter court fool
- An executioner hides his daughter from the world
- The king climbs the hill and plays a hunter
- Revenge ends with a sword of light
- No one knows the king in his new shape
- A girl with a knife teaches a fool to be brave
- A small church by the sea becomes a home
- The bell rings and the law is turned on her
- Pride brings the king down and humility lifts him
- A pure heart, pity and the way the tale is told
Who’s who
- PerpetuaThe red-haired daughter of the executioner, raised on a mountaintop, who wants to love truly and never bend to shame.
- RobertThe beautiful and cruel young king of Sicily, who wants every pleasure and cannot bear to be refused.
- TheronThe old executioner of Syracuse, who wants to shield his daughter from a wicked world and keep the Golden Age alive in her mind.
- DiogenesThe crooked court jester who flees the king's anger, and who wants only to keep his head.
- HildebrandThe king's polished favorite and champion swordsman, who flatters his master while he plans for his own gain.
- LycabettaThe proud priestess of pleasure from Naples, who wants to hold the king's favor and fears old age and plague.
- Father HieronymusThe stern, kind priest of a small church by the sea, who shelters the fugitives and believes in a changed heart.
- Sigurd OlafsonThe blond Norse captain of the king's Varangian guard, who is loyal to orders yet capable of pity.
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
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- Paperback
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El príncipe orgulloso
by Justin H. McCarthy · 1903
A proud king finds himself in a jester's body while a double rules Sicily, and an executioner's daughter helps him.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEspañol
Learn a language with medium classicsEspañolFrancésAlemánItalianoJaponésPortuguésInglésHow we measure levels
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In short
What would you do if everyone you knew, from your closest friend to the priest at the altar, looked straight at you and saw a stranger? In The Proud Prince, a handsome and cruel young king stands on a Sicilian mountaintop, sure that no power in heaven can touch him.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A hilltop girl meets a bitter court fool
The story opens on a hot spring morning on a hill above Syracuse. Perpetua, eighteen years old, stands among wildflowers and looks down the white road to a city she has never entered. She is the daughter of Theron, the executioner, and she lives in a hut built inside an old Saracen mosque.
She cares for her father's great two-handed sword and sings the Song of the Sword as she sharpens it. No blood has ever touched the blade. She is proud of justice and has never met cruelty.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1903
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 3 h 30 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
McCarthy, Justin Huntly. The Proud Prince. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-proud-prince.
McCarthy, J. H. (2026). The proud prince. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-proud-prince (Original work published 1903)
McCarthy, Justin Huntly. The Proud Prince. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-proud-prince.
@book{mccarthy2026proud,
author = {McCarthy, Justin Huntly},
title = {The Proud Prince},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-proud-prince},
note = {First published 1903}
}
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What is The Proud Prince about?
It follows Robert, a vain and cruel young king of Sicily, who is punished by an archangel and made to live in the body of a jester. He learns humility through the kindness of Perpetua, an executioner's daughter.
Who is Perpetua in The Proud Prince?
Perpetua is the eighteen-year-old daughter of Theron, the executioner of Syracuse. She has lived on a mountaintop all her life, cares for her father's sword, and meets every danger with calm faith and fearless honesty.
Is The Proud Prince based on a true story or a legend?
It is fiction, a romance set in medieval Sicily that draws on the old legend of the proud king humbled by an angel. The Norman church, the Syracuse setting and the court of Naples give it a historical feel.
The author
Justin Huntly McCarthy
1860–1936 · Irish novelist and historian
Irish nationalist historian, novelist and politician.
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