Summary
Summary of The Proud Prince
The Proud Prince at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 3 h 10 min2 h 30 min fast, 3 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 45,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1903by Justin Huntly McCarthy
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
Perpetua meets cruelty with pity
On a hill above Syracuse, Perpetua tends her father’s great sword and dreams of the city she has never entered. As the executioner’s daughter, she believes in justice, but she has never met cruelty. Then Diogenes, the court fool, arrives after fleeing the new king.
His bitter talk brings news of a ruler he calls Robert the Bad. Perpetua answers his attempts to frighten her with pity. Her kindness introduces a strength quite unlike the power exercised at court.
Key idea 2
A father cannot shut out danger
Theron has raised Perpetua away from the city, keeping a promise made after her mother died giving her life.
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Key idea 3
The king meets a firm refusal
Robert arrives beautiful, graceful and surrounded by flattery.
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Key idea 4
Robert dares Heaven to answer
Humiliated by Perpetua’s refusal, Robert orders Lycabetta to take the girl and ruin her.
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Key idea 5
Without his face Robert loses power
Robert expects his court to recognize its king, but everyone sees only a troublesome fool.
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Key idea 6
Concern for Perpetua changes his purpose
Inside Lycabetta’s house, Robert still claims royal power and offers to make Perpetua a queen.
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Key idea 7
Service begins to loosen his pride
Father Hieronymus shelters Perpetua beneath a little church beside the sea and gives Robert a friar’s robe.
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Key idea 8
Fear silences the promise of justice
Lycabetta and Hildebrand track Perpetua to the church.
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Key idea 9
Pity teaches what power could not
Robert’s loss of face and rank sends him among the people he once despised.
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Who it’s for
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 this book is
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. Within the hour he wears the crooked body of a hunchbacked jester, and a double sits in his place.
Justin H. McCarthy wrote this romance of medieval Sicily, retelling the old legend of the proud king humbled by an angel.
In this summary
- 1A hilltop girl meets a bitter court foolFree
- 2An executioner hides his daughter from the world
- 3The king climbs the hill and plays a hunter
- 4Revenge ends with a sword of light
- 5No one knows the king in his new shape
- 6A girl with a knife teaches a fool to be brave
- 7A small church by the sea becomes a home
- 8The bell rings and the law is turned on her
- 9Pride brings the king down and humility lifts him
- 10A pure heart, pity and the way the tale is told
Key point 1 of 10
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.
Then a hunchbacked jester drags himself up the hill, cursing the heat. He is Diogenes, the court fool, and he has run away from the new king. From him she learns that Robert the Good is dead and that his son, whom the fool calls Robert the Bad, wears the crown. When the fool tries to frighten her with talk of vice, she answers with pity. She keeps to herself that she met a gracious hunter in the woods a week ago.
Pity, in this book, is a form of strength.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Check yourself
Why does Perpetua reject Robert when he reveals that he is king?
Right. “When he names himself king and offers her a place as his mistress, she curses his name and holds a knife on him.”Not quite. “When he names himself king and offers her a place as his mistress, she curses his name and holds a knife on him.”
What changes Robert beyond the punishment he receives?
Right. “What changes him is being treated well by someone who has no reason to be kind.”Not quite. “What changes him is being treated well by someone who has no reason to be kind.”
What does the bell represent in the book’s view of justice?
Right. “The old bell that any subject can ring is the book's picture of a better kingdom, where the ruler can be called to account.”Not quite. “The old bell that any subject can ring is the book's picture of a better kingdom, where the ruler can be called to account.”
Go deeper: the whole of The Proud Prince
About 3 h 20 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 45,100 words
- Reading timeAbout 3 h 10 min
Questions about The Proud Prince
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.
What does the hymn Magnificat mean in The Proud Prince?
The Magnificat is the Latin hymn sung in the church while Robert rages. Its line about the mighty cast down and the humble lifted up is the book's main message, and it returns at important moments.
Is The Proud Prince easy to read?
The story is told in short scenes with lively dialogue, clear villains and heroes, and plenty of action, from a hilltop meeting to a trial by combat. Songs and rich descriptions add color without hiding the plot.
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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