Why is Kion never referred to as a prince?

[Elton John]

I can't recall a single instance where Kion is called a prince, and most of the animals in the pridelands don't really treat him like he is royalty. If there is an official explanation I must have missed it.

My best guess as to why this is, is because he does a lot of things that are typically seen as 'beneath' someone of noble birth. The royal cubs that get treated with respect and dignity by most prideland animals are given 'presentations' a la the opening scenes in tlk1-2 and the final part in tlk1.

As far as we know Kion never got anything like that. They might briefly mention it in a future episode but until then he hasn't gotten one of those.

[Aelwen]

[quote="Elton John"] The royal cubs that get treated with respect and dignity by most prideland animals are given 'presentations' a la the opening scenes in tlk1-2 and the final part in tlk1.

[/quote]

I suppose only the official heir is presented, not every cub. And by the way almost adult Kiara wasn't referred as a princess either by animals (remember those rhinos). But of course most of pridelanders are aware that she is a future Queen.
In TLK "society" only crwon prince/princess is recognised as some "of the upper class", others are just "spare chiuldren". Kion hadn't even had any role before he got his Roar.

[PrincessKiara]

We don`t know if Kion has gotten a presentation or not - we haven`t seen anything of Kions life prior to him joining The Lion Guard. It does make sense that only the heir/firstborn cub of the ruling royal couple would be presented, but a birth of any royal cub is still a big deal, so I choose to think that every cub born to the King and Queen are presented at birth.

With that said, I don`t remember anyone calling Simba prince or Kiara princess much either. Zazu calls cub Simba "young master," but never "Your Highness" or "Prince." In Kiaras case, Timon and Pumbaa make a big deal of her title when she`s a cub (that`s just one scene though) but no one else (besides Rafiki referring to her as the King`s daughter) mentions it. With Simba, it`s mostly himself bragging about being the future king, but I can`t remember anyone calling him prince. As cubs, Simba and Kiara both had little interaction with the Prideland animals, in Simbas case it was mostly Zazu and the IJCWTBK number, and Kiara doesn`t talk to anyone besides Rafiki, Zazu, Timon, Pumbaa and other lions.

From what we`ve seen in the other movies, it doesn`t appear common to address the royal cubs with their titles, but still, you`d think someone would refer to Kion as prince at some point. Considering he`s the leader of The Lion Guard, the animals seem to view him as just that, and "forget" his royal title/status. The animals don`t seem to respect his status in Prideland society, which is strange. Kion is the king`s son, and you`d think the animals would keep this in mind when dealing with him.

[Elton John]

I remember Scar referring to Simba as a 'young prince'.

[Aelwen]

In the new episode Kiara is actually addressed as a "Your Highness", by the way. We didn't hear anybody addresing Kion like this.

[TheLionPrince]

As for the topic, it doesn't matter to me. The audience, or we should, know how royalty operates. The son of a king or queen is a prince regardless of whether they are heavily told their titles by their subjects. There's often no need to keep reminding us of that. I don't know if it's a sign of disrespect on part of the animals, but perhaps they are very familiar and casual around Kion. Usually, subjects refer heavily to a royal's title(s) when they are at their mercy, want to flatter them, approach them in a formal manner, or want to be dismissive of them. That said, I haven't watched much of the series, but it's my take on it whether it's right or wrong.

[quote="PrincessKiara"]We don`t know if Kion has gotten a presentation or not - we haven`t seen anything of Kions life prior to him joining The Lion Guard. It does make sense that only the heir/firstborn cub of the ruling royal couple would be presented, but a birth of any royal cub is still a big deal, so I choose to think that every cub born to the King and Queen are presented at birth.

With that said, I don`t remember anyone calling Simba prince or Kiara princess much either. Zazu calls cub Simba "young master," but never "Your Highness" or "Prince." In Kiaras case, Timon and Pumbaa make a big deal of her title when she`s a cub (that`s just one scene though) but no one else (besides Rafiki referring to her as the King`s daughter) mentions it. With Simba, it`s mostly himself bragging about being the future king, but I can`t remember anyone calling him prince. As cubs, Simba and Kiara both had little interaction with the Prideland animals, in Simbas case it was mostly Zazu and the IJCWTBK number, and Kiara doesn`t talk to anyone besides Rafiki, Zazu, Timon, Pumbaa and other lions.[/quote]

Kovu did call Kiara a princess in a condescending manner: "What kind of hunter are you anyway, princess? You almost got yourself killed out there." And yeah, Scar told Simba that "[a]n Elephant Graveyard is no place for a young prince."

[moonsugar33]

I'm quite glad, actually, I reckon if they called him Prince Kion at every opportunity it'd get pretty old pretty fast.

[Squeely]

Well, Kiara is first in line, so naturally, more emphasis would be placed on her being princess than Kion being prince. It doesn't seem like Kion is learning much about how to be a prince, while Kiara has clearly had quite a few lessons on ruling. (I would say that's bad parenting, since you never know if something bad could happen to Kiara, but the addition of The Guard to the lore kinda clears that issue up. Why train someone to be prince when they're going to be leader of The Guard before they're even a teen?)

I'm not 100% sure Kion has never had a presentation. His design may well be the way it is to better-resemble the cub at the end of TLK, as even with the Kiara retcon, fans have gone wild over the fact that the two cubs don't look alike. So it's possible that the cub at the end of TLK is Kion, but of course, we have no clear answer in that regard.

[Sushi]

Not sure I've seen any evidence either way on this one that i can remember. For me it looks like they are all aware of his status but since he isn't heir to the throne they don't really treat him that way. Its only the ones that are or will be king or queen that they treat as actual royalty. Nobody treats Scar as a prince (as far as i remember) he gets no special treatment either (Well until he pulls a hostile takeover)

[quote="Squeely"]
I'm not 100% sure Kion has never had a presentation. His design may well be the way it is to better-resemble the cub at the end of TLK, as even with the Kiara retcon, fans have gone wild over the fact that the two cubs don't look alike. So it's possible that the cub at the end of TLK is Kion, but of course, we have no clear answer in that regard.[/quote]
I wouldn't have thought so. Ignoring the fact that historically in royalty the male will take priority over the female no matter which way they are born, in TLK universe the first born takes the title. So going off that Kiara would be the cub at the end of TLK.

[Squeely]

[quote="Sushi"]
I wouldn't have thought so. Ignoring the fact that historically in royalty the male will take priority over the female no matter which way they are born, in TLK universe the first born takes the title. So going off that Kiara would be the cub at the end of TLK.[/quote]
You're probably not familiar with how fans have pointed out all the differences between the cub at the end of TLK and baby Kiara. The presentations themselves are quite different. Notable examples being less animals at the SP one, Timon and Pumbaa not being up in front, and Nala handing Rafiki Kiara in SP.

Now of course, this could be chalked up to just making things a bit different in the sequel, as it was worked on by different people (and in the case of less animals being there, smaller budget). However, the theory that the presentation at the end of TLK and the one at the beginning of SP are indeed two different ones, one for Kion and one for Kiara, is possible to entertain. We can't say for sure if the creators of TLG knew about this when designing Kion (Kion's design being congruent enough with the cub at the end of TLK), but it's certainly possible. As for why both Kiara and Kion would get a presentation, well, why not? They are both cubs born to the king and queen. I don't recall anyone saying that only the firstborn gets one.

This is all theory, though, and unless TLG confirms or contradicts it, take it with a grain of salt.