hidden heir
Unknown rightful inheritor
A hidden heir is a person with a legitimate claim to wealth, title, or inheritance whose existence or identity is unknown to others.
The phrase appears constantly in fiction—romance novels, soap operas, and fantasy epics—where a character discovers they're secretly royalty or entitled to a fortune: The hidden heir to the throne had been raised as a peasant.
In legal contexts, hidden heirs can complicate estate settlements when unknown relatives emerge after a death.
- secretConcealed information
- family secretHidden domestic truth
- birthrightEntitlement from origin
- throneCeremonial chair for sovereigns
- next in linePositioned to succeed immediately
illegitimate · bastard · bloodline · lineage · rightful · claimant · dynasty · revelation · identity · discovery · long-lost · birth certificate · fortune · estate · pretender · succession · mystery · aristocrat
- inheritanceinheritances, bequest, bequests, beneficiary, beneficiaries
- Tropeschosen one, hero's journey, red herring, deus ex machina, damsel in distress
- plot devicesMacGuffin, red herring, plot twist, flashback, foreshadowing
hidden heirlegitimate heir
Lawfully entitled inheritor
heir apparent · rightful heir · legal heir · firstborn son · natural heir
hidden, heir, hide, hid, hiding, hides, heirs, heiress, heirloom