The problem is that the Good King usually doesn't think their scion will need any help ["He's a chip off the old block, don't you know."], while the Bad King a) doesn't care, b) doesn't notice or c) kills the decent heir for being too competent [e.g dangerous to BK]. The exceptionsto this pattern would IMHO be too relatively rare to create a consistent tradition, unless said tradition was imposed for an external source.

For example, S. M. Stirling has a monarchy in his Emberverse novels where the second generation of the royal family looks to be at least as competent as the first. And the heir in question has a principal leige knight who more or less fills the post the OP is interested in (although said knight is actually only a few years older). But in this case, said monarchy was founded using a magical sword which is essentially the direct representative of all the Good(ish) gods of Western tradition . . . and like all the best magic swords has a [VERY scary] mind and will if it's own.

On Apr 26, 2017 7:40 PM, "Rob Davenport" <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

Maybe the position is popular among the upper classes and lower nobility for *their* 'scions' as they hope to uphold their cultural beliefs and keep their family lineage moving in the right direction: up. There might be enough people of that class to outlast a 'bad king' or two and keep the use of the Craig/rock/petra/Q position for generations?
On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 12:07 PM, Richard Aiken <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
It seems to me that your problem is that most historical human societies have not been stable enough for long enough for the position that you are after to acquire a specialist name. As the saying goes, you rarely get two good kings in a row. This is because the son of the good kings feels living up to his father's standard is impossible, so he becomes a wastrel or a nobody. Then HIS son ( assuming the dynasty survives that reign) figures, "I can do better than THAT." and you get another good kings. Needless to say, the technical position you are interested in doesn't survive the Bad King episodes.
On Apr 15, 2017 9:05 PM, "Rob Davenport" <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm reminded of Sgt. Bothari from the Vorkosigan saga, but he was more a bodyguard, a bit more than that but not quite what you describe.
On Sat, Apr 15, 2017 at 8:59 PM atpollard (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
consigliere = counselor = adviser

In Italian, consigliere means "adviser" or "counselor" and is still a common title for example for members of city councils in Italy and Switzerland. It is derived from Latin consiliarius (advisor) and consilium (advice). The terminology of the U.S. Mafia is taken from that of the Sicilian Mafia and suggests that an analogy is intended to imitate the court of a medieval Italian principality. For example, Venice was led by a doge ("duke") and a consigliere ducale (advisor to the doge). An underboss will normally move up to boss when the position becomes vacant, so his position is equivalent to that of heir to the throne. Consigliere, meanwhile, is analogous to chief minister or chancellor.

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