Royal Knights

The Royal Knights were one of the factions of the Castle theme, that was introduced in 1995.
== Details ==
Most sets of this theme were released during its launch in 1995. The following year saw only two new sets. The Royal Knights had also two minor guest appearances in sets of Dark Forest and Fright Knights.
Although the presence of kings has already been implied on earlier occasions, Royal Knights was the first theme that introduced a minifigure portraying a king with a crown, which could be found in three sets. During its run, the faction had a large castle (6090 Royal Knight's Castle, which was the largest set in Lego Castle during its availability), a fortified bridge (6078 Royal Drawbridge), a royal carriage (6044 King's Carriage), and a small fort (6036 Skeleton Surprise). The small catapult included in 1843 Space/Castle Value Pack was the only siege engine in this faction. There were only two mounted knights for this faction, both found in 6090 Royal Knight's Castle.
The Royal Knights succeeded the Crusaders (discontinued at the end of 1992) as the "good guys" or "allies". In the 1995 catalogue diorama, it shows the King Richard dueling Majisto the Wizard from Dragon Masters (the "enemies" or "antagonists" faction), plus a diorama in the 1996 Lego ideas book depicts the Royal Knights' fortresses under siege from the Dragon Masters ((even though the Dragon Masters were already discontinued). A diorama in 1996 shows the Royal Knights under assault from the Dark Forest "outlaws" faction. The Royal Knights are also opponents of the Fright Knights (who replaced the Dragon Masters as the "enemies" in 1997) as one set includes a Royal Knight soldier as a prisoner and a US Lego Mania Magazine featured a comic strip about the Royal King being taken as a prisoner by Willa the Witch.
The royal coat of arms consisted of a crowned lion head on a red and white background. The same lion head reappeared later on the royal crest of Knight's Kingdom and Castle (2013) which both have a blue background with a yellow cross.
== New pieces ==
The king's crown was a newly introduced piece, and the silver longsword was new as well.
The skeleton made its debut in three sets of this theme.
== Sets ==
== Notes ==
* The Royal Knights were the first subtheme of Castle to have king.
;Other appearances
* LEGO Fun to Build
* 5704 LEGO Racers
== See also ==
* Crusaders
* Knights' Kingdom
* Kingdoms
* Castle (2013)
Category:Castle
 
Category:Themes introduced in 1995
Category:Themes
Category:Discontinued Themes
Category:Subthemes
Category:Castle Factions