[D_A]

A long time ago, in a library far far away from where I am now..when I was young (:)), I read two books in a fantasy series about guy who was elected to rule his country for a period of time, all his belongings were sold while he was prince or king or what-have-you, but for some reason, at the end of his tenure they were going to cut off his head.

Now this chap was a bit of a genius and so managed to successfully escape (and during his escapades, he actually winds up on Earth for a bit), but my school library only had two of seven or some such books, for which I was somewhat disappointed, because it was such a great read (ok, I was 11 at the time, so perceptions might be different , but..).

Anyway, if someone knows the series and/or author, I would greatly appreciate it.

Cheers!

[Abhorsen]

It isn't the Death Gate Cycle by Weiss and Hickman is it

I think one of the characters was a Prince that one of the other characters had to behead

Just googled it as it has been years since I read it

On Arianus, an assassin named Hugh the Hand is hired by King Stephen, nominally the ruler of all humanity, to kill Crown Prince Bane. Bane is not actually Stephen's child, nor that of Stephen's wife, Anne; he was switched at birth for the child of the mysteriarch Sinistrad, and speaks to his real father through a feather talisman magically charmed to make others dote on him despite their disapproval of the changeling. Bane is a devious child—charming, but ambitious, and totally self-possessed. Hugh takes Bane away from Stephen's fortress, and the two are followed by Bane's manservant, the gangly, balding Alfred Montbank, whose greatest talents seem to be fainting at the first sign of danger and tripping over anything in his path (and several things that aren't).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_Gate_Cycle

[Zedar]

No, the Death Gate books are nothing like that. A quick google search found L Sprague DeCamp's Novarian series, including a sequence called the reluctant king, which sounds a great deal like what you're talking about.

1. "The Emperor's Fan" (1973)
2. The Fallible Fiend (1973)
3. The Goblin Tower (1968), ISBN 0-345-32812-4
4. The Clocks of Iraz (1971)
5. The Unbeheaded King (1983), ISBN 0-345-30773-9
6. The Honorable Barbarian (1989), ISBN 0-345-36091-5
7. The Sedulous Sprite (unpublished)

According to a summary on Amazon...

While passing through Xylar, Jorian instinctively catches a decapitated head out of the air and finds himself proclaimed the new king of the land, one whose own head will be forcibly removed from his body after a traditional five-year reign. With the help of Karadur, Jorian escapes, but his life is constantly threatened by Xylarian soldiers seeking their unbeheaded king.

Actually sounds pretty good, I might seek this out myself.

[D_A]

1. "The Emperor's Fan" (1973)
2. The Fallible Fiend (1973)
3. The Goblin Tower (1968), ISBN 0-345-32812-4
4. The Clocks of Iraz (1971)
5. The Unbeheaded King (1983), ISBN 0-345-30773-9
6. The Honorable Barbarian (1989), ISBN 0-345-36091-5
7. The Sedulous Sprite (unpublished)

Yeah, that sounds like it. I'll have to check it out to confirm, but sounds about right..much thanks, Zedar!

I've done some digging around, and The Reluctant King (http://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-King-Decamp/dp/0671877461/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214366479&sr=1-1) is definitely the books. I guess I remember somewhere when I intially read the first book that it was a seven part series, and perhaps the first two are part of it set before Jorian, but The Honorable Barbarian is a sequel based on his brother Kerin.

Anyway, thanks again for digging this up for me!