La Princesse Lointaine The Princess Far-Away: A Play In Four Acts In Ve. LA PRINCESSE LOINTAINE La Princesse lointaine, indeed a charming masterpiece of poetry, was, it now appears, but a promise. The promise, however, was royally kept by the poet, Edmond Rostand, within the short space of three years. Witness Cyrano de Bergerac, in which, with something of retrospective prophecy, if the anomaly can be, Roxane exclaims A bird will hop before it learns to soar. Let it be conceded then that, in La Princesse Lointaine, the poet was timidly feeling his way along...

A princess lointaine or princesse lointaine, (in French, "distant princess") is a stock character of an unattainable loved figure. The name comes from the play La Princesse Lointaine by Edmond Rostand (1895), and draws on medieval romances. The romantic interest of many knights errant, she was usually a woman of much higher birth, often far distant from the knight, and usually wealthier than he was, beautiful, and of admirable character. Some knights had, indeed, fallen in love with the princess owing to hearing descriptions of her, without seeing her, as tales said Jaufré Rudel had fallen in love with Hodierna of Tripoli. Amour de loin ("Love from long away") is a term used in romances and their study.