# The Prince and the Pauper — Character guide

> Key figures in The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain.

- [Tom Canty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/tom_canty.md): A beggar boy from Offal Court who dreams of palaces and princes, until a chance meeting at the palace gates makes the dream dangerously real.
- [Miles Hendon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/miles_hendon.md): A battered soldier with a pawned sword and a ruined inheritance, who adopts a raving boy as his ward and defends him with cheerful, reckless loyalty.
- [Edward VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/edward_vi.md): The longed-for Prince of Wales, raised in silk and ceremony, who learns what England looks like from the wrong side of its gates.
- [John Canty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/john_canty.md): Tom's father, a brute of Offal Court who beats his son for begging poorly and sees every boy as either profit or prey.
- [Hugo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/hugo.md): A young ruffian in Canty's crew who smells fraud in the strange boy and turns every game into a trap.
- [Hugh Hendon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/hugh_hendon.md): Miles's younger brother, who has taken the family hall, the family name, and the family bride, and will not give them back.
- [Lady Edith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/lady_edith.md): Lady Edith moves in the same aristocratic circles as the Hendon family, and her loyalty to the rightful heir places her in quiet opposition to Hugh's ambitions. Bound by a fraudulent union she never consented to, she mus
- [Lord St. John](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/lord_st_john.md): A nobleman who serves as a court official during Tom's reign.
- [Lord Hertford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/hertford.md): A powerful lord who advises Tom during his time as king.
- [Henry VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/henry_viii.md): The dying king and father of Prince Edward, who appears briefly at the start.
- [Bet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/bet.md): Tom's kind-hearted twin sister who helps him in the palace.
- [Humphrey Marlow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/humphrey_marlow.md): A young nobleman who becomes Tom's whipping boy at court.
- [Father Andrew](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/father_andrew.md): A kind priest who teaches Tom to read and write.
- [Blake Andrews](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/blake_andrews.md): An old friend of Tom's from the slums of London.
- [Duke of Norfolk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/norfolk.md): A nobleman present at court during the transition of power.
- [Lord Protector](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/lord_protector.md): The regent who manages affairs during the young king's absence.
- [Nan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters/nan.md): A woman mentioned in passing during the narrative.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_prince_and_the_pauper_se/characters