Crown as Brand, Family as Symbol

Family firm leaders inherit – not just – assets and symbolic expectations; they must appear regal (heritage guardians) yet relevant (aligned with current norms). Using emerging royal branding research as an extreme-case laboratory, we develop an integrative model of symbolic leadership that bridges corporate brand management with legitimacy theory. The model specifies four symbolic tasks – heritage curation, moral signaling, proximity management, and crisis narration – and links them to cognitive, moral, and pragmatic legitimacy. Nine propositions specify how misalignment across tasks generates legitimacy gaps and how curated visibility can repair them. We translate the model into the ‘R-Mix’ scorecard (Regal, Relevant, Responsive, Respected) to audit stakeholder expectations during succession. A measurement blueprint combining discourse analysis, stakeholder surveys, and media panel data is provided for empirical testing. The paper advances family business research by theorizing how symbolic leadership creates and sustains family-based legitimacy advantages.