Seeing as the prince and the princess never met each other before he comes to the rescue, he is not in the position of knowing whether she's worth rescuing or not. He travels all the way only because of half the kingdom. And when you think of it: that's pretty realistic. Royal marriages used to be arranged, after all. So the fairy tales are more true than one should think. The "love at first sight" thing is pasted on as an afterthought.

I've never read "Belgarion", but I can well imagine the type of princess. It's sad, really.

Maybe you just need someone submissive, who obeys nicely but thinks he's your equal. Tricky...