naked emperor; person of high standing with a warped view of reality
Idiomatic expression derived from the Japanese title of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'. Refers to someone in a position of authority who is oblivious to an obvious truth that everyone else can see, often because of sycophancy or self-deception.
That company president is a naked emperor; no one can tell him the truth.
彼の計画は誰が見ても失敗するのに、周りがお世辞ばかり言うから裸の王様状態だ。
Everyone can see his plan will fail, but because those around him only flatter him, he's in a naked-emperor situation.
Standard kanji spelling for the idiomatic expression.
Kana spelling of the first part; common in informal writing or when avoiding kanji.
Kana spelling with さま instead of 様; slightly more casual or child-friendly.
From the Japanese title of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale 'The Emperor's New Clothes' (裸の王様).