People call Lord Vetinari a Machiavellian figure, and indeed he is — but only for a given value of Machiavelli. A true student of The Prince would be a lot more brutal, and would firmly believe that it is better to be feared than loved. Vetinari firmly believes that it is better to be permanent than either.
I’ve coined the term “benevolent Machiavellianism” for schemed social manipulation of people into doing what is in all parties’ best interests
wasn’t the prince satire though?
Most scholars say no currently.