All true. But Elven princes could remain (crown) princes for thousands of years, too. According to one of my Middle-earth lexicons, Thranduil's father Oropher (grandfather of Legolas) was one of the (Sindarin? Telerian?) Grey-elves of Doriath in the First Age, and had been accepted as King early in the Second Age by the woodland (Silvan?) Elves of northern Greenwood. Oropher and Thranduil fought against Sauron as part of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men at the end of the Second Age, at the Battle of Dagorlad, which ultimately led to Sauron's (temporary) downfall. But Oropher was killed, and the Woodland Elves - normally, like the Green-elves of Ossiriand in the First Age, not heavily weaponed and armored - were all but wiped out. So Thranduil became King in the for all intents and purposes only way this could happen among Elves, with the King falling in some sort of battle - after having been crown prince for over 3000 years. After 1000 years, when Dol Guldur rose as a center of evil power and Greenwood was renamed Mirkwood, Thranduil and his subjects were forced into a defensive posture against the evil of Mirkwood, and very much seem to have kept to themselves.
Now I can’t find any mention about exactly how old Legolas is supposed to be – or who his mother was. Maybe he was about Arwen’s age, or Elladan and Elrohir’s? Point is, even if he was heading for his 3000th birthday (give and take the odd century), he probably hadn’t been around much geographically. Legolas was even surprised and filled with wonder at Fangorn Forest, which is not that far away from his father’s realm. So Aragorn, even though he was millennia younger than Legolas, had covered immensely more territory in Middle-earth, had served both Ecthelion II Ruling Steward of Gondor, Denethor’s father, and King Thengel of Rohan, Théoden’s father, and had travelled widely both with Gandalf and by himself. Age alone does not impart wide knowledge, it doe give one the opportunity to gain such knowledge, but one must take that opportunity, too.
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