Two Kings

In T.H. White’s great novel, The Once and Future King, King Arthur is a radical thinker who works to replace the rule of brute force with the rule of law. It’s not easy, and he takes some missteps along the way.

In this scene, Arthur is talking with his queen, Guenever, and his greatest knight, Lancelot. The King is worried about certain factions in his court, and Lancelot suggests that he could simply kill one critic who particularly worries him.

The King suddenly looked surprised, or shocked. He had been sitting relaxed between them, because he was tired and unhappy, yet now he drew himself up and met his captain in the eye.

“You must remember I am the King of England. When you are a king you can’t go executing people as the fancy takes you. A king is the head of his people, and he must stand as an example to them, and do as they wish.”

He forgave the startled expression in Lancelot’s face, and took his hand once more.

“You will find,” he explained, “that when the kings are bullies who believe in force, the people are bullies, too. If I don’t stand for law, I won’t have law among my people. And naturally I want my people to have the new law, because then they are more prosperous, and I am more prosperous in consequence.”

These days, presidents wish to be kings in order to be free of all law.

All kings, it seems, are not created equal.