Speech by King Richard II

From Richard II, by William Shakespeare

One of the recurring questions raised by the greatest dramatist who ever lived, William Shakespeare, was, “What is a king?”  If we think we have done with that question, because now we have presidents and prime ministers instead of kings, we are fools.  For the king is an archetype of human existence.  In some deep sense, every father of a family is or ought to be a king, and every mother a queen; and that’s the sense of the crowning in an eastern Orthodox wedding ceremony.  In some deep sense, the captain of an army company is or ought to be a king, the leader who fights alongside his men, whose allegiance he claims and wins by his courage and wisdom, and they trust him, they give themselves over to his commands, because they know he has their triumph at heart.  In some deep sense, the pastor of a church is or ought to be a king, not because he bosses people around, or because he is holier than they are, but because his royalty is involved in the great sacrifice he has made on their …