The King is dead. Long live the King!
Encyclopedia
The King is dead. Long live the King. (French: Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!, Spanish
: El Rey ha muerto. ¡Larga vida al Rey!) is a traditional proclamation made following the accession
of a new monarch
in various countries, such as the United Kingdom
.
after the death of his father Charles VI
in 1422. In France, the declaration was traditionally made by the Duc d'Uzès, a senior Peer of France
, as soon as the coffin containing the remains of the previous king descended into the vault of Saint Denis Basilica
. The phrase arose from the law of —that the transfer of sovereignty occurs instantaneously upon the moment of death of the previous monarch. "The King is dead" is the announcement of a monarch who has just died. "Long live the King!" refers to the heir who immediately succeeds to a throne upon the death of the preceding monarch.
At the time, French was the primary language of the nobility in England
, and the proclamation was quickly taken up as ideally representing the same tradition — which in England dates back to 1272, when Henry III
died while his son, Edward I
, was fighting in the Crusades
. To avoid any chance of a civil war
erupting over the order of succession
, the Royal Council proclaimed "The throne shall never be empty; the country shall never be without a monarch." Thus, Edward was declared king immediately, and he ruled in absentia
until news of his father's death reached him and he returned to England. Another example is among the French royalty. In France
, King Louis XV
was the predecessor of King Louis XVI
. Upon Louis XV's death at around 11:00 pm on May 10, 1774, heir-apparent Louis-Auguste
, le Dauphin immediately became King Louis XVI of France. This quick transition of sovereignty was made within the phrase: "The King is dead. Long live the King!"
as to the rightful heir to the throne, it is in fact only tradition that causes it to be recited immediately after the proclamation is read aloud in many villages and towns.
In Denmark
a similar proclamation is made by the Prime Minister upon the death of a monarch. The Prime Minister's proclamation is made from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace
(the Danish Parliament building).
In some monarchies, such as the United Kingdom
, an interregnum
is usually avoided by using the idea of immediate transferral of power behind the phrase, i.e. the heir to the throne becomes a new monarch immediately on his predecessor's death. This famous phrase signifies the continuity of sovereignty
, attached to a personal form of power named Auctoritas
. This is not so in other monarchies where the new monarch's reign begins only with coronation
or some other formal or traditional event. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
for instance, kings were elected, which often led to relatively long interregna. During that time it was the Polish primate
who served as an interrex
(ruler between kings). Ernst Kantorowicz
's famous theory of the Kings's Two Bodies (1957) showed how auctoritas
(Kantorowicz used the synonym term - here - of dignitas) was transferred from the defunct sovereign to the new one.
Given the memorable nature of the phrase (owing to epanalepsis
), as well as its historic significance, the phrase crops up regularly as a headline for articles, editorials, or advertisements on themes of succession or replacement.
In the United Kingdom
and other realms which permit female succession to the Throne, use of the phrase is somewhat problematic, since the deceased King may be succeeded by a Queen or vice versa, as happened in 1952, when King George VI died and was succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, or as happened in 1901, when Queen Victoria was succeeded by her son, King Edward VII. The phrase was last properly used in the United Kingdom
in January 1936 when King George V
was succeeded by his son King Edward VIII, who later abdicated and became the Duke of Windsor
.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: El Rey ha muerto. ¡Larga vida al Rey!) is a traditional proclamation made following the accession
Accession
Accession has different definitions depending upon its application. In Property law, it is a mode of acquiring property that involves the addition of value to property through labor or the addition of new materials. In English Common law, the added value belonged to the original property's owner,...
of a new monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
in various countries, such as the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Etymology
The original phrase was translated from the French , which was first declared upon the accession to the French throne of Charles VIICharles VII of France
Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...
after the death of his father Charles VI
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
in 1422. In France, the declaration was traditionally made by the Duc d'Uzès, a senior Peer of France
Peerage of France
The Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
, as soon as the coffin containing the remains of the previous king descended into the vault of Saint Denis Basilica
Saint Denis Basilica
The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis is a large medieval abbey church in the commune of Saint-Denis, now a northern suburb of Paris. The abbey church was created a cathedral in 1966 and is the seat of the Bishop of Saint-Denis, Pascal Michel Ghislain Delannoy...
. The phrase arose from the law of —that the transfer of sovereignty occurs instantaneously upon the moment of death of the previous monarch. "The King is dead" is the announcement of a monarch who has just died. "Long live the King!" refers to the heir who immediately succeeds to a throne upon the death of the preceding monarch.
At the time, French was the primary language of the nobility in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and the proclamation was quickly taken up as ideally representing the same tradition — which in England dates back to 1272, when Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
died while his son, Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
, was fighting in the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
. To avoid any chance of a civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
erupting over the order of succession
Order of succession
An order of succession is a formula or algorithm that determines who inherits an office upon the death, resignation, or removal of its current occupant.-Monarchies and nobility:...
, the Royal Council proclaimed "The throne shall never be empty; the country shall never be without a monarch." Thus, Edward was declared king immediately, and he ruled in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
until news of his father's death reached him and he returned to England. Another example is among the French royalty. In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, King Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
was the predecessor of King Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
. Upon Louis XV's death at around 11:00 pm on May 10, 1774, heir-apparent Louis-Auguste
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, le Dauphin immediately became King Louis XVI of France. This quick transition of sovereignty was made within the phrase: "The King is dead. Long live the King!"
Usage
While "The King is dead. Long live the King." is commonly believed to be part of the official text of the Proclamation of Accession read out following the decision of the Accession CouncilAccession Council
In the United Kingdom, the Accession Council is a ceremonial body which assembles in St. James's Palace upon the death of a monarch , to make a formal proclamation of the accession of his or her successor to the throne, and to receive a religious oath from the new monarch...
as to the rightful heir to the throne, it is in fact only tradition that causes it to be recited immediately after the proclamation is read aloud in many villages and towns.
In Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
a similar proclamation is made by the Prime Minister upon the death of a monarch. The Prime Minister's proclamation is made from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace, , on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, is the seat of the Folketing , the Danish Prime Minister's Office and the Danish Supreme Court...
(the Danish Parliament building).
In some monarchies, such as the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, an interregnum
Interregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...
is usually avoided by using the idea of immediate transferral of power behind the phrase, i.e. the heir to the throne becomes a new monarch immediately on his predecessor's death. This famous phrase signifies the continuity of sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
, attached to a personal form of power named Auctoritas
Auctoritas
Auctoritas is a Latin word and is the origin of English "authority." While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of phenomenological philosophy in the twentieth century expanded the use of the word.In ancient Rome, Auctoritas...
. This is not so in other monarchies where the new monarch's reign begins only with coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
or some other formal or traditional event. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
for instance, kings were elected, which often led to relatively long interregna. During that time it was the Polish primate
Primate (religion)
Primate is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority or ceremonial precedence ....
who served as an interrex
Interrex
The Interrex was literally a ruler "between kings" during the Roman Kingdom and the Roman Republic. He was in effect a short-term regent....
(ruler between kings). Ernst Kantorowicz
Ernst Kantorowicz
Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz was a German-Jewish historian of medieval political and intellectual history, known for his 1927 book Kaiser Friedrich der Zweite on Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, and in particular The King's Two Bodies .Kantorowicz was born in Posen to a wealthy, assimilated...
's famous theory of the Kings's Two Bodies (1957) showed how auctoritas
Auctoritas
Auctoritas is a Latin word and is the origin of English "authority." While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of phenomenological philosophy in the twentieth century expanded the use of the word.In ancient Rome, Auctoritas...
(Kantorowicz used the synonym term - here - of dignitas) was transferred from the defunct sovereign to the new one.
Given the memorable nature of the phrase (owing to epanalepsis
Epanalepsis
The epanalepsis is a figure of speech defined by the repetition of the initial word of a clause or sentence at the end of that same clause or sentence. The beginning and the end are the two positions of stronger emphasis in a sentence; so, by having the same phrase in both places, the speaker...
), as well as its historic significance, the phrase crops up regularly as a headline for articles, editorials, or advertisements on themes of succession or replacement.
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and other realms which permit female succession to the Throne, use of the phrase is somewhat problematic, since the deceased King may be succeeded by a Queen or vice versa, as happened in 1952, when King George VI died and was succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, or as happened in 1901, when Queen Victoria was succeeded by her son, King Edward VII. The phrase was last properly used in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in January 1936 when King George V
George V
George V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...
was succeeded by his son King Edward VIII, who later abdicated and became the Duke of Windsor
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
.