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"The king is dead, long live the king!" is a traditional proclamation made following the accession of a new
monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...
in various countries. The seemingly contradictory phrase simultaneously announces the death of the previous monarch and asserts continuity by saluting the new monarch.


Origin

The original phrase was translated from French (), which was first declared upon the accession to the French throne of Charles VII after the death of his father Charles VI in 1422. In France, the declaration was traditionally made by the Duke of Uzès, the senior peer of France, as soon as the coffin containing the remains of the previous king descended into the vault of the
Basilica of Saint-Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...
in northern Paris. 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 is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, 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 Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...
, was fighting in the
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
. To avoid any chance of a
war of succession A war of succession is a war prompted by a succession crisis in which two or more individuals claim to be the Order of succession, rightful successor to a demise of the Crown, deceased or deposition (politics), deposed monarch. The rivals are ...
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 reigned ''
in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...
'' until news of his father's death reached him and he returned to England.


Usage

In some monarchies, such as the United Kingdom, an
interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...
is usually avoided by using the idea of immediate transfer of power behind the phrase (i.e., the heir to the throne becomes the new monarch immediately on their predecessor's death). This famous phrase signifies the continuity of
sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...
, attached to a personal form of power named ''
Auctoritas is a Latin word that is the origin of the English word "authority". While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenological philosophy ...
''. This is not so in some other monarchies where the new monarch's reign begins only with
coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...
or some other formal or traditional event. In the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
for instance, kings were elected, which often led to relatively long interregna. During that time the Polish
primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...
served as an interrex (ruler between kings). Ernst Kantorowicz's famous theory of ''the king'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. In
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha concluded an address in October 2016 regarding the death of King
Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej (5 December 192713 October 2016), titled Rama IX, was King of Thailand from 1946 until Death and funeral of Bhumibol Adulyadej, his death in 2016. His reign of 70 years and 126 days is the longest of any List of Thai mo ...
with the words: "His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, is dead. Long live His Majesty the new King." In monarchies which permit female succession to the throne, "king" can be replaced by "queen" where appropriate.


Non-monarchical usage

The phrase has become a popular
phrasal template A phrasal template is a phrase-long collocation that contains one or several empty slots which may be filled by words to produce individual phrases. Description A phrasal template is a phrase-long collocation that contains one or several empty ...
. Given the memorable nature of the phrase (owing, in part, to epanadiplosis), 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. Robert Cecil, one of the architects of the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
, concluded his speech at the final session of the League of Nations in 1946 with the statement: "The League is dead. Long live the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
."


See also

* Demise of the Crown


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King is dead, long live the king 15th-century quotations Monarchy Snowclones State ritual and ceremonies Proclamations Continuity of government