Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown
King, who wears the crown, is regarded as the symbol of greatness, glory and even divinity. Because he is glorious, people think that he is also the happiest of human beings, but this equation of greatness with happiness is misleading. It is the product of confused thinking. Crown, the symbol of regal office, is also the symbol of responsibility, and responsibility means anxiety. A crowned head is a responsible and, therefore, an anxious head. It is a head bearing an uneasy burden of responsibility and anxiety. Any king, worth the name, must try to discharge his responsibility in a befitting manner. If he does so, he will find his energies taxed to the utmost. Let us take the head of a family. He has some authority and many members envy him. But they forget his worries, the troubles that he has to take to provide for the members of his family. How much more worried must be the king who wears the crown and has the care of millions of such families, with divergent pursuits and very often mutually competitive and incompatible claims and interests. He has to look after the wellbeing of his subjects and to guard them against the threats of external invasion and internal disorder. If he fails in the performances of his duties he invites criticism, rebellion and even revolutions. A weak king is vulnerable to external attacks and his country may fall an easy prey to the strong neighbours who are always on the look-out for an opportunity to extend their frontiers. So long as all goes well people might be indifferent to what he does. But the moment things go wrong he may find himself in very hot waters. It is wrong to treat headship of any place as a bed of roses. Moreover even a bed of roses is not all flowers, roses also have thorns. There is no rose without a thorn nor is there a crown without uneasiness.
