The Sayings of Kings...

• "I have realized that I cannot carry the burden of kingship and its responsibility as I ought, without the help and support of the woman I love."
(Spoken by King Edward VIII in his radio broadcast, when he announced his abdication of the throne of Britain)

• "Even if she put on the costliest royal finery and the most precious jewels in the world, she would still suggest to whoever looked at her that it would have been better for her to sit on a mountaintop, holding a rifle in her hand and wearing her national dress."
(Said by Queen Marie, former Queen of Romania, of Queen Helena, Queen of Italy and daughter of the King of Montenegro)

• "I cannot deprive myself of the right to address the people of Sweden in complete freedom."
(Said by King Gustaf, King of Sweden, when his ministers reproached him for having addressed the demonstrators before the royal palace)

• "The president of your republic is a king for four years, whereas I am a president of a republic for life."
(Said by King Haakon VII, King of Norway, to a senior American diplomat)

• "Let us draw the train of oblivion over the past; now we must achieve absolute equality and justice for all."
(Said by George II, King of Greece, when he returned to his country from his exile in November 1935)

• "I am like a permanent undersecretary of state, ready to support whatever prime minister takes office."
(Said by Boris III, King of Bulgaria)

• "When I think of the difficulties that face me as a constitutional king, I thank God that He did not make me an absolute monarch."
(Said by George V, the late King of England, to Walter Page, the American ambassador, during the First Great War)

• "For all that I did for the kingdom, I succeeded only in winning the people's fear of me, never their love. And I always felt that I was a passer-by..."
(Said by King Ferdinand, King of Bulgaria, on abdicating the throne to his son Boris II)

• "We are really not a family but a commercial firm."
(Said by King George VI in the course of a family discussion)