I am a king,
My masters, know you that?
– William Shakespeare
King Lear, Act 4, Scene 6. Cordelia’s soldiers come upon Lear on the beach, bedraggled, with weeds in his hair, and stark raving mad. He insists to them that he is a king. While technically he is, but it is in name only. He is a king without his kingdom, without power, dignity and sanity.