And, besides, he hasn't killed YOU at any rate.' The Queen looked bewildered.
'She means,' explained Robert, 'that English kings only have one wife--at least, Henry the Eighth had seven or eight, but not all at once.' 'In our country,' said the Queen scornfully, 'a king would not reign a day who had only one wife.

No one would respect him, and quite right too.' 'Then are all the other thirteen alive ?' asked Anthea.
'Of course they are--poor mean-spirited things! I don't associate with them, of course, I am the Queen: they're only the wives.' 'I see,' said Anthea, gasping.
'But oh, my dears,' the Queen went on, 'such a to-do as there's been about this last wife! You never did! It really was TOO funny.

We wanted an Egyptian princess.

The King may-he-live-for-ever has got a wife from most of the important nations, and he had set his heart on an Egyptian one to complete his collection.

Well, of course, to begin with, we sent a handsome present of gold.