Kings occupy a strange hinterland between men and gods. This is one reason why it is so distressing when they behave badly. In order to discover just what makes them special, Edward Fox travelled to five obscure kingdoms - Tonga, Oman, Nigeria, Swaziland and Java - to meet the hereditary rulers. A traveller with an eye for the peculiar, the supernatural and the ceremonial, Edward Fox met with varying degrees of success, learning that one of the secrets of kingship is distance and inaccessibility. Part travel book, part observations and part commentary on kingship and its traditions, this book also explores political power, the human self, God, the cosmos and, in the book's only footnote, the meaning of life.