# King of Navarre — Love’s Labour’s Lost character guide

> King of Navarre in Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Navarre, King

**First appearance:** 0001-act-i

## Snapshot

Navarre's idealistic king, who bans women and sleep for three years of study, only to find his own edict the first thing his heart conspires to break.

## Who they are

He opens the play as a scholar-sovereign determined to make his court 'a little Academe,' binding three lords to a strict oath of fasting, sleepless study, and no women for three years. His flaw is the very pride that drives the scheme: he believes fame can be purchased by warring against his own affections, and he mistakes a bookish edict for virtue. When the Princess of France arrives on diplomatic business, his oath collides with his desire, and his struggle to keep his word while losing his heart becomes the engine of the play's comic and romantic tension.

## Relationships

### [Biron](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters/biron)

_friendship_

Biron is the King's close friend and fellow lord, though he often challenges the King's oaths with humor.

### [Princess of France](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters/princess_of_france)

_romantic_

The King is a suitor to the Princess, though their romance is complicated by political diplomacy and broken oaths.

### [Boyet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters/boyet)

_professional_

Boyet serves as a diplomatic messenger between the King and the Princess, maintaining formal courtly relations.

### [Rosaline](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters/rosaline)

_social_

The King and Rosaline interact as part of the courtly social circle, with Rosaline often teasing him.

### [Costard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters/costard)

_professional_

Costard is a subject of the King, often delivering messages and getting into trouble with the court's laws.

### [Boyet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters/boyet)

_professional_

Boyet serves as a diplomatic messenger between the King and the Princess, maintaining formal courtly relations.

### [Costard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters/costard)

_professional_

Costard is a subject of the King, often delivering messages and getting into trouble with the court's laws.

### [Costard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters/costard)

_professional_

Costard is a subject of the King, often delivering messages and getting into trouble with the court's laws.

## In the story

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/chapters/act-i-scene-i)

Proposes the oath of study and abstinence, reads Armado's letter, and dispenses with the decree to accommodate the princess's arrival.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-i)

Greets the Princess but refuses her entry due to his oath; discusses the Aquitaine debt.

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-iii)

The king is discovered reading a love poem to the Princess, breaking his own oath, and joins the plan to woo the French ladies.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters/king_of_navarre
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/love_s_labour_s_lost_se/characters