House of Cards

[Urquhart meets with the King of England at Buckingham Palace.]

King:
Congratulations, Mr. Urquhart.

Urquhart:
Thank you, sir. I was expecting you might want to dispense with such niceties.

King:
Oh, by all means. I'm heartily sorry you're still Prime Minister, but I'm not in the least downhearted. The tide has turned against you, and I'm very glad to have played my part in that. I think you'll be out before the end of the year, Mr. Urquhart, and Britain will be all the better for it.

Urquhart:
Your opinions, sir, are no longer of any interest to anyone but yourself. You have risked everything in opposing me, and you have lost. I have come here to demand your abdication from the throne.

[Pause.]

King:
The people won't back you, Urquhart.

Urquhart:
I shan't need to consult them again, sir. They have re-elected me. And I cannot, and I will not, tolerate a monarch who is bitterly and publicly opposed to me. You must abdicate, sir. It is the only honourable course. You must see that.

King:
Oh, I don't think you are in any position to speak of honourable courses. I'll continue to oppose you openly and publicly while I remain on the throne. And if I am forced to relinquish the throne, then I shall continue to fight you as a commoner. I shall welcome the opportunity, and I shall take very keen pleasure in defeating you in the polls.

Urquhart:
I wouldn't bet on it, sir. I'm afraid you won't be of much interest as a commoner. I doubt if anyone will be particularly interested in what you have to say. You have no constituency, you see. No power base. You represent nothing but one talentless, discredited family. And very soon, you won't represent even that. You will represent nothing. You will mean nothing. You will be nothing.

[Pause.]

King:
Well, we'll see. I spent my whole life preparing to be King.

Urquhart:
I feel no compunction, sir. You tried to destroy me.

King:
No, I didn't want to destroy you, man. You wanted to destroy the Monarchy.

Urquhart:
Not at all, sir. Don't you understand what I'm telling you? I have no wish to. It is you I want to destroy, not the Monarchy. My family came south with James I. We were defenders of the English throne before your family was ever heard of. It is to preserve the ideal of a constitutional monarchy that I now demand your abdication.

[Long pause.]

King:
You're a monster, Urquhart.

Urquhart:
You might very well think that, sir. But your opinion doesn't count for very much now, does it? Good day, sir.