- Laith Taher 29
assigning a guardianship council, he realized that
appointing one guardian only would allow said guardian to
deceive his young son and destroy him in order to take over
the kingdom. Therefore, he appointed three guardians in
order to create balance between them, such that if one of
them tried to take over, the other two would stop him. All
three of them needed to be greatly and equally influential,
so that each could counter the others should they try to take
over. He considered the age his son was to reach for the
guardianship council’s mission to end. He did not want him
to be too young and inexperienced to rule, nor too old. He
wanted his son to rule as soon as possible, so he decided
that twenty would be the most appropriate age.
The king became very ill due to his old age and lay
in a bed which he knew deep inside was his deathbed. As
he lay in that bed, he thought of the identity of those
guardians and came up with three men who fitted his
requirements. They were Albert, Willard, and Irwin. They
were some of the senior figures in his kingdom.
The king promulgated a law providing for the
appointment of a guardianship council for the throne in
case he died while his son was still under the age of twenty.
Provided that said council continued its duties until King
Matthew reached the age of twenty, at which time he
should become the sole ruler. The identity of these
guardians was also revealed. The prince was too young to
care for that decision. His mother, on the other hand, was
enraged by that decision as she wanted her son and herself
to rule together. She discussed the decision with the king
many times and asked him, directly and indirectly, to annul
it and let her son rule alone, telling him that she would
make sure that her son ruled properly.
But the king maintained his decisive reply every
time, “I did what is best for Matthew. I cannot let him rule