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The Inner Sovereign, Lost and Found
- Joanna Gardner, PhD
- Jul 20
- 5 min read
The film The Lost King (2022) tells the fictionalized story of a real woman who, inspired by Shakespeare’s fictionalized play Richard III, successfully led the discovery of the real remains of King Richard III of England. Although the movie includes no literal, living kings or queens, it revolves around the archetype of the Sovereign in the form of the historical Richard (Harry Lloyd) and an utterly charming, modern-day apparition of him visible only to the protagonist, Philippa (Sally Hawkins).
But wait: Who is the Sovereign?
For most of its history, the noun “sovereign” referred to someone who has power over others, such as political rulers, religious leaders, and even God, indicating the divine dimension of sovereignty. In 1783, however, a new definition came into being: “A citizen of the United States of America, considered after independence from Britain as having supreme authority in place of the monarch” (“Sovereign, N., Sense I.2.c.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/5717858291). In creating a new country, the nation’s founders brought the archetype of the Sovereign down from on high. Sovereignty became accessible, if not yet to all, to many more than it was before. Through the image of Richard, who was once a king over others but now serves as a metaphor for Philippa’s inner authority, The Lost King combines these two meanings of sovereignty, inner and outer, the same way it combines history and fiction to make something far more than the sum of its parts. Something mythic.
The inner Sovereign’s jobs include making decisions for the short and long term, charting a course to help the realm blossom and thrive, and figuring out how to deliver on the soul’s goals. The Sovereign forms and dissolves alliances with other equal Sovereigns, managing borders and boundaries with wisdom and compassion.
The Sovereign appears
When The Lost King begins, Philippa’s sense of personal sovereignty lies in tatters. Perpetually dismissed and devalued, she struggles with a chronic illness that consumes her energy. Her boss lies about her behind her back and passes her over for promotion. Her marriage has ended, and her two young sons alternately ignore her and regard her with dubious concern.
Richard’s sovereignty is similarly damaged. Painted as a usurper and hunchback through centuries of propaganda, this former king of England was reduced to a footnote of evil in the historical record. But when Philippa attends a performance of Shakespeare’s play, she relates with Richard. She sees him as unjustly reviled due to physical differences that others fear and don’t understand. She suspects he wasn’t as awful as the play makes him out to be.
And then something wonderful happens. Richard begins appearing to Philippa. As she goes about her daily routines, she sees the long-dead king as though in the flesh—as though alive—again and again. But this Richard is no sniveling villain. His features match the Richard in the play, but Philippa’s Richard stands straight and tall wearing a silken red tunic, robes lined with fur, black leather boots, and most of all, a golden crown. He embodies Philippa’s image of her inner sovereignty.
Quiet and confident, Philippa’s Richard listens to her, makes eye contact with her, often with a wry, compassionate smile. At first, she sees him outside through windows when she’s indoors, suggesting his attributes are distant from hers. Before long, he appears indoors as well—her inner Sovereign has drawn closer. Then he speaks, and her personal sovereignty gains a voice.
The inward quest for sovereignty
Electrified by Richard’s presence in her life, Philippa sets off to find the physical remains of this maligned sovereign. At last, after her final confrontation with the archeologist she hired to lead the search for Richard’s resting place, when she refuses to be dismissed and instead insists on where she wants the work to focus, she goes for a walk to unwind. Richard appears to her again, this time riding a white steed and urging her to follow him back to site. Her sovereignty is now her guide, leading her from its full power.
Sure enough, the team has found Richard’s bones under the asphalt crust of a paved parking lot that held him underground, held him in the underworld, for five long centuries. Philippa, similarly, did the deep work required to accomplish her quest. She demonstrates the two levels of the hero’s adventure Joseph Campbell describes: “The passage of the mythological hero may be over-ground, incidentally; fundamentally it is inward—into depths where obscure resistances are overcome, and long lost, forgotten powers are revivified” (The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 22). Murky resistances, bested. Forgotten powers, brought back to life. These are the exact fruits of Philippa’s journey of connecting with and reclaiming her inner Sovereign.
The Lost King is about royalty and therefore sovereignty, but its only king is a figment of the imagination, like a recurring waking dream. Philippa’s psyche obligingly provides her with the image she needs to recover her dignity. And so, as she searches for Richard’s remains, she steps into her own strength, determination, passion, and courage. Together, she and Richard travel the soul’s road from dishonor and disrespect to honor and value.
The Sovereign is an image of your best self
The Sovereign is the archetype of dignity, discernment, boldness, and respect for self and others. Sovereignty enables right action, right livelihood, and right relationship while protecting and providing for the inner realm. To relate with your inner Sovereign is neither to deny nor glorify these energies but instead to honor their capacities as the gifts of one archetype among many, the same way that in a nation of sovereign souls, each contributes their equal and unique powers to the flourishing of the whole.
Sovereignty enables right action, right livelihood, and right relationship while protecting and providing for the inner realm.
MythBlast authored by:
Joanna Gardner, PhD, is a writer, mythologist, and magical realist focusing on creativity, goddesses, and wonder tales. She is the author of The Practice of Enchantment: MythBlast Essays, 2020-2024 and the lead author of Goddesses: A Skeleton Key Study Guide. Joanna serves as director of marketing and communications for the Joseph Campbell Foundation and as an adjunct professor in Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Mythological Studies program. She also co-founded and co-leads the Fates and Graces, hosting webinars and workshops for mythic readers and writers. For Joanna's updates and publications, you are most cordially invited to visit her website at joannagardner.com.
This MythBlast was inspired by The Hero With a Thousand Faces and the archetype of The Sovereign.
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