Verence II of Lancre

Verence II of Lancre was first the court jester of the monarch of Lancre, Duke Felmet. He was previously the Fool to Verence I, as his father and grandfather were before him.

After the assassination of Verence I, Verence I's infant son Tomjon was spirited out of Lancre by the Lancre witches, and adopted by a troop of travelling players.Tomjon later rejected the throne and Nanny Ogg, one of the Lancre witches, told everyone that Verence is Tomjon's older half-brother. It is assumed that this means he is the son of the elder Fool's wife and Verence I (who was fond of exercising his droit de seigneur). However, given how well the Queen got on with the elder Fool, there is another interpretation...

Verence is made Verence II and he marries Magrat, another of the Lancre witches, and they had a daughter, Princess Esmeralda Margaret Note Spelling of Lancre. So called because local traditions state that a child must be named exactly how is dictated by the parents - and Magrat, not knowing this, wanted to be sure that there were no spelling mistakes as it is suspected happened with her own name.

Verence II is a very well-meaning king, who takes running a kingdom very seriously, but things seldom turn out the way he might want. The most noticable results of his attempts at modernising the kingdom have been a Parliament that no-one attends, a handy pocket knife that needs to be carried by a cart, and an invasion of vampires. It has been suggested that his subjects would really prefer a king who orders them around and carouses a lot.