Queen of Peace

Like the other meanings propose,Florence is the one who tries to keep peace in the relationship,but the man always ruins it.

"Oh,the king/Gone mad within his suffering/Called out for relief/Someone cure him of his grief"

The man she's with is suffering from something that happened in his recent past,and the fact that she says "someone" makes it seem like this has been going on for quite a while. She still cares deeply for his happiness,and the "someone" has this connotation of desperation.

"His only son/Cut down but the battle won/Oh,what is it worth/When all that's left is hurt"

I think the "son" is something special of his that he had to sacrifice in order to resolve whatever situation arose in the past. She's wondering if giving up whatever it was was worth it since it's left him in constant grief.

"Like the stars chase the sun/Over the glowing hill,I will conquer/Blood is running deep/Some things never sleep"

She's proclaiming that she will overcome his grief because he is important and close to her ("blood runs deep"),reiterating how this grief is relentless.

"Suddenly,I'm overcome/Dissolving like the setting sun/Like a boat into oblivion/'Cause you're driving me away"

She might not be strong enough to overcome his grief,as it overcomes her now. She's breaking down and can't help him because he drives her away with how he acts or what he says.

"Now you have me on the run/The damage is already done/Come on,is this what you want/'Cause you're driving me away"

They are really growing apart now,due to the things he's said or done to her. She still has a concern for him,wondering if the hurtful things he says are out of grief...or out of true feelings.

"Oh,the queen of peace/Always does her best to please/Is it any use/Somebody's gotta lose"

Trying to make him happy doesn't work and she's close to giving up. She's always the one to lose that battle.

"Like a long scream/Out there always echoing/Oh,what is it worth/When all that's left is hurt"

His grief is prominent in their relationship,and it's always in the background of their intimacy. In the last two lines,I think she's referring back to the second stanza AND also drawing attention to how their relationship is pain due to that scream.

"And my love is no good/Against the fortress that it made of you/Blood is running deep/Sorrow that you keep"

He can't be helped,at least not by her. His grief has made him so complicated that although she still cares for him,he is knowingly more attentive to his grief.

The last repeating stanzas imply that she will probably always be driven away until she finally ends the relationship. Despite the depressing theme though,the orchestra-like music is grand and amazing. :D

I don't feel that Florence is the Queen of Peace, Florence is the storyteller in my opinion. The chorus may be the Queen of Peace but I think more likely that the chorus and all the "I" statements are from the point of view of the son who is being pushed away by his father.

I think this story is about a son who comes out as gay or always fights with his father because his father disapproves of him for some reason. The king is the father who has either cut the son out of his life or will eventually completely push his son away. The Queen of Peace is the mother who is trying to keep their family together.

"His only son Cut down, but the battle won Oh, what is it worth When all that's left is hurt"

This refers to the father winning the argument but only by pushing son away. In truth he loved his son but he pushed him away and all that is left is pain.

"Like a long stream I'll bear all this echoing Oh, what is it worth All that's left is hurt

Like the stars chase the sun Over the glowing hill, I will conquer Blood is running deep Some things never sleep

Suddenly I'm overcome Dissolving like the setting sun Like a boat into oblivion Cause you're driving me away

Now you have me on the run The damage is already done Come on, is this what you want Cause you're driving me away"

The first chorus is the son trying to deal with his father's constant disapproval and eventually he feels like what is the point of dealing with it when all that is left is pain. The son is once again optimistic only to find that they eventually are at each other again. The blood running deep refers to the inherited stubbornness between the father and son. Some arguments never get put to rest between them. The son soon finds that it is truly too much for him to deal with, his sense of self is damaged, there is too much pain and his father is driving him away. His father can't let go of some of the things that have been said and keeps on pushing him away. The son seems pleading near the end. Does his father really want to push him away? Because that is what will happen if this doesn't stop and he doesn't want to loose his father from his life but he may need to for his own well being.

When I first heard this song my initial interpretation was this song is about a family who lost their son in a war and that the father starts pushing his wife away in his grief. I felt the Queen of Peace referred to the mother but also referred to a plead for peace and an end to needless wars. I think that the song makes more sense with the interpretation I left above, rather than this interpretation but the beauty of this song is that many interpretations work.

I think she is the "Queen of Peace" in that she's the one who's always trying to keep the peace in a relationship, but no matter what she does she can't seem to and the relationship starts or continues to unravel.

I think she feels like the King is a person/boyfriend/friend that she, the Queen of Peace, tries to console when he's distraught, but the King can't be consoled because he's so caught up in his grief that all he's doing is hurting the Queen