There is an old saying that punctuality is the courtesy of kings. So it is. But there are other kinds of royal courtesy, particularly where making a speech is involved.

Anyone who knows anything about public speaking knows that one of the first things a speaker needs to do when addressing a crowd is to establish a common bond with his audience. You might think that this would be difficult in the case of a royal person and, furthermore, you might think that said royal person might find it beneath his or her dignity to condescend to the masses.

But on one occasion, I was privileged to watch a royal person carry off this rhetorical feat with an aplomb that delighted his audience and fairly took my breath away.

The royal person in question was H.M. King Harald of Norway. The occasion was a speech he gave at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., sometime in the mid-1990s.

King Harald began his remarks by sharing an account of how the royal family was forced to flee Norway when the Nazis invaded the country during World War II. He, along with his mother and sisters, spent the remainder of the war in Washington. For part of that time, they were the guests of President and Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt at the White House. In fact, King Harald, then eight years old, stood behind President Roosevelt when he was sworn in for his fourth term.

“And so you see,” the King concluded with a twinkle and a lilting Norwegian accent, “I have some standing to call myself a Washingtonian.”

The punch line of the story was greeted with laughter and much warm applause. A touch of royal courtesy had conquered the crowd at a stroke.