"Sometimes an honest picture is more valuable than a pleasing one," Claudius assures him. "But I understand your loyalty to your queen. Believe it or not -- and you may not -- I understand a great deal. You could be forgiven for thinking I only gave you such a difficult time because I didn't know your situation." It's an irritation he's still turning over, in various forms. But Lancelot doesn't irritate him right now. More softly, he says, "It's a difficult thing, to be a queen, to have so much power and yet so little. And that little power she has -- to take a lover, to command his loyalty, to exile him if he breaks his troth -- it's enough to take advantage of. There's a visceral relief, in knowing you aren't entirely helpless, because you can still cause pain when you've seen yourself wronged. I don't blame her. But I see the damage that exercise of power does."