king is dead, long live the king, the

The old has gone, replaced by the new. This phrase originated in 1461, on the death of Charles VII (Le Roi est mort. Vive le Roi!) and was repeated for a number of French kings, most dramatically at the death of Louis XIV. In English it dates only from the mid-1800s but was soon transferred to other events. Virginia Postrel had a version in discussing the Oscar awards of 2000 and Hollywood’s search for successful formula movies: “The formula movie is dead. Long live the formula movie” (New York Times, March 23, 2000).