[ The idea of family...well. It seemed a far away concept to him now, but he it was not so much so that he didn't know the value of allowing a soldier off-duty to tend to a wife who had just given birth.

The ability to perceive the value was not lost to him just yet. ]

As a King, I'd have to.

I've heard some of my own people expressing such sentiments regarding their family members in hard times, even though they had not exactly worded it the way you do. And trust me, it's not a thought I'd consider as unusual.