In the antechamber of Leontes, the King of Sicilia, two noblemen—Camillo of Sicilia and Archidamus of Bohemia—discuss the King of Bohemia’s visit to Sicilia. The two noblemen talk of how their two kings, Leontes and Polixenes, have been friends since childhood and as such, their kingdoms are on good terms. Archidamus tells Camillo how the Bohemians will be unable to repay the Sicilians’ kindness when Leontes visits their kingdom. The men also speak of the young prince of Sicilia, Mamillius, and how gallant he is, suggesting that the king would be devastated if he had no son.

Polixenes, Leontes, his wife Hermione, and their son Mamillius discuss Polixenes’s stay in Sicilia. He plans to leave the next day, and even Leontes’s entreaties cannot force him to stay another week away from his wife, son, and Bohemia. He entreats Hermione to appeal to Polixenes, and when she does, he reluctantly agrees to stay longer. In an aside directed at the audience, Leontes expresses concern about Hermione and Polixenes’s friendship, though he himself told her to treat him like his brother. He believes they have been sleeping together, and that Hermione’s unborn baby is not his.