Il re pastore (The Shepherd King) is an opera, K. 208, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Metastasio, edited by Giambattista Varesco.

The opera was first performed on 23 April 1775 in Salzburg in the Rittersaal (knight's hall) of the Residenz-Theater in the palace of the Archbishop Count Hieronymus von Colloredo.

In 1775 the opera was commissioned for a visit by the Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa, to Salzburg.

The Salzburg court chaplain Varesco was largely responsible for this editing of Metastasio's libretto.

The appearance of a quartet of lovers (Aminta and Elisa, Agenore and Tamiri) of somewhat dubious fidelity automatically puts a modern audience in mind of the later Così fan tutte.

Indeed, Idomeneo was the next completed opera that Mozart wrote after Il re pastore, after his six-year-long break from the stage.

Furthermore, the theme of qualities for kingship appears in another opera, La clemenza di Tito, his last one.

She assures him that the war between King Alessandro and Stratone, the tyrant of Sidon, will not affect their love for each other.

Aminta tells Elisa that he is the rightful heir to the throne and that his father was driven out by Stratone when he was a baby.