A monarch is the person at the head of a monarchy.

This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically either inherits the throne by birth or who is elected monarch and who typically rules for life or until abdication. Monarchs may be autocrats (absolute monarchy) or ceremonial heads of state who exercise little or no power or only reserve power, with actual authority vested in a parliament or other body (constitutional monarchy).

Contents
[hide]

1 Characteristics 2 Classification 3 Succession 4 History o 4.1 Monarchs in Africa o 4.2 Monarchs In Saudi Arabia o 4.3 Monarchs in Europe o 4.4 Monarchs in Asia o 4.5 Monarchs in the Americas o 4.6 Monarchs in Oceania 5 Titles and precedence in Europe 6 Titles outside modern Europe o 6.1 Titles by region 7 Current monarchs 8 Use of titles by non-sovereigns 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

Characteristics [edit]
Monarchs have various titles king or queen, prince or princess (e.g., Sovereign Prince of Monaco), Malik or Malikah (e.g., Maliks of Middle eastern Mamlakas), emperor or empress (e.g., Emperor of Japan, Emperor of India), Shah of Iran, archduke, duke or grand duke (e.g., Grand Duke of Luxembourg). Prince is sometimes used as a generic term to describe any monarch regardless of title, especially in older texts. Many monarchs are distinguished by titles and styles. They often take part in certain ceremonies, such as a coronation. Monarchy is political or sociocultural in nature and is generally (but not always) associated with hereditary rule. Most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family (whose rule over a period of time is referred to as a dynasty) and trained for future duties. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority (Salic law). While traditionally most monarchs have been male, female monarchs have also ruled, and the term queen regnant refers to a ruling monarch, as distinct from a queen consort, the wife of a reigning king.

Some monarchies are non-hereditary. In an elective monarchy, the monarch is elected but otherwise serves as any other monarch. Historical examples of elective monarchy include the Holy Roman Emperors (chosen by prince-electors but often coming from the same dynasty) and the free election of kings of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth. Modern examples include the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia and the pope of the Roman Catholic Church, who serves as Sovereign of the Vatican City State and is elected to a life term by the College of Cardinals. Monarchies have existed throughout the world, although in recent centuries many states have abolished the monarchy and become republics. Advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the immediate continuity of leadership, with a usually short interregnum (as illustrated in the classic phrase "The [old] King is dead. Long live the [new] King!"). However, this only applies in the case of autocratic rule. In cases where the monarch serves mostly as a ceremonial figure (e.g. most modern constitutional monarchies) real leadership does not depend on the monarch. A form of government may in fact be hereditary without being considered monarchy, such as family dictatorship or political families present in some nominally democratic countries.

Classification [edit]
A particular case is the French co-prince of Andorra, a position held by the elected President of France. Nonetheless, he is still generally considered a monarch because of the traditional use of a monarchical title (even though Andorra is, strictly speaking, a diarchy.) Similarly, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia is considered a monarch despite only holding the office for five years at a time. On the other hand, several life-time dictators around the world have not been formally classified as monarchs, even if succeeded by their children, but that may be more to do with international political sensitivities than with semantics.

Succession [edit]

The nine European Monarchs who attended the funeral of King Edward VII of Britain, photographed at Windsor Castle on 20 May 1910. Standing, from left to right: King Haakon

VII of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Manuel II of Portugal, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King George I of Greece and King Albert I of Belgium. Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George V of Britain and King Frederick VIII of Denmark.

Postcard from 1908 showing nineteen of the world's reigning monarchs: (left to right) King Rama V/Chulalongkorn of Siam, King George I of Greece, King Peter I of Serbia, King Carol I of Romania, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Tzar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Emperor Nicholas II of the Russia, King Edward VII of Britain, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, King Gustav V of Sweden, King Haakon VII of Norway, King Frederick VIII of Denmark, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Emperor Guangxu of China, Emperor Meiji of Japan, King Manuel II of Portugal and King Alfonso XIII of Spain. Hereditary succession within one family has been most common. The usual hereditary succession is based on some cognatic principles and on seniority, though sometimes merit has played a part. Thus, the most common hereditary system in feudal Europe was based on cognatic primogeniture where a lord was succeeded by his eldest son or, if he had no son, by either his brother, his daughters or sons of daughters. The system of tanistry was semielective and gave weight also to merits and capability. The Quasi-Salic succession provided firstly for male members of the family to succeed, and secondarily males descended from female lines. In most feudal fiefs, females (such as daughters and sisters) were allowed to succeed, should the male line fail, but usually the husband of the heiress became the real lord and most often also received the title, jure uxoris. Spain today continue this model of succession law, in the form of cognatic primogeniture. In

more complex medieval cases, the sometimes conflicting principles of proximity and primogeniture battled, and outcomes were often idiosyncratic. As the average life span among the nobility increased (thanks to lords limiting their personal participation in dangerous battles, and generally improved sustenance and living conditions among the wealthy), an eldest son was more likely to reach majority age before the death of his father, and primogeniture became increasingly favoured over proximity, tanistry, seniority and election. Later, when lands were strictly divided among noble families and tended to remain fixed, agnatic primogeniture (practically the same as Salic Law) became more usual: the succession would go to the eldest son of the monarch, or, if the monarch had no sons, the throne would pass to the nearest male relative through the male line, to the total exclusion of females. In some countries however, inheritance through the female line was never wholly abandoned, so that if the monarch had no sons, the throne would pass to the eldest daughter and to her posterity. (This, cognatic primogeniture, was the rule that let the United Kingdom's Elizabeth II become Queen.) In 1980, Sweden became the first monarchy to declare equal primogeniture or full cognatic primogeniture, meaning that the eldest child of the monarch, whether female or male, ascends to the throne.[1] Other nations have since adopted this practice: Netherlands in 1983, Norway in 1990, Belgium in 1991, Denmark in 2009, and the United Kingdom in 2012. In some monarchies, such as Saudi Arabia, succession to the throne usually first passes to the monarch's next eldest brother, and only after that to the monarch's children ( agnatic seniority). In some other monarchies (e.g. Jordan), the monarch chooses who will be his successor, who need not necessarily be his eldest son. Whatever the rules of succession, there have been many cases of a monarch being overthrown and replaced by a usurper who would often install his own family as the ruling monarchy.