Monarchy: Meaning, Types, History and the Monarchies of Today
What a monarchy is, the main types (absolute, constitutional, elective and more), how the crown passes, how monarchy developed from the ancient world, and how many monarchies remain.
Last updated September 2026
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A monarchy is a form of government with one person, the monarch, as head of state. The monarch usually serves for life. The office most often passes down within a family.
Monarchy is one of the oldest forms of government, and about 43 countries still have one. This hub explains what the word means and the main types. It shows how the crown passes from one ruler to the next, and how monarchy has changed. It also links every page in the Monarchy section.
TL;DR: In a monarchy one person heads the state, usually for life and often by birth. There are two main types. In an absolute monarchy, the monarch rules. In a constitutional one, the monarch reigns and elected ministers govern. Most of the roughly 43 monarchies left today are constitutional. A few, such as Saudi Arabia and Eswatini, keep wide royal power.
What a monarchy is
Britannica defines monarchy as a system based on the undivided rule of one person. The Cambridge Dictionary gives the everyday sense. A king or queen rules the country.
Most monarchies share three features.
- One person at the top. The monarch is the head of state, even if others govern.
- Tenure for life. A monarch normally serves until death or abdication, not for a fixed term.
- Succession by rule. The next monarch is chosen by a fixed rule, usually birth, instead of by an open election.
Titles vary with the tradition: king or queen, emperor, sultan, emir, grand duke, prince. The define monarch page covers the word in detail. The define monarchy page covers the system.
The main types of monarchy
| Type | Who holds power | Examples today |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute | The monarch holds supreme power in law and in practice | Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brunei, Eswatini, Vatican City |
| Constitutional (parliamentary) | The monarch reigns; elected ministers govern | United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Spain, Belgium |
| Constitutional with strong royal powers | A constitution exists, but the monarch keeps real executive power | Jordan, Morocco, Liechtenstein |
| Elective | The monarch is chosen from a defined group | Malaysia (rotating among nine rulers), Vatican City (the Pope) |
| Federal | Several hereditary rulers share a federal state | United Arab Emirates, Malaysia |
| Co-principality | Two heads of state share the office | Andorra (the Bishop of Urgell and the President of France) |
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Classifying today's monarchies
Which monarchies are "absolute"?.
Status: Disputed. Sources group borderline cases differently.
Note: Most reference works agree that Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brunei and Eswatini are absolute monarchies. They also agree that the Pope rules Vatican City with full power. Some sources call Gulf states such as Qatar and the UAE absolute. Others call them mixed systems, because they have written constitutions or advisory bodies. This site lists them apart rather than force one label.
Sources: Britannica, "Monarchy: Monarchy in the modern era"; Vatican City State, Fundamental Law (2023).
The gap between reigning and ruling is the key to reading any modern monarchy. Three pages each take one type in depth. See absolute monarchy examples, limited monarchy and ceremonial monarch.
How the crown passes
Most monarchies pass the crown by birth. But the rules differ.
- Absolute primogeniture: the eldest child inherits, whatever their sex. Sweden adopted it in 1980, and the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and the UK followed.
- Male-preference primogeniture: sons come before daughters. Spain's constitution still uses this rule.
- Male-only (agnatic) succession: only men in the male line can inherit, as in Japan under the Imperial House Law.
- Choice within the family: in Saudi Arabia the king names a crown prince, and an Allegiance Council of senior princes has a role.
- Election: Malaysia's rulers elect one of themselves for a five-year term, and cardinals elect the Pope.
A monarch's time on the throne is called a reign. The family that holds the crown is a royal house or dynasty. Royal families often have no ordinary surname. The royal family last name page explains why.
How monarchy developed
Kingship appears in the earliest written records. The Sumerian city-states of Mesopotamia had kings by the third millennium BCE. Egyptian pharaohs ruled a united kingdom from around 3000 BCE.
Sargon of Akkad lived in the 24th and 23rd centuries BCE. He is often called the founder of the first empire. The list of ancient cultures page covers these early states.
Rulers of large states with many peoples often took the title emperor. How the two titles differ is set out on the emperor vs king page. The biggest empires are ranked on the largest empire in history page.
In early modern Europe, kings such as Louis XIV of France claimed total power. They called it the "divine right of kings". From the 1600s on, revolutions and reforms shifted power to parliaments. By the 1900s most European monarchies that survived had become constitutional.
Many others ended. Russia's fell in 1917. Germany's and Austria's fell in 1918. Italy's ended in 1946, and Greece's in 1973-1974.
Monarchies that ended in the 20th century
Many monarchies fell after wars or revolutions. The table lists some of the best known, with the year each one ended.
| Country | Monarchy ended | What followed |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 1910 | Republic after a revolution |
| China | 1912 | Republic after the Qing emperor abdicated |
| Russia | 1917 | Revolution; Nicholas II abdicated |
| Germany and Austria-Hungary | 1918 | Republics at the end of the First World War |
| Ottoman Empire | 1922 | The sultanate abolished; Turkish Republic in 1923 |
| Italy | 1946 | Republic by referendum |
| Egypt | 1953 | Republic after the 1952 revolution |
| Ethiopia | 1974 | Emperor Haile Selassie deposed |
| Iran | 1979 | Islamic Republic after the revolution |
| Nepal | 2008 | Republic declared by the Constituent Assembly |
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A few went the other way. Spain brought back its monarchy in 1975 after Franco's death. Cambodia brought back its king in 1993. The fall of the Russian monarchy is covered in detail in the Romanov dynasty section.
Monarchy around the world today
About 43 sovereign states are monarchies. Fifteen of them shared Charles III as monarch when he came to the throne in 2022. Europe has twelve, if the Vatican and Andorra are counted.
The Arabian Peninsula has six. The full list, region by region, is on the countries having monarchy page. The same states, grouped by type, are on the monarchies page.
Pages in the Monarchy section
Definitions
- Define monarchy: the formal definition and its parts
- Define monarch: who counts as a monarch
- Empire meaning: what makes a state an empire
- Reign: what the word means and how reigns are counted
Types and how they work
- Monarchy government: how a monarchy functions as a system
- Monarchies: the types, with today's examples
- Limited monarchy
- Ceremonial monarch
- Absolute rulers
- Absolute monarchy examples
- Emperor vs king
Lists and examples
- Countries having monarchy
- Monarchy examples, from ancient to modern
- List of ancient cultures and their rulers
- Largest empire in history
Titles and families
For full lists of rulers by country, start at the lists of monarchs index.
To read more, try our guide to the best books about the royal family. It picks eight. They cover every era from 1066 to Elizabeth II.
Verdict: what a monarchy is today
A monarchy is a state headed by one person who holds the office for life, usually by birth. The form has lasted five thousand years, but its meaning has changed. Most of the 43 or so monarchies left are constitutional. In them the monarch is a symbol.
Elected governments are in charge. A handful still give the monarch real power. Most are in the Arabian Peninsula. Eswatini and Brunei are the others.
Sources checked for this page
- Britannica, "Monarchy"
- Britannica, "Monarchy in the modern era"
- Cambridge Dictionary, "monarchy"
- Britannica, "Primogeniture and ultimogeniture"
- The Imperial Household Agency, "The Imperial House Law"
- La Moncloa, Spanish Constitution, Part II: The Crown
- Britannica, "Yang di-Pertuan Agong"
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Questions people also ask
What is a monarchy in simple terms?
A country whose head of state is a single person, such as a king, queen, emperor or sultan, who normally holds the position for life and often inherits it.
How many monarchies are there in the world?
About 43 sovereign states, counting each of the realms that share Charles III as a separate monarchy. Totals vary slightly with how co-principalities and elective monarchies are counted.
What is the difference between an absolute and a constitutional monarchy?
In an absolute monarchy the monarch holds supreme power in law and practice. In a constitutional monarchy the monarch's powers are limited by a constitution and exercised mostly on the advice of elected ministers.
What is the oldest monarchy still in existence?
Japan's imperial house is usually described as the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy. Its early reigns are legendary, so its exact age cannot be verified.