A
monarch is the person who heads a
monarchy, a
form of government in which the country
or entity usually ruled or controlled by an individual who usually
rules for
life or until
abdication. Monarchs may be
autocrats (
absolute
monarchy) or may be
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).
Most states only have a single monarch at any given time, although
a
regent may rule when the monarch is a
minor, not present or debilitated.
Two
monarchs have ruled simultaneously in some countries, as in the
ancient Greek city-state of
Sparta
or the joint sovereignty of spouses or relatives
(eg. William
and Mary of Kingdom of England and Scotland, Peter and Ivan of Russia
, Charles and Joanna of Castile, etc).
Monarchs have various titles —
king or
queen,
prince or
princess (eg.
Sovereign Prince of Monaco),
emperor or
empress
(eg.
Emperor of Japan,
Emperor of India),
Shah of Iran), or even
duke
or
grand duke (eg.
Grand Duke of Luxembourg). Many
monarchs are distinguished by
titles and
styles. They often take
part in certain ceremonies, such as a
coronation.
Monarchy are associated with political or sociocultural in nature
hereditary rule; most monarchs,
both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought
up within a
royal family (over a period
of time called 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 monarch have
been male, female monarchs have also ruled in history; the term
queen regnant refers to a ruling
monarch, while a
queen consort refers
to 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
Polish–Lithuanian
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 becomes
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 seen in the classic phrase
"
The King is
dead. Long
live the King!").
Form of government may be hereditary without being considered
monarchy, such as
family
dictatorship or
political
families present in many
democracies.
Etymology
The word
monarch ( ) comes from the
Greek μόναρχος (from μόνος,
one,
singular and ἀρχός,
leader, guide, chief) which
referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. With time,
the word has been succeeded in this meaning by others, such as
autocrat or
dictator. In modern
usage the word
monarch is generally used when referring to
a traditional system of hereditary rulership, with elective
monarchies often considered as exceptions.
Classification
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, but that may be more to
do with international political sensitivities than with
semantics.
Succession
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, and failing sons, by either daughters or by sons of daughters.
The system of
tanistry was semi-elective
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. Great Britain and 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
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. Other kingdoms (the Netherlands
in 1983, Norway
in 1990, and
Belgium
in 1991) have since followed suit.
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.
History
Monarchs in Africa
A series of
Pharaohs ruled
Ancient Egypt over the course of three
millennia (circa 3150 BC to 31 BC) until it was conquered by the
Roman Empire. In the same time period,
several kingdoms flourished in the nearby
Nubia region.
Central Africa hosted the Kanem
Empire (700 - 1376).
In
East Africa, the
Aksumite Empire and later the
Ethiopian Empire (1270-1974) were ruled by
a series of monarchs.
Haile Selassie,
the last Emperor of Ethiopia, was deposed in a
communist coup.
Southern Africa was isolated from
other cultures until the modern era, but did later feature kingdoms
like the
Kingdom of Kongo (1400 –
1914).
As part of the
Scramble for
Africa, Europeans conquered, bought, or established African
kingdoms and styled themselves as a monarch.
Currently, the African nation of Morocco
is a monarchy.
Monarchs in Europe
Prince was a common title within the
Holy Roman Empire, along with a number of
higher titles listed below. Such titles were granted by the
Emperor, while the titulation of rulers of sovereign states was
generally left to their own discretion, most often choosing
King or
Queen. Such titulations could cause
diplomatic problems, and especially the
elevation to
Emperor or
Empress was seen as an offensive action. During the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries most small monarchies in Europe
disappeared, merging to form larger entities, and so
King
the most common title for male rulers and
Queen has become
the most common title today for female rulers.
Today in
Europe, there are seven kingdom, one grand
duchy, one duchy , one papacy, and three principalities (Liechtenstein
, Wales
and Monaco
), excluding
the peculiar case of Andorra (whose
princes are the current Bishop of Urgell
and President of
France), and one "Lord of Mann" —
the title for the monarch of Isle of Man
.
Monarchs in Asia
In China, "king" is the usual translation for the term
wang 王, the sovereign before the
Qin dynasty and during the
Ten Kingdoms period. During the early
Han dynasty, China had a number of small
kingdoms, each about the size of a
county and
subordinate to the Empress or Emperor of China.
The
Japanese monarchy is now the
only monarchy to still use the title of Emperor. Till 1979, Iran
was ruled by an Emperor that used the title of "Shahanshah" (or
"King of Kings" in Persian).
Thailand
is currently still a monarchy ruled by a king. Saudi Arabia and parts of the United Arab Emirates
, such as Dubai
, are still
ruled by monarchs. The
Kingdom
of Jordan is one of the
Middle
East's more modern monarchies.
Nepal
abolished
their monarchy in 2008.
Monarchs in the Americas
The concept of monarchy existed in the Americas long before the
arrival of European colonialists. When the Europeans arrived they
referred to these tracts of land within territories of different
aboriginal groups to be kingdoms, and the leaders of these groups
were often referred to by the Europeans as Kings, particularly
hereditary leaders. Many of the leaders were queens, but this was
not understood by the Europeans, who had no knowledge of the
indigenous history or languages, much less an understanding of
matrilineality
Pre-colonial titles that were used included:
The first local monarch to emerge in North America after
colonization was
Augustin
I, who declared himself
Emperor of
Mexico in 1822. Mexico again had an emperor,
Maximilian I from 1863 to 1867. In
South America, Brazil had a Portuguese royal house ruling as
emperor between 1822 and 1889, under Emperors
Pedro I and
Pedro II.
These
American emperors were deposed due to complex issues, including
pressure from the highly republican
United
States
, which had declared itself independent of the
British monarch in 1776. The British, worried about U.S.
colonial expansion, invasion following the
American Civil War, and the fact that the
U.S. had aided the Mexican republican rebels in overthrowing
Maximilian I, pushed for the union of the Canadian provinces into a
country in 1867.
With Confederation, Canada became a
self-governing nation which was considered a kingdom in its own
right, though it remained subordinate to the United
Kingdom
; thus, Victoria was monarch of
Canada, but not sovereign of it. It was not until the
passing of the
Statute of
Westminster that Canada was considered to be under a distinct
Canadian Crown, separate to that the British, and not until 1953
that the Canadian monarch, at the time
Elizabeth II, was
titled by Canadian
law as Queen of Canada.
Between 1931 and 1983 nine other previous British colonies attained
independence as kingdoms, all, including Canada, in a
personal union relationship under a shared
monarch. Therefore, though today there are legally ten American
monarchs, one person occupies each distinct position.
| Male Title |
Female Title |
Realm |
Latin |
Examples |
| Emperor |
Empress |
Empire |
Imperator (Imperatrix) |
Brazil , Mexico, Sapa Inca |
| King |
Queen |
Kingdom |
Rex (Regina) |
Canada , Jamaica , Barbados , the
Bahamas , Grenada , Saint
Lucia , Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines , Antigua and Barbuda , Belize , Saint Kitts
and Nevis |
Titles
The
normal monarch title in Europe —
i.e., the
one used if the monarch has no higher title — is
prince or
princess, by
convention. As an absolute ruler, a monarch can choose a title.
However, titles are usually defined by tradition and diplomatic
considerations.
Note that some of these titles have several meanings and do not
necessarily designate a monarch. A
Prince may
be a person of royal blood (some languages uphold this distinction,
see
Fürst).
A Duke may be a British peer. In Imperial
Russia
, a Grand Duke was a son
or grandson of the Tsar or Tsarina.
Holders of titles in these alternative meanings did not enjoy the
same status as the monarchs of the same title.
Within the
Holy Roman Empire,
there were even more titles that were used occasionally for
monarchs although they were normally noble;
Margrave,
Count
Palatine, and
Landgrave. A monarch with
such a low title still was regarded as more important than a noble
Duke.
| Male version |
Female version |
Realm
|
Adjective |
Latin |
Examples |
|
| Emperor |
Empress |
Empire |
imperial |
Imperator (Imperatrix) |
Roman Empire,
Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Russia , First and Second French
Empire , Austria , Mexico, Brazil, German
Empire (none left in Europe after 1918), Empress of India (ceased to be used after
1947 when India was granted
independence from the British
Empire), Japan (the only
remaining enthroned emperor in the world). |
| King |
Queen |
Kingdom |
royal |
Rex (Regina) |
Common in larger sovereign states |
| Viceroy |
Vicereine |
Viceroyalty |
viceroyal |
Proconsul |
Historical: Spanish Empire (Peru,
New Spain, Rio de la Plata, New Granada), Portuguese Empire, (India,
Brazil ), British Empire |
| Grand Duke |
Grand Duchess |
Grand duchy |
Grand Ducal |
Magnus Dux |
Today: Luxembourg ; historical: Lithuania , Baden, Finland, Tuscany et al. |
| Archduke |
Archduchess |
Archduchy |
archducal |
Arci Dux |
Historical: Unique only in Austria, Archduchy of Austria; title used for member of the Habsburg dynasty |
| Prince |
Princess |
Principality, Princely state |
princely |
Princeps |
Today: Monaco, Liechtenstein, Wales; Andorra
(Co-Princes). Historical: Albania , Serbia |
| Duke |
Duchess |
Duchy |
ducal |
Dux |
There are none left currently. Though historical examples
include Normandy. |
| Count |
Countess |
County |
countly, comital |
Comes |
Most common in the Holy Roman
Empire, translated in German as Graf;
historical: Barcelona, Brandenburg, Baden, numerous others |
| Baron |
Baroness |
Barony |
Baronial |
Baro |
There are normal baronies and sovereign baronies, a sovereign
barony can be compared with a principality, however, this is an
historical exception; sovereign barons no longer have a sovereign
barony, but only the title and style |
| Pope |
Females cannot hold
the office of Pope |
Papacy |
papal |
Papa |
Monarch of the Papal States and later Sovereign of the State of Vatican City |
The pope is the Bishop of Rome (a celibate office always forbidden
to women), in English however, reports of female popes such as
(
Pope Joan) refer to them as
pope
and
Popess is used, among other
things, for the second trump in the
Tarot
deck
; some European languages also have a feminine form of the
word pope, such as the Italian papessa, the French papesse
, and the
German Päpstin
Titles by region
When a difference exists below, male titles are placed to the left
and female titles are placed to the right of the slash.
| Region |
Title |
Description and use |
| Africa |
Almami |
Fulani people of west Africa |
| Asantehene |
Ashanti, title of the
King of the Ashanti People in Ghana |
| Chieftain |
Leader of a people |
| Eze |
Igbo people of
Nigeria |
| Kabaka |
Baganda people of Buganda in Uganda |
| Negus |
Ethiopia |
| Oba |
Yoruba people
of Nigeria |
| Omukama |
Bunyoro, title of some kings in
Uganda |
| Tutsi Mwami |
Kings
of Rwanda and
Burundi |
| Asia |
| Arasan/Arasi |
Tamil
Nadu (India), Sri
Lanka |
| Chakrawarti Raja |
India Sri Lanka |
| Chogyal |
"Divine Ruler"; ruled Sikkim until 1975 |
| Datu |
pre-colonial Philippines |
| Druk Gyalpo |
Hereditary title given to the king of
Bhutan |
| Emperor of China |
|
| Engku or Ungku |
Malaysia, to denote particular family lineage akin to
royalty |
| Hari |
Filipino title for king |
| Huángdì |
Imperial China Emperor |
| Hwangje |
States that unified Korea |
| Maha Raja |
Used
in India and
Sri
Lanka |
| Meurah |
Title
used in Aceh before
Islam |
Padshah
Shahinshah
Shah
|
Emperor of Iran or
Hindustan (India) |
| Preah Karuna Preah Bat Sâmdech
Preah Bâromneath |
King of Cambodia Khmer , the title literally means "The feet
of the Greatest Lord who is on the heads (of his subjects)" (This
royal title doesn't refer directly to the king himself but to his
feet, according to traditions). |
| Patabenda |
Sub-
king Sri
lanka |
| Phrabat Somdej
Phrachaoyuhua |
King of Thailand (Siam), the
title literally means "The feet of the Greatest Lord who is on the
heads (of his subjects)" (This royal title doesn't refer directly
to the king himself but to his feet, according to traditions.) |
| Qaghan |
Central Asian Tribes |
| Racha |
Thailand same meaning as Raja |
| Raja |
Malaysia, Raja denotes royalty in Perak and certain Selangor
royal family lineages, is roughly equivalent to Prince or
Princess. |
| Raja |
Nepal King |
| Raja |
pre-colonial Philippines |
| Rani |
Nepali Queen |
| Susuhunan or Sunan |
The Indonesian princely state of Surakarta. |
| Saopha |
Shan, king of Shan, today as a part of Myanmar |
| Sayyid |
Honorific title given throughout the Islamic regions. Title
given to males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad. Syed/Sharifah in Perlis if suffixed by the royal clan
name, is roughly equivalent to Prince or Princess. |
| Shogun |
Japanese military dictator,
always a Samurai |
| Sultan |
Aceh, Brunei
Darussalam , Java , Oman , Malaysia, Sultan is the title of seven (Johor, Kedah,
Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor, and Terengganu) of the nine
rulers of the Malay states. |
| Sumeramikoto,Okimi |
Japan, king |
| Tengku |
Malaysia, Tengku (also spelled Tunku in Johor, Negeri
Sembilan and Kedah is roughly equivalent to Prince or
Princess |
| Tennō or Mikado |
Japan |
| Veyndhan, ko/Arasi |
Tamil
Nadu (India) |
| Wang |
Pre-Imperial China. In China , "king" is
the usual translation for the term wang 王. |
| Wang |
The king of Korea that control over all of Korea. It is called
'Im-Geum-nym' or 'Im-Geum' |
| Yang di-Pertuan Agong |
Monarch of Malaysia, elected each five years among the reigning
Sultan of each Malaysian state |
| Europe |
| Arqa/Thagavor |
Armenian King |
| Autocrator |
Greek term for the Byzantine Emperor |
| Basileus |
Greek King |
| Despot |
Serbia (originating from Byzantium) |
Domn
Gospodar
|
Medieval Romania (Moldova , Wallachia) |
| Fejedelem |
Ancient/Medieval Hungarian |
| Germanic king |
|
| Giray |
Crimean King |
| High King of Ireland |
Also known as Rí, Rúirí, Rí Rúireach and Ard Rí. King, local overking,
regional King, and High King in pre-Norman Ireland |
| Imperator |
The Ruler of Imperial Russia |
| Kaiser |
Imperial Germany |
| Knyaz |
Kievan Rus'/Serbia. Generally translated as "prince." |
| Kralj |
Croatia, Serbia |
| Kunigaikshtis (Kunigaikštis) |
Lithuanian, duke as in Grand Duchy of
Lithuania. |
| Mbret |
Albanian King |
| Tsar/Tsaritsa |
Bulgaria, pre-imperial Russia, Serbia |
| Vezér |
Ancient Hungarian |
| Voivode |
Serbian/Hungarian/Romany Title |
| Župan |
Serbia, Croatia |
Africa &
Middle-East
|
| Pharaoh |
Ancient Egypt |
| Shah |
Persian/Iranian and Afghanistan King |
| Shahenshah |
Persian /Iranian "King of Kings" or Emperor |
| Sheikh |
Arabic leader, King or Prince (Bahrain , Kuwait , Qatar , UAE ) |
| Malik |
Arabic King, (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco) |
| Emir |
Arabic Prince, (Kuwait, Qatar, UAE) |
| Sultan/Sultana |
Arabic King (Oman and
Ottoman Empire) |
| Oceania |
| Chieftain |
Leader of a tribe or clan. |
| Hou eiki, matai, ali i, tūlafale, tavana,
ariki |
Usually translated as "chief" in various Polynesian
countries. |
| Mo'i |
Normally translated as King, a title used by Hawaiian monarchs
since unification in 1810. The last person to hold that title was
Queen Lili'uokalani. |
| Tu i or Tui |
Kings
in Oceania: Tonga , Wallis and
Futuna , Nauru |
Current monarchs
NOTE: The table comprises all sovereign monarchs of the world
today, but is 'severely incomplete
with regard to the
non-sovereign monarchs.
Use of titles by non-sovereigns
It is not uncommon that people who are not generally seen as
monarchs nevertheless use monarchical titles. There are four cases
of this:
- Claiming an existing title, challenging the current holder.
This has been very common historically. For centuries, the British monarch used, among his other
titles, the title King of France,
despite the fact that he had had no authority over French territory
since the fifteenth century. Such as any one of the numerous
antipopes who have claimed the Holy See.
- Retaining the title of an extinct monarchy. This can be coupled
with a claim that the monarchy was in fact never, or should never
have been, extinct. An example of the first case is the
Prince
of Seborga
.
Examples of the second case are several
deposed monarchs or otherwise pretenders
to thrones of abolished monarchies, e.g., Leka, Crown Prince of Albania
who is styled by some as the "King of The Albanians." Retaining the
title of an extinct monarchy can, however, be totally free of
claims of sovereignty, for example it was customary of numerous
European Monarchies to include "King of Jerusalem" in their full
titles. When it comes to deposed monarchs, it is customary to
continue the usage of their monarchical title (e.g.,
Constantine II, King of the
Hellenes) as a courtesy title,
not a constitutional office, for the duration of their lifetime.
However the title then dies with them and cannot be used by anyone
else unless the crown is restored constitutionally. Monarchs who
have freely abdicated lose their
right to use their former title. However where a monarch abdicated
under duress (e.g., Michael I of Romania), it is customary
to see the abdication as invalid and to treat them as deposed
monarchs entitled to use their monarchical style for their
lifetime.
- Inventing a new title. This is common by founders of micronations, and also may or may not come with
a claim of sovereignty. When it does, it is disregarded by state
leaders. A notable example is Paddy Roy Bates, styling himself the "Prince
of Sealand," but not recognized as such by any national government,
thus failing at least the constitutive condition for
statehood (see Sealand
for a fuller discussion of his claims).
See also
References
- SOU 1977:5 Kvinnlig tronföljd, p.16.
- The channel islands are all that remain of the
Duchy of
Normandy)
- Canada: History
- Ferguson, Will; The Lost Kingdom;
Macleans, October 27, 2003
- The Four Indian Kings
- The Crown in Canada
- Prince of Wales is a courtesy title given to the eldest son (if
there is one) of the King/Queen of Great Britain and Nthn Ireland —
he is not a monarch in his own right
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