Long Live the King!

As America waits for our president-elect to take office next year, modern democracy waits to see another change of power. But governments across the world, and even in our own hemisphere, do not see power shift away from certain families. The monarchy—one of the reasons that America is a democracy—still continues to strive in many countries. Belgium, Japan, Morocco, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and the UK are just some of the monarchies that continue to be in power.

What exactly is a monarchy? It isn’t all crowns and tea with a queen. There are many different types of monarchies: the constitutional, the elective, and the absolute monarchy. In those other than the elective monarchy, the monarch normally is given their position by birthright.  In an absolute monarchy, the monarch (king, queen, whoever is in power) acts as an autocrat, with complete control including the right to rule by decree, impose punishments, and to pass laws. Saudi Arabia has a complete monarchy under the power of King Salman. Other complete monarchies include the Chinese and the Japanese. The constitutional monarch, much like modern day Britain and Northern Ireland (the United Kingdom), exists in a way that the monarch, like Queen Elizabeth, is just primarily a figurehead to the public who has very little government control. The current monarch in the British monarchy, Queen Elizabeth, is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honors and appointing the Prime Minister. Parliament and the Prime Minister handle the majority of the government business rather than the Queen.

With the newest Netflix Original series, The Crown, the monarchy is seen in the 1950s at the beginning of Elizabeth’s Reign. The elective monarchy consists of someone appointed monarch rather than inheriting the position. These monarchs are uncommonly seen in today’s society, only in Malaysia and Cambodia, and often would transition towards being hereditary systems.

So here is a small summary covering all the government news that is overlooked in the wakes of the 2016 Election, Brexit, and Fidel Castro’s death.

On December 1st of this year, Thailand crowned its new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, after its long-term mourning period over late king Bhumibol Adulyadej. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn’s public crowning ceremony will take place late-2017 after his father, and previous king’s cremation.

King Mohammed VI of Morocco recently visited Nigeria on a diplomatic trip, as he travels throughout Africa to diversify his country’s relationships. He is currently one of the richest monarchs of the world as the young billionaire travels with his cousin, Prince Moulay Ismail.

Check out The Crown here