40 Fun Facts About Constitutional Monarchy

Which Southeast Asian country's king is elected to a five-year term by and from nine hereditary state rulers?

Malaysia in effect rotates its throne, with the nine Malay rulers taking turns as Yang di-Pertuan Agong. That makes it one of the world's few elective monarchies.

Which tiny European country has two princes as heads of state: the president of France and a Spanish bishop?

Andorra has shared its throne this way since a treaty of 1278, so whoever wins France's presidency becomes a prince for the length of the term.

Which country's King Baudouin stepped aside for a day in 1990 so an abortion law could pass without his signature?

Belgium's ministers declared the devoutly Catholic king unable to reign, signed the law themselves, and had parliament restore him the next day.

Which country has the world's only reigning emperor, defined by its constitution as the symbol of the state?

Japan's emperor has no powers of government at all, not even nominal ones. The postwar constitution says he derives his position from the will of the people.

Which document did rebel barons force King John to seal at Runnymede in 1215, limiting the English crown's power?

Magna Carta was annulled by Pope Innocent III soon after it was sealed, which set off the First Barons' War. Later kings reissued it, and it became the symbol of limited royal power.

During the State Opening of Parliament, where is one MP held as a ceremonial hostage until the monarch returns?

Buckingham Palace holds the hostage MP, usually a government whip, as a surety for the sovereign's safe return. The custom recalls days when Parliament could be hostile ground.

Which House of Lords official has the Commons door shut in their face at every State Opening of Parliament?

Black Rod then knocks three times with the staff of office before being let in. The ritual symbolises the independence of the Commons from the monarch.

Which British king gave up the throne in 1936 after ministers opposed his plan to marry Wallis Simpson?

Edward VIII reigned for less than a year and was never crowned. His prime minister had warned that the government would resign if the wedding went ahead.

In which language does a parliamentary clerk still endorse each new act with the British monarch's approval?

Norman French supplies the formula "Le Roy le veult", meaning the King wills it. A refusal would be the polite "Le Roy s'avisera": the King will consider it.

Which Caribbean island removed Queen Elizabeth II as head of state in 2021 and swore in its first president?

Barbados chose its last governor-general, Sandra Mason, as that first president, so the same person stayed on under a new title.

Who was the last British monarch to veto a law passed by Parliament, blocking a Scottish militia measure in 1708?

Queen Anne blocked it because a Franco-Jacobite invasion fleet was heading for Scotland and the militia might prove disloyal. Her veto was barely commented on at the time.

Which king marched armed soldiers into the House of Commons in 1642, hoping to arrest five of its members?

Charles I found the five had slipped away by boat. No English sovereign had ever entered the chamber before, and the raid pushed the country towards civil war.

What name is given to the 1688 overthrow of James II by his daughter Mary and William of Orange?

The Glorious Revolution began with a letter: seven Englishmen invited William to invade, and James's army melted away before he fled into exile in France.

Which 1689 English act made it illegal for a monarch to suspend laws or levy taxes without Parliament's consent?

The Bill of Rights also protected free speech in Parliament, an article still cited in court in Britain and other Commonwealth realms.

Which title did Oliver Cromwell keep in 1657 after turning down Parliament's offer to make him king?

Lord Protector it stayed, after Cromwell agonised over the crown for six weeks. He was then re-installed in a ceremony with a purple robe, a sceptre and a coronation chair.

Which Whig statesman, in office from 1721 to 1742, is generally regarded as Britain's first prime minister?

Robert Walpole rejected the title himself, because "prime minister" began as a term of abuse. In 1741 he flatly denied being one.

Which prime minister, removed by William IV in 1834, was the last to be dismissed by a British monarch?

Lord Melbourne was back in office five months later, and went on to guide the young Queen Victoria through her first years on the throne.

Which Victorian journalist's 1867 book The English Constitution said a monarch may be consulted, encourage and warn?

Walter Bagehot split the constitution into "dignified" parts that win the public's loyalty and "efficient" parts that do the governing, with the Crown among the first.

Who actually writes the speech read from the throne by the King or Queen to open a session of parliament?

The cabinet writes it to set out its law-making plans for the session, so the sovereign is reading out someone else's programme.

Which 1701 law, passed to secure a Protestant succession, still bars Roman Catholics from the British throne?

The Act of Settlement gave the crown to Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant heirs. She died less than two months before the throne fell vacant, so her son became George I.

Which newly independent country held a 1905 referendum on keeping a monarchy, then elected a Danish prince as king?

Norway got the vote because Prince Carl insisted on it: he would accept only if the people chose monarchy. Nearly four in five did, and he reigned as Haakon VII.

Which Nordic country's 1974 constitution left its monarch as head of state but not even nominal chief executive?

Sweden transferred all executive power to the government itself, though its sovereign still enjoys absolute immunity from criminal charges while in office.

Liechtenstein's prince threatened to move to which city in 2003 unless voters backed his wider veto powers?

Vienna had long been the princely family's home, and they moved into their Alpine realm only in 1938. Voters backed Hans-Adam II, so he stayed put.

Which European country inaugurates its monarchs without crowning them, and saw three queens in a row abdicate?

The Netherlands displays the crown, orb and sceptre at the ceremony, but nobody wears them: swearing the oath is what makes a new monarch.

Which Spanish king appeared on television in military uniform in 1981 to face down an attempted coup?

Juan Carlos I had been hand-picked by the dictator Franco as his successor, yet he steered Spain to democracy and then helped foil the plot to undo it.

Which European queen announced her abdication live on television in a New Year's Eve address after 52 years?

Margrethe II stepped down two weeks later, on the exact anniversary of her accession. Support for the Danish monarchy stood at around eighty per cent by then.

Which European country voted to become a republic in 1946, sending its last king, Umberto II, into exile?

Italy chose the republic by 54 per cent to 46, and Umberto II left for Portugal without waiting for the appeals against the result to be decided.

Which king of France accepted a constitution limiting his powers in 1791, then went to the guillotine in 1793?

Louis XVI had tried to flee France three months earlier and was caught at Varennes. A year after he accepted the constitution, France abolished the monarchy.

Which country adopted Europe's first modern written constitution on 3 May 1791, only to be partitioned soon after?

Poland, then joined with Lithuania, saw its constitution last under 19 months before a Russian invasion swept it away. Only the United States had a codified one sooner.

Which Himalayan kingdom's fourth king gave up his own absolute power, then abdicated in 2006 before its first elections?

Bhutan's king went further and let parliament impeach the monarch by a two-thirds vote. Many of his subjects did not want him to hand over power at all.

Which Asian kingdom, restored in 1993, has each king chosen for life by a throne council rather than by birth order?

Cambodia's Royal Council of the Throne, a group of senior political and religious figures, makes the choice. The monarchy had been abolished from 1970 until then.

Which southern African kingdom bars its king from taking any part in politics?

Lesotho's Letsie III has had two turns on the throne: he abdicated in favour of his father in 1995, then returned a year later when his father died in a road accident.

Which Pacific kingdom, which never gave up its sovereignty, held its first partly representative elections in 2010?

Tonga is the only surviving indigenous monarchy in the Pacific islands. Britain handled its foreign affairs under a friendship treaty, but Tongans always governed themselves.

Which absolute monarchy's Basic Law declares the Quran and the Sunnah to be the country's constitution?

Saudi Arabia got even that Basic Law only in 1992, by a royal decree issued after the Gulf War and published on television and in newspapers.

Which Arab country's king called a 2011 referendum on constitutional reform after weeks of street protests?

Morocco's voters reportedly backed the changes by more than 98 per cent. The king must now pick a prime minister from the largest party, but he kept control of the army.

Which Australian prime minister was sacked in 1975 by the Queen's own representative, Sir John Kerr?

Gough Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister removed by a governor-general. The Senate had blocked his budget, and Kerr handed the job to the opposition leader.

Which term names the crime of insulting a monarch, punishable in Thailand by up to fifteen years in prison?

Lèse-majesté comes from the Latin for injured majesty, a form of treason against the emperor in ancient Rome. Observers have called Thailand's law the world's harshest.

Which Enlightenment thinker's The Spirit of Law praised England's constitution and set out the separation of powers?

Montesquieu's book shaped the US Constitution, and Catherine the Great admitted borrowing heavily from it for Russia, minus the parts that clashed with her own autocracy.

Which English philosopher's Two Treatises of Government argued that rulers need the consent of the governed?

John Locke published the book anonymously in 1689, and it is believed to have shaped the wording Thomas Jefferson chose for the Declaration of Independence.

Which Russian tsar signed the October Manifesto of 1905, creating an elected parliament called the Duma?

Nicholas II kept a veto over its laws and the power to dissolve it, which he used twice within two years. He never truly accepted limits on his autocracy.