In European Christianity, the divine right of kings, divine right, or God's mandation, is a political and religious doctrine of political legitimacy of a monarchy. It is also known as the divine-right theory of kingship.
Ahura Mazda gives divine kingship to Ardashir.
Roger II of Sicily invested with kingship by Christ (mosaic of the Church of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, Palermo)
Louis XIV of France depicted as the Sun King.
Antichristus, a woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder, of the pope using the temporal power to grant authority to a ruler contributing generously to the Catholic Church
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic, to fully autocratic, and can span across executive, legislative, and judicial domains.
The Weld-Blundell Prism, inscribed with the Sumerian King List
King George III of the United Kingdom, portrait by Allan Ramsay, 1762
King Salman of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarch.
Postcard of ruling monarchs, taken in 1908, between February (accession of King Manuel II of Portugal) and November (death of the Guangxu Emperor)
