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)
A monarch is a head of state for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in the state, or others may wield that power on behalf of the monarch. Usually a monarch either personally inherits the lawful right to exercise the state's sovereign rights or is selected by an established process from a family or cohort eligible to provide the nation's monarch. Alternatively, an individual may proclaim oneself monarch, which may be backed and legitimated through acclamation, right of conquest or a combination of means.
The Nine Sovereigns at Windsor for the funeral of King Edward VII, photographed on 20 May 1910. Standing, from left to right: King Haakon VII of Norway, Tsar (King) Ferdinand of the Bulgarians, King Manuel II of Portugal and the Algarve, Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II of Germany, King George I of the Hellenes and King Albert I of the Belgians. Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George V of the United Kingdom and King Frederik VIII of Denmark.
Postcard from 1908 showing nineteen of the world's reigning monarchs: (left to right)King Rama V/Chulalongkorn of Siam (modern Thailand), King George I of Greece, King Peter I of Serbia, King Carol I of Romania, Emperor and King Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Tzar (King) Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, Padishah (Emperor) Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Emperor Nicholas II of the Russia, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom,
Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BC), the third Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Mohamoud Ali Shire, the 26th Sultan of the Somali Warsangali Sultanate