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HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
There are 43 sovereign states in the world with a monarch as head of state.
There are 13 in Asia, 12 in Europe, 9 in the Americas, 6 in Oceania, and 3 in Africa. (*as of 2024)
HM King Charles III is the monarch of fifteen Commonwealth realms (Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom). They evolved out of the British Empire into fully independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations that retain the same King as head of state, unlike other Commonwealth countries that are either dependencies, republics or have a different royal house. All fifteen realms are constitutional monarchies and full democracies, where the King (or his representative) legally possesses some prerogatives, but fulfills a largely ceremonial role.
Belgium, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Technically, the Vatican City is also a monarchy: an elective monarchy ruled by His Holiness The Pope. Likewise, the Principality of Andorra is ruled by the ‘Co-Princes of Andorra’, a system dating back to 1278, but a rather unique form of monarchy. The Spanish Bishop of Urgell and the French head of state jointly rule the nation. At present, that is Joan-Enric Vives i Sicília and the French president Emmanuel Macron. Luxembourg is a Grand Duchy.
Liechtenstein and Monaco are constitutional monarchies in which the Prince retains many powers of an absolute monarch. For example, the 2003 Constitution referendum gives the Prince of Liechtenstein the power to veto any law that the Landtag (parliament) proposes and vice versa. The Prince can hire or dismiss any elective member or government employee from their post. However, unlike an absolute monarch, the people can call for a referendum to end the Prince's reign. The Prince of Monaco has similar powers: but he cannot hire or dismiss any elective member or government employee from their post, although he can select the minister of state, government council and judges.
Most of the rest of Europe has at one time or another also been ruled by emperors, monarchs, princes, dukes or other aristocratic rulers.
Absolute monarchs remain in Brunei, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates and are classified as mixed, meaning there are representative bodies of some kind, but the monarch retains most of his powers.
East and Southeast Asian constitutional monarchies.
Bhutan, Cambodia, Japan, and Thailand have constitutional monarchies where the monarch has a limited or ceremonial role. Thailand changed from traditional absolute monarchy into a constitutional one in 1932, while Bhutan changed in 2008. Cambodia had its own monarchy after independence from the French Colonial Empire, which was deposed after the Khmer Rouge came into power. The monarchy was subsequently restored in the peace agreement of 1993.
Tonga in the Pacific is a constitutional Monarchy.
AFRICA
Morocco, Eswatini, and Lesotho are Monarchies.
There are also Non-sovereign monarchies.
A non-sovereign monarchy or subnational monarchy is one in which the head of a particular geographic territory or an ethnic group, are subject to a sovereign state. The non-sovereign monarchies of Malaysia (which number some 9 monarchies) , the emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Sulu, Afro-Bolivian monarchy, Order of Malta, Traditional Chieftaincies of Nigeria, Ghana and kingdoms of Uganda are examples of these.