A hereditary monarchy is the most common style of monarchy and is the form that is used by almost all of the world's existing monarchies.
Under a hereditary monarchy, all the monarchs come from the same family, and the crown is passed down from one member to another member of the family. The hereditary system has the advantages of stability, continuity and predictability, as well as the internal stabilizing factors of family affection and loyalty.
The following list is a list of hereditary monarchies and their current () monarchs.
NOTE: The table comprises some sovereign monarchs of the world today, but is incomplete.
Monarchies of sovereign states
Africa
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Kingdom of Eswatini
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...
Kingdom of Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a populatio ...
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...
Grenada
Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...
Kingdom of Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
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Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk
Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck ( dz, འཇིགས་མེད་གེ་སར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, ; born 21 February 1980) is the Druk Gyalpo (Dzongkha: Dragon King) of the Kingdom of Bhutan. After his ...
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Sultanate of Brunei
This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continui ...
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Hassanal Bolkiah
Hassanal Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III ( Jawi: ; born 15 July 1946) is the 29th and current Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei since 1967 and the Prime Minister of Brunei since independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one ...
Norodom Sihamoni
Norodom Sihamoni ( km, នរោត្តម សីហមុនី, ; born 14 May 1953) is King of Cambodia. He became King on 14 October 2004, a week after the abdication of his father, Norodom Sihanouk. He is the eldest son of Norodom Sihano ...
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Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
Kingdom of Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the ...
Kingdom of Denmark
The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of Denmark, metropolitan ...
Principality of Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...
Carl XVI
Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He ascended the throne on the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, on 15 September 1973.
He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Du ...
Abdullah II of Jordan
Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبدالله الثاني بن الحسين , translit=ʿAbd Allāh aṯ-ṯānī ibn al-Ḥusayn; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of t ...
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State of Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
President of the UAE
The president of the United Arab Emirates, or the Raʾīs ( ar, رَئِيْس), is the head of state of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The president and vice-president are elected every five years by the Federal Supreme Council. Though the ...
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
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Muhammadu Sanusi II
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Ajami: سنوسي لاميط سنوسي, ''Muhammadu Sanusi na biyu''; born 31 July 1961), known by the religious title Khalifa Sanusi II (Ajami: خليفة السنوسي), is a spiritual leader in the Tijanniyah Sufi ord ...
Sultanate of Sokoto
The Sokoto Caliphate (), also known as the Fulani Empire or the Sultanate of Sokoto, was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Fula ...
Kingdom of Bunyoro
Bunyoro or Bunyoro-Kitara is a Bantu peoples, Bantu monarchy, kingdom in Western Region, Uganda, Western Uganda. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Central Africa, Central and East Africa from the 13th century to the 19th century. It is ...
Kingdom of Toro
Tooro is a Bantu kingdom located within the borders of Uganda. The current Omukama of Toro is King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV. King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV took to the throne of Tooro kingdom in 1995 at the age of just three ...
Sultanate of Yogyakarta
The Sultanate of Yogyakarta ( jv, ꦏꦱꦸꦭ꧀ꦠꦤ꧀ꦤꦤ꧀ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦡꦲꦢꦶꦤꦶꦔꦿꦠ꧀, Kasultanan Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat ; ) is a Javanese monarchy in Yogyakarta Special Region, in the Republic o ...
Sultanate of Kedah
The Kedah Sultanate (كسلطانن قدح) is a Muslim dynasty located in the Malay Peninsula. It was originally an independent state, but became a British protectorate in 1909. Its monarchy was abolished after it was added to the Malayan Uni ...
Sultanate of Kelantan
The Sultan of Kelantan () is the constitutional head of Kelantan state in Malaysia. The executive power of the state is vested in him as the monarch of the state. The current sultan, Muhammad V of Kelantan, Muhammad V, is the 29th Sultan of Kel ...
Sultanate of Pahang
The Pahang Sultanate (Malay: ''Kesultanan Pahang'', Jawi: كسلطانن ڤهڠ ) also referred as the Old Pahang Sultanate, as opposed to the Modern Pahang Sultanate, was a Malay Muslim state established in the eastern Malay peninsula in 15 ...
Sultanate of Selangor
Sultan of Selangor (سلطان سلاڠور) is the title of the constitutional ruler of Selangor, Malaysia who is the head of state and head of the Islamic religion in Selangor. The current monarch, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah ascended the t ...
Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu
Al-Wathiqu Billah Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin ibni Almarhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah ( Jawi: ; born 22 January 1962) is the 18th and current Sultan of Terengganu. He served as the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the constitutio ...
Emirate of Umm al-Quwain
The Emirate of Umm Al Quwain (UAQ; ar, أم القيوين; ) is one of the seven constituent emirates of the United Arab Emirates, located in the north of the country. It is the second smallest and least populous emirate in the UAE and bord ...
Commonwealth realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations whose monarch and head of state is shared among the other realms. Each realm functions as an independent state, equal with the other realms and nations of the Commonwealt ...
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List of monarchies
There are and have been throughout recorded history a great many monarchies in the world.
Tribal kingship and Chiefdoms have been the most widespread form of social organisation from the Neolithic, and the predominance of monarchies has decline ...
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List of dynasties
This is a list of dynasties and dynastic regimes in the context of monarchy, both sovereign and non-sovereign, organized by geographic region. Extant dynasties are rendered in bold and highlighted.
General information Criteria for inclusion
Th ...