Popular monarchy

Popular Monarchy is a system of monarchical governance which came into occasional usage in the nineteenth century¹ in which the monarch's title is linked with the people, rather than the state. It was used much earlier, in the Middle Ages, by Scottish monarchs; e.g., Robert Bruce, King of the Scots, not Robert Bruce, King of Scotland.

Table of contents

1 Examples 2 In contrast 2..1 Footnote

Examples

• Belgian monarchs are called King of the Belgians, not King of Belgium.
• The last French king, Louis-Philippe of France was proclaimed King of the French in 1830, not the traditional King of France, the title used by his immediate predecessor, King Charles X of France
• Greek monarchs from George I were formally known as Kings of the Hellenes, not King of Greece. (The 1974 republic continued on this nomenclature by calling itself the Hellenic Republic.)

In contrast

• Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland not Queen of the Britons.
• Queen Margrethe II is Queen of Denmark, not Queen of the Danes.
• King Juan Carlos is King of Spain not King of the Spanish.

Footnote

¹ The form was first used in a constitutional setting in the 1791 Constitution of France, which changed King Louis XVI's title from the traditional form of King of France to King of the French. When his brother returned to the throne as King Louis XVIII of France following the fall of Napoleon, he reverted to the traditional form, King of France.