Constitutional Monarchy - Former Monarchies

Former Monarchies

• The Anglo-Corsican Kingdom was a brief period in the history of Corsica (1794–1796) when the island broke with Revolutionary France and sought military protection from Great Britain. Corsica became an independent kingdom under George III of England, but with its own elected parliament and a written constitution guaranteeing local autonomy and democratic rights.
• Brazil from 1815 (United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves) until 1822, with the proclamation of independence and rise of the Empire of Brazil by Pedro I of Brazil. The empire ended in 1889, when Pedro II was deposed by a military coup.
• Kingdom of Bulgaria until 1946 when Tsar Simeon was deposed by the communist assembly.
• The Chinese Empire. Last Imperial Chinese rule was by the Qing Dynasty 1644–1912, which was overthrown following the Xinhai Revolution, when the Empress Dowager Longyu abdicated on behalf of the last emperor, Puyi, on February 12, 1912.
• Many Commonwealth republics were constitutional monarchies for some period after their independence.
• The Grand Principality of Finland was a constitutional monarchy though its ruler, Alexander I, was simultaneously an autocrat and absolute ruler in Russia.
• France, several times during the 19th century. Napoléon Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor of the French in what was ostensibly a constitutional monarchy, though modern historians often class his reign as a military dictatorship. The Bourbon Restoration (under Louis XVIII and Charles X), the July Monarchy (under Louis-Philippe), and the Second Empire (under Napoleon III) were also constitutional monarchies, although the power of the monarch varied considerably between them.
• The German Empire from 1871 to 1918, (as well as earlier confederations, and the monarchies it consisted of) was also a constitutional monarchy—see Constitution of the German Empire.
• Greece until 1967 when Constantine II was deposed by the military government. The decision was formalised by a plebiscite December 8, 1974.
• Hawaii was a constitutional monarchy from the unification of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, and Hawaii (or the "Big Island") in 1810 until 1893.
• The Kingdom of Hungary. In 1848–1849 and 1867–1918 as part of Austria-Hungary. In the interwar period (1920–1944) Hungary remained a constitutional monarchy without a reigning monarch.
• Iceland The Act of Union, a December 1, 1918 agreement with Denmark, established Iceland as a sovereign kingdom united with Denmark under a common king. Iceland abolished the monarchy and became a republic on June 17, 1944 after the Icelandic constitutional referendum, May 24, 1944.
• Prior to the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Iran under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was a constitutional monarchy, which had been originally established during the Persian Constitutional Revolution in 1906.
• Italy until June 2, 1946, when a referendum proclaimed the end of the Kingdom and the beginning of the Republic.
• The Korean Empire from 1897 to 1910 was an empire that succeeded the Joseon Dynasty that ruled the nation over the past 500 years. On August 22, 1910, the Korean Empire was annexed by Japan with the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty, beginning a 35-year period of Korea under Japanese rule.
• The Kingdom of Laos was a constitutional monarchy until 1975, when Sisavang Vatthana was forced to abdicate by the communist Pathet Lao.
• Mexico was twice an Empire. First from July 21, 1822, to March 19, 1823, with Agustín de Iturbide serving as emperor. Then, with the help of the Austrian and Spanish crowns, Napoleon III of France installed Maximilian of Habsburg as Emperor of Mexico. This attempt to create a European-style monarchy lasted three years, from 1864 to 1867.
• Montenegro until 1918 when it merged with Serbia and other areas to form Yugoslavia.
• Kingdom of Mysore
• Nepal until May 28, 2008, when King Gyanendra was deposed, and the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal was declared.
• The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, formed after the Union of Lublin in 1569 and lasting until the final partition of the state in 1795, operated much like many modern European constitutional monarchies (into which it was officially changed by the establishment of the Constitution of May 3, 1791, which historian Norman Davies calls "the first constitution of its kind in Europe"). The legislators of the unified state truly did not see it as a monarchy at all, but as a republic under the presidency of the King. Poland-Lithuania also followed the principle of "Rex regnat et non gubernat", had a bicameral parliament, and a collection of entrenched legal documents amounting to a constitution along the lines of the modern United Kingdom. The King was elected, and had the duty of maintaining the people's rights.
• Portugal from 1139 until 1910, when Manuel II was overthrown by a military coup.
• Kingdom of Romania until 1947 when Michael I was forced to abdicate at gunpoint by the communists.
• Kingdom of Serbia until 1918, when it merged with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs into the unitary Yugoslav Kingdom, that was led by the Serbian Karadjordjevic dynasty.
• The West African Songhai Empire was considered a powerful constitutional monarchy before annexation by Morocco and later France, when it became a colony and presently, a secular Sufist republic.
• Yugoslavia until 1945 when Peter II was deposed by the communist government.