Has a Hereditary Monarch Ever Established a Republic?
- Thread starter Tripledot
- Start date
If I recall correctly, every now and then the monarch of a Roman vassal state would leave his state to be inherited by the Roman Republic upon his death, but I'm not sure if that counts for what you would like since it's not a matter of making the state become a republic but, rather, join an existing one.
Kinda, maybe, perhaps, depending on how one is to interpret all of Sihanouk's shenanigans. I'm not an expert on Cambodia's history or culture, so I'll leave it to others whether or not he's ever established a 'real' republic (whatever that means).
His bio in short:
- 1922 born
- 1941: becomes King of Cambodia
- 1945: declares Cambodian independence in March under Japanese auspices; retracts it when the French come back but retains his throne + also Cambodia's prime minister for a few months
- 1949: Cambodia becomes a French 'associated states'
- 1950: again: both king and pm for a few months
- 1952-1953: see above
- 1954: see above (for a total of 11 days); Cambodia gains full independence later that year
- 1955: abdicates the throne in favour of his dad in March; his party (the "People's Socialist Community") wins the elections in September; dad names son prime minister in October
- 1956: leaves office on January 4th; retakes it on March 1st, leaves it on April 3rd; retakes it on September 15th; leaves in on October 25th
- 1957: named pm on April 9th, leaves office on July 27th
- 1958: named pm on July 18th
- 1960: King/dad dies in April; Sihanouk leaves the pm's office and wins the elections for head of state in June but doesn't take the title of King, preferring to remain just a bland 'Head of State'; does use the title 'Prince', though, and mommy gets to be 'Head of the Royal Family'
- 1961: becomes pm again
- 1962: leaves the pm's office again (for the 10th time...)
- 1963: Sihanouk's Head of State-ship receives a lifetime extention
- 1970: gets deposed while visiting Moscow; the Khmer Republic is declared; Sihanouk leads a government in exile
- 1975: Mum, head of the Royal Family, dies - which made him head of the RF again, I guess? Anyways, 10 days earlier, Sihanouk had been proclaimed head of state, in an uneasy coalition with Pol Polt's Khmers rouges
- 1976: Pol Pot is sick of Sihanouk, forces him to renounces his offices and keeps him prisoner for some time, until he was able to flee to freedom (well, to China and North Korea)
- 1982 becomes head of a government in exile
- 1989 Vietnamese leave Cambodia; Sihanouk continues to oppose the government lead by Hun Sen (former Khmer rouge)
- 1991 negotiations lead to a peace settlement; Sihanouk becomes 'Chairman of the Supreme National Council', basically becoming joint head of state, together with the Chairman of the Council of State
- 1993: becomes sole Head of State in June, and king again in September
- 2004: exiles himself in April, abdicates in October; henceforward officially styled 'Greatest King' or 'King Father'
- 2012: died
Now that's a cv! Depending on how loose your definition of 'establishing a republic' is, you could argue that he helped establishing a republic three times (in 1960, in 1975 and in 1991), only to end up as 'the Greatest King'.
Also, perhaps it might be worth looking into what role (if any) Malietoa Tanumafili II had in establishing Samoa's constitutional arrangement.
Juan Carlos I of Spain is probably one of the closest things to one, since he had the opportunity to and was expected to reign as a Dictator in Spain but instead transitioned it to a Full Constitutional Monarchy.
Other than that, he wasn't actually a Monarch, but Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus kinda fits. Became Dictator of Rome to resolve a crisis and resigned immediately after succeeding. Twice.
Other than that, he wasn't actually a Monarch, but Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus kinda fits. Became Dictator of Rome to resolve a crisis and resigned immediately after succeeding. Twice.
Pedro II of Brazil is probably the closest to this we've ever come IOTL. Genuinely seems to have believed it was destiny for the monarchy to die out with him and as such not cared about the establishment of the republic in 1889.
