Your challenge is to create a monarchical state in Western Europe that exists until the present day. By "monarchical," I mean a state that, while perhaps not an absolute monarchy, is very weighted or angled towards the monarchs.
Sealand has a king...but he's 1/12th of the population so I don't think that counts
More seriously, all it would take is no Spanish Civil War. Or maybe lack of a French Revolution, but that was pretty much inevitable IMHO.
Well, if you want to keep an absolute monarchy then they're going to revolt eventually right?The French Revolution wasn't entirely unavoidable...![]()
Well, if you want to keep an absolute monarchy then they're going to revolt eventually right?
Meh. Sooner or later you're going to have an incompetent monarch. And anyway, There's reform going on in the surrounding countries, if they stay in with the people they have to forfeit their power...They didn't revolt simply because it was an Absolute Monarchy. They revolted because it was an ineffective and backwards Absolute Monarchy. If the French Kings had followed the path of the Enlightened Despot like many of their peers, and passed certain reforms and above all ruled more effectively, then the French Revolution could be avoided.
Meh. Sooner or later you're going to have an incompetent monarch. And anyway, There's reform going on in the surrounding countries, if they stay in with the people they have to forfeit their power...
True, I suppose.Democracy need not develop in Europe. All it takes is an effective bureaucracy and good social reforms. Many Enlightened Despots gave their people this and thus were able to hold onto real power much longer. Without any other example of European democracy/republicanism, this would be even more the case.
What about Spain, the king has some influence there, if things had gone different (for example no republic, no Franco) the king could have even more power.
Liechtenstein has become more monarchical, if that's a word, since they passed the new constitution a few years ago.
I don't think so. Juan Carlos' popularity today is due in a large part to his being groomed by Franco as his successor, while still being a proven supporter of democracy. He bridges the cultural divide in Spain that still persists from the Civil War. I'd definately say that he is the most populary monarch in Europe, (perhaps save the Pope...), and it'd only take a relatively minor POD in 1970s/1980s Spain to get the kind of result this challenge asks for.