A Brief History
On November 22, 1975, in the wake of the death of dictator Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos I was declared King of Spain. Currently on the throne of Spain is King Felipe VI, son of Juan Carlos. In this day and age, incredibly, we still have kings!
Digging Deeper
Some of those current reigning monarchs in supposedly modern countries include:
Carl XVI Gustaf, Sweden.
Hans-Adam II, Liechtenstein.
Harald V, Norway.
Abdullah II, Jordan.
Mohammed VI, Morocco.
Henri, Luxembourg.
Willem-Alexander, Netherlands.
Philippe, Belgium.
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia.
Rama X, Thailand.
Charles III, United Kingdom and a host of Commonwealth countries and territories.
Many other countries and states have a queen, shah, sultan or other monarch, and Japan has an emperor. While monarchs may be OK for being the emcee at state events and provide entertaining weddings and funerals, do they have a place in the modern world?
Question for students (and subscribers): Who is your favorite current or past king? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Farquhar, Michael. A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories History’s Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors. Penguin Books, 2001.
Feldman, Wanda. King Charles III Biography And The Coronation Of The Modern Monarch. Kindle, 2023.
The featured image in this article, the proclamation of Juan Carlos I as king at the Palacio de las Cortes on 22 November 1975, is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.