King

Charlemagne or Charles the Great (748–814) was King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, and the first Holy Roman Emperor. Due to his military accomplishments and conquests, he has been called the "Father of Europe".

King is a royal title given to a male monarch.^[1] In a modern context, the title may refer to the ruler of one of a number of modern monarchies (either absolute or constitutional).^[2][3] A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. The title of king is used alongside other titles for monarchs: in the West, emperor, grand prince, prince, archduke, duke or grand duke, and in the Islamic world, malik, sultan, emir or hakim, among others.^[4]

The term king may also refer to a king consort, a title that is sometimes given to the husband of a queen regnant, but the title of prince consort is more common.

Etymology

The word king traces back to late Old English cyning, meaning "ruler" or "leader," derived from Proto-Germanic kuningaz. This root also gave rise to similar terms across other Germanic languages, such as Dutch koning, Old Norse konungr, Danish konge, and German König. The precise origin of "kuningaz" remains uncertain, but it may be linked to Old English cynn ("family, race"), suggesting that a king was originally viewed as the "leader of the kin" or "head of the people." Another theory proposes that the term referred to one "of noble descent," connecting kingship with divine or aristocratic lineage. Linguists and historians have long debated the social and ideological meanings behind this relationship between king and kin, though the linguistic connection is widely accepted.^[5]

Current kings

Currently (as of 2023), eighteen kings are recognized as the heads of state of sovereign states. Most of these kings serve as heads of state in constitutional monarchies. However, those ruling over absolute monarchies include the King of Saudi Arabia and the King of Eswatini.^[6][7]

Sovereign state	Portrait	King	Title	House	Since	Monarchy
Antigua and Barbuda		Charles III	King	Windsor (official) Glücksburg (agnatic)	8 September 2022	Hereditary, constitutional
Australia			King
The Bahamas			King
Belize			King
Canada			King, Roi
Grenada			King
Jamaica			King
New Zealand			King, Kīngi
Papua New Guinea			King
Saint Kitts and Nevis			King
Saint Lucia			King
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines			King
Solomon Islands			King
Tuvalu			King
United Kingdom			King
Bahrain		Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa	ملك (malik)	Khalifa	14 February 2002	Hereditary, semi-constitutional
Belgium		Philippe	Koning, Roi, König	Saxe-Coburg and Gotha	21 July 2013	Hereditary, constitutional
Bhutan		Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck	འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་ (druk gyalpo)	Wangchuck	9 December 2006	Hereditary, constitutional
Cambodia		Norodom Sihamoni	ស្ដេច (sdac)	Norodom	14 October 2004	Elective, constitutional
Denmark		Frederik X	Konge	Glücksburg (official) Monpezat (agnatic)	14 January 2024	Hereditary, constitutional
Eswatini		Mswati III	Ngwenyama	Dlamini	25 April 1986	Hereditary, absolute
Jordan		Abdullah II	ملك (malik)	Hashim	7 February 1999	Hereditary, semi-constitutional
Lesotho		Letsie III	Morena, King	Moshesh	7 February 1996	Hereditary, constitutional
Malaysia		Ibrahim Iskandar	Yang di-Pertuan Agong (يڠ دڤرتوان اݢوڠ)	Temenggong	31 January 2024	Elective, constitutional
Morocco		Mohammed VI	ملك (malik), ⴰⴳⵍⵍⵉⴷ (agllid)	Alawi	23 July 1999	Hereditary, semi-constitutional
Netherlands		Willem-Alexander	Koning	Orange-Nassau (official) Amsberg (agnatic)	30 April 2013	Hereditary, constitutional
Norway		Harald V	Konge	Glücksburg	17 January 1991	Hereditary, constitutional
Saudi Arabia		Salman	ملك (malik)	Saud	23 January 2015	Hereditary, absolute
Spain		Felipe VI	Rey	Bourbon	19 June 2014	Hereditary, constitutional
Sweden		Carl XVI Gustaf	Konung	Bernadotte	15 September 1973	Hereditary, constitutional
Thailand		Vajiralongkorn (Rama X)	กษัตริย์ (kasat)	Chakri	13 October 2016	Hereditary, constitutional
Tonga		Tupou VI	Tuʻi, King	Tupou	18 March 2012	Hereditary, constitutional

See also

• Anointing
• Big man (anthropology)
• Buddhist kingship
• Client king
• Coronation
• Designation
• Divine right of kings
• Germanic kingship
• Great King
• High King
• King consort
• King of Kings
• Petty king
• Queen
• Realm
• Royal and noble ranks
• Royal family
• Sacred king
• Tribal kingship
• Khan
• Archon
• Basileus
• Lugal
• Kabaka
• Mepe (title)
• Malik/Melekh
• Mwami
• Negus
• Oba
• Raja
• Yang di-Pertuan Agong
• Rex (king)
• Rí
• Tlatoani
• Shah
• Tagavor

Notes

1. The definition of King from the OED
2. Bogdanor, Vernon (1995). The Monarchy and the Constitution. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-829334-7.
3. Kimizuka, Naotaka (July 2024). Constitutional Monarchy of the Twenty-First Century. Springer. ISBN 978-981-97-4327-8.
4. Pine, L.G. (1992). Titles: How the King became His Majesty. New York: Barnes & Noble. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-56619-085-5.
5. "Search 'king' on etymonline".
6. "Saudi Arabia: Country Profile".
7. "Africa's Eswatini, one of the last absolute monarchies, holds an election without political parties". Associated Press News. 29 September 2023.

References

• Cannadine, David; Price, Simon, eds. (1987). Rituals of Royalty: Power and Ceremonial in Traditional Societies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-33513-2. LCCN 86-29881.
• Craughwell, Thomas J. (2009). 5,000 Years of Royalty: Kings, Queens, Princes, Emperors & Tsars. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 978-1-60376-189-5.
• Hani, Jean (2011). Sacred Royalty: From the Pharaoh to the Most Christian King. The Matheson Trust. ISBN 978-1-908092-05-2.

External links

• Media related to Kings at Wikimedia Commons

• Phillip, Walter Alison (1911). "King" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). pp. 805–806.