ELI5: monarchy

In history, a monarchy is a type of government where one person, usually a king or a queen, is the ruler of a whole country for their entire life.

Imagine you are playing a game of tag on the playground, but instead of taking turns being the leader, the biggest kid makes all the rules forever. That is how a monarchy works.

Here are the most important things to know about how monarchies worked in the past:

• Family business: When a king or queen grew very old and died, the people did not vote for a new leader. Instead, the crown automatically passed to their child, usually the oldest son. This passing of power down through the same family is called a dynasty.
• Absolute power: A long time ago, many rulers had total control. This was called an absolute monarchy. If the king decided to build a giant castle, start a war, or make a strange new law, everyone had to obey him. People believed that gods chose the king to rule, so nobody was allowed to argue with him.
• Sharing the rules: Over hundreds of years, people got tired of one person having all the power. In places like England, the people created a group called a parliament to help make laws. This created a constitutional monarchy, where the king or queen still wore the shiny crown, but they had to follow a set of written rules just like everyone else.