monarchy

noun4

1. •
   A government in which sovereignty is embodied within a single, today usually hereditary head of state (whether as a figurehead or as a powerful ruler).

   • An absolute monarchy is a monarchy where the monarch is legally the ultimate authority in all temporal matters.
   • A constitutional monarchy is a monarchy in which the monarch's power is legally constrained, ranging from where minor concessions have been made to appease certain factions to where the monarch is a figurehead with all real power in the hands of a legislative body.
2. •
   A form of government where sovereignty is embodied by a single ruler in a state and his high aristocracy representing their separate divided lands within the state and their low aristocracy representing their separate divided fiefs.
3. •
   The territory ruled over by a monarch; a kingdom.

   • What scourge for perjury / Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence? — 1593
4. •
   States based on a system of governance headed by a king or a queen.