Editing Monarchy (section)

===Person of monarch===
[[File:Ruling Monarchs in 1908 Postcard Print.png |thumb|right|Postcard of ruling monarchs, taken in 1908, between February (accession of [[Manuel II of Portugal|King Manuel II of Portugal]]) and November (death of the [[Guangxu Emperor]])|upright]]

Most monarchies only have a single person acting as monarch at any given time, although two monarchs have ruled simultaneously in some countries, a situation known as [[diarchy]]. Historically this was the case in the ancient [[Polis|Greek city-state]] of [[Sparta]]. There are examples of joint sovereignty of spouses, parent and child or other relatives (such as [[William III of England|William III]] and [[Mary II of England|Mary II]] in the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]], [[Tsar]]s [[Peter the Great|Peter I]] and [[Ivan V of Russia]], and [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I]] and [[Joanna of Castile]]).

[[Andorra]] currently is the world's only constitutional diarchy, a co-principality. Located in the [[Pyrenees]] between [[Spain]] and [[France]], it has two co-princes: the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell|bishop of Urgell]] in Spain (a [[prince-bishop]]) and the [[president of France]] (derived ''ex officio'' from the French kings, who themselves inherited the title from the counts of Foix). It is the only case in which an independent country's (co-)monarch is [[Democracy|democratically]] elected by the citizens of another country.

In a [[personal union]], separate independent states share the same person as monarch, but each realm retains separate laws and government. The fifteen separate [[Commonwealth realm]]s are sometimes described as being in a personal union with King Charles III as monarch. However, they can also be described as being in a shared monarchy.

A [[regent]] may rule when the monarch is a [[Minor (law)|minor]], absent, or debilitated.

A [[pretender]] is a claimant to an abolished throne or a throne already occupied by somebody else.

[[Abdication]] is the act of formally giving up one's monarchical power and status.

Monarchs may mark the ceremonial beginning of their reigns with a [[coronation]] or [[enthronement]].