Crowned republic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A crowned republic is an informal term for a nation that was/is nominally a republic, but whose head of state was/is de facto hereditary, or otherwise assumed/assumes the trappings of a monarchy.
Historical examples include:
- Republic of Venice
- Commonwealth of England (1649-1660, under Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell and his son and successor Richard Cromwell)
- Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1791)
- Dutch Republic (whose head of state, the Stadtholder, had been hereditary within the House of Orange-Nassau since 1747)
Possible modern example includes North Korea: on the death of Kim Il-sung in 1994, his son Kim Jong-il inherited the role of head of state.
It should be noted that having the son/daughter of a head of state to become a head of state him/herself does not necessarily make that country a monarchy or a crowned republic. For example, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, is the son of former President George H. W. Bush; however, since George W. Bush was not appointed president by his father, but rather became president via election, the United States of America cannot be seriously regarded as a crowned republic. Another example would be in the Philippines wherein the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is the daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal; however, since Arroyo came into power through a popular revolution (EDSA II) rather than through placement or nomination by her father, the Philippines cannot be seriously regarded as a crowned republic.
