Friends,
Being one with American heritage, and being one who openly talks about his position in a Kingdom I am often confronted with subtle accusation that a monarchy is a benevolent dictatorship.
I'm curious what your responses might be to such a position?
Regards,
HM Alexander of Hanover
Well, Majesty, in your case the charge is utterly ridiculous as you reign as a constitutional monarch with an elected government and a representative legislature. You're no more a dictator than the Queen of England.
In my case it's absurd because I'm not at all benevolent.
<_<
For some reason, the American idea seems to be that all monarchs are dictators.
I often hear statements that basically equate the two.
It's utterly absurd, and in my opinion, one more indication of the failures of American education. Americans are taught that the Revolutionary War was against the tyrannical, dictatorial King George. From then on, they believe that kings are dictators.
Today's constitutional monarchies are anything but. They are democracies led by an hereditary Head of State. Queen Elizabeth of Britain or King Harald of Norway (among several others) are hardly dictators. The power of the government lies with the Prime Minister and the Parliament.
Monarchs CAN be dictators, in a nation where there aren't constitutional limits on the power of the monarch. Which is why I support constitutional or parliamentary monarchy, not authoritarian monarchy.