The constitutional monarchy is much more modern than the absolute monarchy since the first arises in response to the abuse of power that the second represented in many parts of the world, especially in some European countries. It is conceived by case as an intermediate step between the absolute monarchy and the parliamentary monarchy because the king is limited in his actions according to the supreme law. Let's review, the monarchy is a form of government in which sovereignty is exercised by a person who receives it with a life and hereditary character; The absolute monarchy that prevailed in many states from the Middle Ages and until the eighteenth century with the first seeds of the Illuminist movement, was characterized by the fact that the monarch's power was not limited by anything or anyone, he represented the highest and only authority, even She considered that her power emanated directly from God and could not be threatened by this situation, because of course, it would be precisely going against God. With the arrival of new philosophical and intellectual positions that began to focus on the notions of freedom and equality before the law, the absolute monarchy began to be seen as an old and skewed proposal and as a consequence it began to blur before the barrage of new ones. ideas. It began to be considered as inconceivable that an individual wielded all power and made decisions without consulting anyone, and even more, that in this action he did not have any type of control that limited him when the decisions violated individual freedoms. The constitutional monarchy is a type of government in which the monarch continues to exist but it has a power that is considered granted by the people (no longer by God) and therefore is not an absolute power. Furthermore, the idea of a constitution lays the foundations so that the exercise of that power can be much more controlled and directed than in cases where there is no law to respect.
We could say that the constitutional monarchy is a softened form of monarchy since it supposes that the power of the king is controlled basically by the supreme law or constitution of the region that is governed, that is, the power of the monarch is subject to the Magna Carta.Form of government in which the monarch does not have absolute authority but is subject to what is stated in the constitution of his nation
The loss of power of the absolute monarchy in the face of the new ideas of Enlightenment
The constitutional monarchy existed before the French Revolution in the United Kingdom.
There, the king's power was limited by the presence of other institutions, especially Parliament (which today would represent, given the division of powers of democracy, the legislative power).
This Parliament had sufficient power in the United Kingdom, being composed of nobles and bourgeoisie of high economic power, as to question and even deny the decisions that the kings wanted to take if they did not agree with their own ideas.
On the other hand, the constitutional monarchy was the first form of government that emerged in France after the French Revolution when the revolutionaries agreed to agree with the king in power on a shared power based on respect for a national constitution issued by the States General.
When this form of government did not work in France, the events ended up making the monarchy disappear in this country.
The constitutional monarchy today
Today we find several regions of the world in which the constitutional monarchy coexists with democratic forms of government.
This is so since it is considered that the monarchy is part of the tradition of that country, for example as it happens in the United Kingdom, in Spain, in Denmark, in the Netherlands, in Sweden, in Norway, in some regions of Southeast Asia and in all regions that are part of the Commonwealth (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.).
In these countries, the monarchy shares sovereignty with the people for which the latter is allowed to elect a political representative through the democratic exercise of suffrage.
Monaco or the Principality of Monaco is a sovereign city-state, located in Western Europe, between the Mediterranean Sea and the French Alps, which according to its constitution is governed by the hereditary constitutional monarchy.
The current monarch is Prince Albert II, belonging to the Grimaldi dynasty, who came to govern the state since the end of the 13th century.
While Serge Telle is the Minister of State who exercises executive functions, presides over the council of government, has under his orbit the police, among other occupations, in accordance with the provisions of the country's constitution; He is appointed by the Prince and depends on him.
