Writing Resources
Main Features of a Constitutional Monarch In a country under the political system of a constitutional monarchy the monarchy is sovereign but must comply with a written or unwritten constitution It is different from an absolute monarchy in which sovereign lies completely with the monarchy as under a constitutional monarchy the power of the monarchy is limited by a constitution The monarch person ruling acts as the Head of State of the country and the government in place serves under the monarch It is often said that the monarchy reigns but does not rule This is because in most constitutional monarchies the monarch has power but is not usually personally involved in the making of laws or appointing of political leaders Although this may be the case in some countries the level of power the monarch holds varies vastly between countries depending on their constitution History of Monaco Monaco was originally considered a colony of Genoa until in 1297 it was first taken over by a member the House of Grimaldi known as Francesco Grimaldi The succession of the Prince is hereditary and so Monaco has been held by members of the Grimaldi family ever since The family officially bought the country in 1419 During the French Revolution France briefly took control of Monaco however the Grimaldi s soon returned to power
