# Could an individual state establish itself as a monarchy and still be in the union?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-individual-state-establish-itself-as-a-monarchy-and-still-be-in-the-union/266123>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 26, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-individual-state-establish-itself-as-a-monarchy-and-still-be-in-the-union/266123 "2004-09-26T03:32:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-individual-state-establish-itself-as-a-monarchy-and-still-be-in-the-union/266123/21 "2004-09-30T05:32:40Z")

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True, but having a head of state who gets the job simply by virtue of birth seems the antithesis of a “republic”.

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**Author:** ![MartinL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@MartinL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MartinL)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-individual-state-establish-itself-as-a-monarchy-and-still-be-in-the-union/266123/22 "2004-09-30T15:21:36Z")

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> [@Northern Piper](#):
>
> True, but having a head of state who gets the job simply by virtue of birth seems the antithesis of a “republic”.

Although it is true for many of the monarchies that are currently around that the monarch gets the job by virtue of birth, this is not a requirement for a monarchy. In history there are examples where a monarch is elected by the nobility (e.g. King of Germany) and could even be recalled under some circumstances.  
Of course, as long as nobility as a whole is out of the question, you cannot have a “king”, but the differences between a king as described above and a Governor for lifetime are pretty small.  
Far fetched as it may be, a state may be ok with calling itself a “Monarchy” as long as it’s only a title and the people have enough control over the government (i.e. “republican” form of government).

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