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(#6) Swaziland
- Mbabane, Lobamba
King Mswati III of Swaziland, the final absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa, wields considerable power. He banned all opposition parties, and used tens of millions of dollars to support his large family. Just a month after he ascended to the throne, King Mswati dissolved his royal council and gave more power to his siblings.
He's also known for his playboy ways. He lives lavishly in a poverty-stricken country, and got engaged to his fifteenth wife in 2013.
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(#5) Brunei
- Bandar Seri Begawan
Although the southeast Asian nation of Brunei has only been independent since 1984, its ruler has a lot of control over its day-to-day dealings thanks to a family history that stretches back decades. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has full executive authority, and has exercised his power by reportedly naming himself infallible and implementing more conservative religious laws in the country.
Ironically, the royal family is frequently accused of corruption. The Sultan's brother was on trial for stealing nearly $15 billion from the government while serving as finance minister. The Sultan himself lives in a palace with nearly 2,000, rooms and once allegedly paid Michael Jackson $7 million to perform at his birthday. He also maintains a harem and supports homophobic policies.
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(#13) United Arab Emirates
- Abu Dhabi
The seven tiny nations making up the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are each ruled by a powerful monarch who remains at the head of very top-down governments. As a New York Times article noted:
"The emirates remain an absolute monarchy, where institutions are far less important than royalty and where the law is particularly capricious - applied differently based on social standing, religion and nationality, political experts and human rights advocates said."
UAE rulers have been caught up in their fair share of scandals as well, from shady political dealings to human rights violations.
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(#2) Vatican City
- Vatican City
Vatican City might be tiny, but it's powerful. The smallest independent state in the entire world, the 100-acre area has its own currency, its own monarch - the Pope - and its own flag. Technically, Vatican City isn't even part of Italy, and the Holy Father, the last absolute monarch in Europe, has authority over everyone and everything in his jurisdiction.
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(#1) Saudi Arabia
- Riyadh
For decades, all of the kings of Saudi Arabia have been sons of Ibn Saud, the man who single-handedly created the modern country. Since Ibn Saud himself was born in 1875, that means that his country's monarchs have been increasingly old men with increasingly short reigns in recent years.
The current ruler, King Salman, and his family have control of the country's vast oil reserves (and thus of a lot its wealth). The king has tons of political, legislative, and judicial power, much of it controversial.
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(#7) Qatar
- Doha
Oil-rich Qatar is ruled by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, whose father, Sheikh Hamad, turned the tiny country into an incredibly wealthy nation. Today it has a very low unemployment rate and excellent healthcare, and it's still got a very powerful monarch at its head.
Some have asserted that Sheikh Hamad put out an air of liberalism around his reign, when, in reality, he remained an autocrat. His regime had ties to numerous terrorist organizations, and his son has faced allegations of corruption. But the current ruler has implemented some reforms, including granting more permissions to women.
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About This Tool
We all know that in the development of human society, the monarchs with supreme power have appeared. Although most feudal countries have changed, the monarch no longer has actual power, such as the British constitutional monarchy. But so far, there are still a number of modern countries in the world with monarchs, it is not a constitutional system, but the monarch has absolute real power.
Do you know which countries in the world still retain monarchs who wield real power? They are some of the royal family that lasted for hundreds of years, you will find random 13 monarchs in modern countries here, the random tool shows some basic information about them, such as Oman, Monaco, Brunei, etc.
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