List of current monarchies

European mixed monarchies. Liechtenstein and Monaco are constitutional monarchies in which the Prince retains many powers of an absolute monarch. For example, the 2003 Constitution referendum gives the Prince of Liechtenstein the power to veto any law that the Landtag (parliament) proposes and vice versa. The Prince can hire or dismiss any elective member or government employee from their post. However, unlike an absolute monarch, the people can call for a referendum to end the Prince's reign. The Prince of Monaco has similar powers: he cannot hire or dismiss any elective member or government employee from their post, but he can select the minister of state, government council and judges.

Muslim monarchies. Absolute monarchs remain in Brunei, Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates and are classified as mixed, meaning there are representative bodies of some kind, but the monarch retains most of his powers. Malaysia and Morocco are constitutional monarchies, but their monarchs still retain more substantial powers than in European equivalents.

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  East and Southeast Asian constitutional monarchies. Bhutan, Cambodia, Japan, and Thailand have constitutional monarchies where the monarch has a limited or ceremonial role. Thailand changed from traditional absolute monarchy into a constitutional one in 1932, while Bhutan changed in 2008. Cambodia had its own monarchy after independence from the French Colonial Empire, which was deposed after the Khmer Rouge came into power. The monarchy was subsequently restored in the peace agreement of 1993.
  
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  Other sovereign monarchies. Five monarchies do not fit into one of the above groups by virtue of geography or class of monarchy: Tonga in Polynesia; Eswatini and Lesotho in Southern Africa; and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), and Vatican City in Europe. Of these, Lesotho and Tonga are constitutional monarchies, while Eswatini and Vatican City are absolute monarchies.
  
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    Eswatini is increasingly being considered a diarchy. The King, or Ngwenyama, rules alongside his mother, the Ndlovukati, as dual heads of state originally designed to be checks on political power. The Ngwenyama, however, is considered the administrative head of state, while the Ndlovukati is considered the spiritual and national head of state, a position which has become largely symbolic in recent years.
    
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    SMOM is governed by an elected Prince and Grand Master.
    
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    The Pope is the absolute monarch of Vatican City by virtue of his position as head of the Roman Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome; he is an elected rather than hereditary ruler. The Pope need not be a citizen of the territory prior to his election by the cardinals.
    
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