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Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch, reigned from 6 February 1952 until her death on 8 September 2022.. The following is a list, ordered by length of reign, of the monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927–present), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922), the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1801), the Kingdom of England (871 ...
The oldest monarch at the time of his first marriage was William IV, who was 52 years, 324 days old when he married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen in 1818. Mary I was the oldest queen at the time of her first marriage, aged 38 years, 157 days when she married Philip of Spain in 1554.
The sovereign also has the power to dismiss the prime minister, but the last time this power was exercised was in 1834, when William IV dismissed Lord Melbourne; [21] since then, prime ministers have only left office upon their resignation, which they are expected to offer to the monarch upon losing their majority in the House of Commons.
The following are the 25 longest-reigning monarchs of states who were internationally recognised as sovereign for most or all of their reign. Byzantine emperors Constantine VIII and Basil II, reigning for 66 years in total (962–1028) and for 65 years in total (960–1025) respectively, are not included, because for part of those periods they reigned only nominally as junior co-emperors ...
At first, every member of the Commonwealth retained the same monarch as the United Kingdom, but when the Dominion of India became a republic in 1950, it would no longer share in a common monarchy. Instead, the British monarch was acknowledged as "Head of the Commonwealth" in all Commonwealth member states, whether they were realms or republics ...
The last Anglo-Saxon monarch, Harold II, was crowned at Westminster Abbey in 1066; the location was preserved for all future coronations. [62] When London was under the control of rebels, [ 63 ] Henry III was crowned at Gloucester in 1216; he later chose to have a second coronation at Westminster in 1220. [ 64 ]
King William IV was the last monarch to dismiss a prime minister, when in 1834 he removed Lord Melbourne as a result of Melbourne's choice of Lord John Russell as Leader of the House of Commons. [ 15 ] [ 16 ] Queen Victoria was the last monarch to exercise real personal power, but this diminished over the course of her reign.
However, the concept of absolutism was so ingrained in Russia that the Russian Constitution of 1906 still described the monarch as an autocrat. Russia became the last European country (excluding Vatican City) to abolish absolutism, and it was the only one to do so as late as the 20th century (the Ottoman Empire drafted its first constitution in ...