Dynasty

This article is about the general concept of a line of rulers. For other uses, see Dynasty (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Royal family, Royal household, or Political family.

"Royal house" redirects here. For royal residences, see Palace.

Charles I of England and his son, the future James II of England, from the House of Stuart.

The Qing dynasty was the final imperial dynasty of China. It was established in 1636 and collapsed in 1912.

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, ^[1] usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others.

Historians periodize the histories of many states and civilizations, such as Ancient Iran (3200 – 539 BC), Ancient Egypt (3100 – 30 BC) and Ancient and Imperial China (2070 BC – AD 1912), using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned.

Before the 18th century, most dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as those that follow the Frankish Salic law. In polities where it was permitted, succession through a daughter usually established a new dynasty in her husband's family name. This has changed in all of Europe's remaining monarchies, where succession law and conventions have maintained dynastic names de jure through a female.

Dynastic politics has declined over time, owing to a decline in monarchy as a form of government, a rise in democracy, and a reduction within democracies of elected members from dynastic families. ^[2]

Etymology

The word dynasty derives from Latin dynastia , which comes from Ancient Greek δυναστεία (dynastéia), meaning 'power', 'dominion', and 'rule'. ^[3] It was the abstract noun of δυνάστης (dynástēs), ^[4] the agent noun of δύναμις (dynamis) 'power' or 'ability', ^[5] from δύναμαι (dýnamai) 'to be able'. ^[6]

Terminology

The word "dynasty" is sometimes used informally for people who are not rulers but are, for example, members of a family with influence and power in other areas, such as a series of successive owners of a major company. It is also extended to unrelated people, such as major poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. ^[1]

The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a "noble house", ^[7] which may be styled as "imperial", "royal", "princely", "ducal", "comital" or "baronial", depending upon the chief or present title borne by its members.

Dynast

A ruler from a dynasty is sometimes referred to as a "dynast", but this term is also used to describe any member of a reigning family who retains a right to succeed to a throne. For example, King Edward VIII ceased to be a dynast of the House of Windsor following his abdication.

In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a "dynast" is a family member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchy's rules still in force. For example, after the 1914 assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife, their son Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg, was bypassed for the Austro-Hungarian throne because he was not a Habsburg dynast. Even after the abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Duke Maximilian and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position.

The term "dynast" is sometimes used only to refer to agnatic descendants of a realm's monarchs, and sometimes to include those who hold succession rights through cognatic royal descent. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people. For example, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth II, is in the line of succession to the British crown, making him a British dynast. On the other hand, since he is not a patrilineal member of the British royal family, he is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor.

Comparatively, the German aristocrat Prince Ernst August of Hanover, a male-line descendant of King George III, possesses no legal British name, titles or styles (although he is entitled to reclaim the former royal dukedom of Cumberland). He was born in the line of succession to the British throne and was bound by Britain's Royal Marriages Act 1772 until it was repealed when the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 took effect on 26 March 2015. ^[8] Thus, he requested and obtained formal permission from Queen Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco in 1999. Yet, a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time, stipulating that dynasts who marry Roman Catholics are considered "dead" for the purpose of succession to the British throne. ^[9] That exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts before triggering it by marriage to a Roman Catholic. ^[8]

Dynastic marriage

A "dynastic marriage" is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, so that the descendants are eligible to inherit the throne or other royal privileges. For example, the marriage of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, making their eldest child, Princess Catharina-Amalia, the heir apparent to the Crown of the Netherlands. The marriage of his younger brother, Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, in 2003 lacked government support and parliamentary approval. Thus, Prince Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession to the Dutch throne, and consequently lost his title as a "Prince of the Netherlands", and left his children without dynastic rights.

History

Historians periodize the histories of many states and civilizations, such as Ancient Iran (3200 – 539 BC), Ancient Egypt (3100 – 30 BC) and Ancient and Imperial China (2070 BC – AD 1912), using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned, and also to describe events, trends and artifacts of that period (e.g., "a Ming dynasty vase"). Until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty: that is, to expand the wealth and power of his family members. ^[10]

Before the 18th century, most dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as those that follow the Frankish Salic law. In polities where it was permitted, succession through a daughter usually established a new dynasty in her husband's family name. This has changed in all of Europe's remaining monarchies, where succession law and conventions have maintained dynastic names de jure through a female. For instance, the House of Windsor will be maintained through the children of Queen Elizabeth II, as it did with the monarchy of the Netherlands, whose dynasty remained the House of Orange-Nassau through three successive queens regnant. The earliest such example among major European monarchies was in the Russian Empire in the 18th century, where the name of the House of Romanov was maintained through Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna. This also happened in the case of Queen Maria II of Portugal, who married Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, but whose descendants remained members of the House of Braganza, per Portuguese law; in fact, since the 1800s, the only female monarch in Europe who had children belonging to a different house was Queen Victoria and that was due to disagreements over how to choose a non German house. In Limpopo Province of South Africa, Balobedu determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mother's dynasty when coming into her inheritance. Less frequently, a monarchy has alternated or been rotated, in a multi-dynastic (or polydynastic) system—that is, the most senior living members of parallel dynasties, at any point in time, constitute the line of succession.

Longevity

Dynasties lasting at least 250 years include the following. Legendary lineages that cannot be historically confirmed are not included.

Era	Dynasty	Length of rule
660 BCE – present	Yamato	2681 years
3rd Century BCE - 1618 CE [11] [12]	Pandya	2018 years est.
3rd Century BCE - 1279 CE	Chola	1579 years est.
57 BCE – 935 CE	Silla	c. 1000 years
950s CE – present (title Tuʻi Tonga to 1865 CE)	Tonga	c.1068 years (c. 910 years)
c. 780– 1812 CE	Bagrationi	c. 1032 years
c. 1700– 722 BCE	Adaside	c. 978 years
665 – 1598 CE	Baduspanids	933 years
987 – 1792, 1814 – 1848 CE	Capetian	839 years
1046–256 BCE	Zhou (Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou)	790 years
862 –1598 CE	Rurikid	736 years
37 BCE – 668 CE	Goguryeo	705 years
1270 – 1974 CE	Solomon	704 years
651 – 1349 CE	Bavand dynasty	698 years
1299 – 1922 CE	Ottoman	c. 623 years
1228 – 1826 CE	Ahom	598 years
1326 – 1884 CE	Sisodia	558 years
1392 – 1910 CE	Joseon and Korean Empire	518 years
750 – 1258 CE	Abbasid	508 years
1370 – 1857 CE	Timurid	487 years
918 – 1392 CE	Goryeo	474 years
247 BCE – 224 CE	Arsacid	471 years
1154 – 1624 CE	Nabhani	470 years
202 BCE – 9 CE, 25 – 220 CE	Han (Western Han and Eastern Han) and Shu Han	448 years
858 - 1301 CE	Árpád	443 years
224 – 651 CE	Sassanian	427 years
1010 – 586 BCE	Davidic	424 years
220 – 638 CE	Jafnid	418 years
730 – 330 BCE	Achaemenid	400 years
661 – 750, 756 – 1031 CE	Umayyad	364 years
1271 – 1635 CE	Yuan and Northern Yuan	364 years
1428 – 1527, 1533 – 1789 CE	Later Lê (Primitive Lê and Revival Lê)	355 years
1440 – 1740, 1765 – 1806 CE	Habsburg	341 years
1154 – 1485 CE	Plantagenet	330 years
1699 – present	Bendahara	323 years
960 –1279 CE	Song (Northern Song and Southern Song)	319 years
1613 – 1917 CE	Romanov	304 years
300 – 602 CE	Lakhmid	302 years
916 – 1218 CE	Liao and Western Liao	302 years
1616 – 1912 CE	Later Jin and Qing	296 years
1368 – 1662 CE	Ming and Southern Ming	294 years
305 – 30 BCE	Ptolemaic	275 years
618 – 690, 705 – 907 CE	Tang	274 years
909 – 1171 CE	Fatimid	262 years
1230 – 1492 CE	Nasrid	262 years
1550 – 1292 BCE	Thutmosid	258 years

Extant sovereign dynasties

For non-sovereign dynasties currently ruling subnational monarchies, see Non-sovereign monarchy and List of current constituent monarchs.

There are 43 sovereign states with a monarch as head of state, of which 41 are ruled by dynasties. ^{[lower-alpha 1]} There are currently 26 sovereign dynasties.

Dynasty	Realm	Reigning monarch	Dynastic founder [lower-alpha 2]	Dynastic place of origin [lower-alpha 3]
House of Windsor [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5]	Antigua and Barbuda	King Charles III	King-Emperor George V [lower-alpha 6]	Thuringia and Bavaria (in modern Germany)
	Commonwealth of Australia [lower-alpha 7]
	Commonwealth of The Bahamas
	Belize
	Canada
	Grenada
	Jamaica
	New Zealand [lower-alpha 8]
	Independent State of Papua New Guinea
	Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis
	Saint Lucia
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
	Solomon Islands
	Tuvalu
	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [lower-alpha 9]
House of Khalifa	Kingdom of Bahrain	King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa	Sheikh Khalifa bin Mohammed	Najd (in modern Saudi Arabia)
House of Belgium [lower-alpha 10]	Kingdom of Belgium	King Philippe	King Albert I [lower-alpha 11]	Thuringia and Bavaria (in modern Germany)
Wangchuck dynasty	Kingdom of Bhutan	Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck	Druk Gyalpo Ugyen Wangchuck	Bhutan
House of Bolkiah	Brunei Darussalam	Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah	Sultan Muhammad Shah	Tarim in Hadhramaut [lower-alpha 12] (in modern Yemen)
House of Norodom [lower-alpha 13]	Kingdom of Cambodia	King Norodom Sihamoni	King Norodom Prohmbarirak	Cambodia
House of Glücksburg [lower-alpha 14]	Kingdom of Denmark [lower-alpha 15]	Queen Margrethe II	Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg	Glücksburg (in modern Germany)
	Kingdom of Norway	King Harald V
House of Dlamini	Kingdom of Eswatini	King Mswati III	Chief Dlamini I	East Africa
Imperial House of Japan [lower-alpha 16]	Japan	Emperor Naruhito	Emperor Jimmu [lower-alpha 17]	Nara (in modern Japan)
House of Hashim [lower-alpha 18]	Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan	King Abdullah II	King Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi	Hejaz (in modern Saudi Arabia)
House of Sabah	State of Kuwait	Emir Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah	Sheikh Sabah I bin Jaber	Najd (in modern Saudi Arabia)
House of Moshesh	Kingdom of Lesotho	King Letsie III	Paramount Chief Moshoeshoe I	Lesotho
House of Liechtenstein	Principality of Liechtenstein	Prince Hans-Adam II	Prince Karl I	Lower Austria (in modern Austria)
House of Luxembourg-Nassau [lower-alpha 19]	Grand Duchy of Luxembourg	Grand Duke Henri	Grand Duke Adolphe	Nassau (in modern Germany)
Bendahara dynasty [lower-alpha 20]	Malaysia [lower-alpha 21]	Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdullah	Bendahara Tun Habib Abdul Majid	Johor (in modern Malaysia)
House of Grimaldi	Principality of Monaco	Prince Albert II	François Grimaldi	Genoa (in modern Italy)
'Alawi dynasty	Kingdom of Morocco	King Mohammed VI	Sultan Abul Amlak Sidi Muhammad as-Sharif ibn 'Ali	Tafilalt (in modern Morocco)
House of Orange-Nassau [lower-alpha 22]	Kingdom of the Netherlands [lower-alpha 23]	King Willem-Alexander	Prince William I	Nassau (in modern Germany)
House of Busaid	Sultanate of Oman	Sultan Haitham bin Tariq	Sultan Ahmad bin Said al-Busaidi	Oman
House of Thani	State of Qatar	Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani	Sheikh Thani bin Mohammed	Najd (in modern Saudi Arabia)
House of Saud	Kingdom of Saudi Arabia	King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud	Emir Saud I	Diriyah (in modern Saudi Arabia)
House of Bourbon-Anjou [lower-alpha 24]	Kingdom of Spain	King Felipe VI	King Philip V	Bourbon-l'Archambault (in modern France)
House of Bernadotte	Kingdom of Sweden	King Carl XVI Gustaf	King Charles XIV John	Pau (in modern France)
Chakri dynasty	Kingdom of Thailand	King Vajiralongkorn	King Rama I	Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (in modern Thailand)
House of Tupou	Kingdom of Tonga	King Tupou VI	King George Tupou I	Tonga
House of Nahyan [lower-alpha 25]	United Arab Emirates [lower-alpha 26]	President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa Al Nahyan	Liwa Oasis (in modern United Arab Emirates)

Political families

Main articles: Political family and List of political families

Though in elected governments, rule does not pass automatically by inheritance, political power often accrues to generations of related individuals in the elected positions of republics, and constitutional monarchies. Eminence, influence, tradition, genetics, and nepotism may contribute to the phenomenon.

Family dictatorships are a different concept in which political power passes within a family because of the overwhelming authority of the leader, rather than informal power accrued to the family.

Influential wealthy families

Main article: List of wealthiest families

Gallery

• 
  Karikala, the Tamil King of Early Cholas, who built the ancient Kallanai Dam.
• 
  Zhao Kuangyin (Emperor Taizu of Song) was the founder of the Song dynasty in China.
• 
  Zhu Yuanzhang (Hongwu Emperor) was the founder of the Ming dynasty in China.
• 
  Sukaphaa was the first King of the Ahom dynasty in Assam, India.
• 
  Babur, from the Timurid dynasty, was the first ruler of the Mughal Empire in India.
• 
  Suleiman the Magnificent, from the House of Osman, was the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, ruling from 1520 until 1566.
• 
  Muhammad Ali Pasha, founder of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, ruled Egypt and Sudan from 1805 to 1848.
• 
  Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, from the Pahlavi dynasty, was the last Shah of Iran, before the Iranian Revolution.
• 
  Peter I, from the House of Romanov, was the first Russian monarch to rule as Emperor.
• 
  Constantine XI Palaiologos, from the Palaiologos dynasty, was the final monarch of the Byzantine Empire.
• 
  Pedro II, from the House of Braganza, ruled Brazil from 1831 to 1889.
• 
  Kalākaua, founder of the House of Kalākaua, was the penultimate sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
• 
  Asahito (Emperor Higashiyama), from the House of Yamato, was the 113th Japanese Emperor.
• 
  Emperor Meiji, from the House of Yamato, was the 122nd Japanese Emperor.
• 
  Christian I, from the House of Oldenburg, served as King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
• 
  Aisin Gioro Xuanye (Kangxi Emperor), of the Qing dynasty, was the longest reigning Emperor of China.
• 
  Mohammad Shah Qajar, from the Qajar dynasty, was King of Persia.
• 
  Yi Seong-gye (Taejo of Joseon) ruled Korea from 1392 to 1398, as the first King of the Joseon dynasty.
• 
  Nikola I, from the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty, ruled Montenegro from 1860 to 1918.
• 
  Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lân (Emperor Thành Thái), from the Nguyễn dynasty, was Emperor of Vietnam from 1889 to 1907.
• 
  Ahmad al-Mansur, from the Saadi dynasty, was the Sultan of Morocco from 1578 to 1603.
• 
  Louis XIV, from the House of Bourbon, reigned as King of France from 1643 to 1715.
• 
  Napoleon I, from the House of Bonaparte, ruled over France and Italy.
• 
  Thibaw Min was the last monarch of the Konbaung dynasty in Myanmar.
• 
  Henry VIII, from the House of Tudor, reigned as King of England and Ireland from 1509 to 1547.
• 
  Edward VI, from the House of Tudor, reigned as King of England and Ireland from 1547 to 1553.
• 
  Elizabeth I, from the House of Tudor, reigned as Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603.
• 
  Ranavalona I, from the Hova dynasty, was Queen Regnant of Madagascar from 1828 to 1861.
• 
  Shō Tai, from the Second Shō dynasty, was the final sovereign ruler of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
• 
  Zaman Shah Durrani, from the Durrani dynasty, ruled Afghanistan from 1793 to 1800.
• 
  Wanyan Aguda (Emperor Taizu of Jin) was the progenitor of the Jin dynasty in China.
• 
  Trần Thuyên (Emperor Trần Anh Tông), from the Trần dynasty, ruled Vietnam from 1293 to 1314.
• 
  Otto I, from the House of Wittelsbach, was King of Greece from 1832 to 1862.
• 
  Tamar from the Bagrationi dynasty, was Queen Regnant of Georgia.
• 
  Khayishan (Külüg Khan and Emperor Wuzong of Yuan) was the seventh Khagan of the Mongol Empire and the third Emperor of the Yuan dynasty in China.
• 
  Milan I from the Obrenović dynasty, ruled Serbia from 1868 to 1889.
• 
  Agustín I was the first and only Mexican Emperor from the House of Iturbide.
• 
  Sigismund III from the House of Vasa, was monarch of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and Finland.
• 
  Leopold I, from the House of Habsburg, was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia.
• 
  Wang Jeon (King Gongmin) ruled Korea from 1351 to 1374 as King of Goryeo.
• 
  Frederick the Great, from the House of Hohenzollern, was the King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786.
• 
  Wilhelm I, from the House of Hohenzollern, was the first German Emperor.
• 
  Victor Emmanuel II, from the House of Savoy, was the first King of Italy.
• 
  Gediminas, King of Lithuania, started the Gediminids dynasty in 1315.
• 
  Sir James Brooke, Rajah of the Raj of Sarawak, founder of the Brooke Dynasty 1841

See also

Main article: Lists of dynasties

• Cadet branch
• Commonwealth realm
• Conquest dynasty
• Dynastic cycle
• Dynastic order
• Dynastic union
• Elective monarchy
• Family seat
• Heads of former ruling families
• Hereditary monarchy
• Iranian Intermezzo
• List of current constituent monarchs
• List of current monarchies
• List of current monarchs of sovereign states
• List of dynasties
• List of empires
• List of family trees
• List of kingdoms and royal dynasties
• List of largest empires
• List of monarchies
• List of noble houses
• Non-sovereign monarchy
• Realm
• Royal family
• Royal household
• Royal intermarriage
• Self-proclaimed monarchy

Notes

1. Existing sovereign entities ruled by non-dynastic monarchs include:
   •   Principality of Andorra
   • Holy See (ruling the    Vatican City State)
   •   Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta
2. The founder of a dynasty need not necessarily equate to the first monarch of a particular realm. For example, while William I was the dynastic founder of the House of Orange-Nassau which currently rules over the Kingdom of the Netherlands, he was never a monarch of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
3. Not to be confused with dynastic seat.
4. The House of Windsor is descended from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which is a branch of the House of Wettin. The dynastic name was changed from "Saxe-Coburg and Gotha" to "Windsor" in AD 1917.
5. A sovereign state with Charles III as its monarch and head of state is known as a Commonwealth realm.
6. George V was formerly a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha before AD 1917.
7. Including:
   • Australian Antarctic Territory
   • Coral Sea Islands Territory
   • Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands
   •   Territory of Christmas Island
   •   Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands
   • Territory of Heard and McDonald Islands
   •   Territory of Norfolk Island
8. The Realm of New Zealand consists of:
   •   Cook Islands
   •   New Zealand
   •   Niue
   • Ross Dependency
   •   Tokelau
9. Including:
   •   Anguilla
   •   Bailiwick of Guernsey (Crown dependency)
   •   Bailiwick of Jersey (Crown dependency)
   •   Bermuda
   •   British Antarctic Territory
   •   British Indian Ocean Territory
   •   Cayman Islands
   •   Falkland Islands
   •   Gibraltar
   •   Isle of Man (Crown dependency)
   •   Montserrat
   •   Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands
   • Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
   •   South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
   • Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia
   •   Turks and Caicos Islands
   •   Virgin Islands
   The crown dependencies of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Bailiwick of Jersey, and the Isle of Man are neither part of the United Kingdom nor British overseas territories.
10. The House of Belgium is descended from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which is a branch of the House of Wettin. The dynastic name was changed from "Saxe-Coburg and Gotha" to "Belgium" in AD 1920.
11. Albert I was formerly a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha before AD 1920.
12. Claimed by the royal house, but the historicity is questionable.
13. The House of Norodom is a branch of the Varman dynasty.
14. The House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg is a branch of the House of Oldenburg.
15. Including:
    •   Faroe Islands
    •   Greenland
16. The Imperial House of Japan, or the Yamato dynasty, is the world's oldest continuous dynasty. The dynasty has produced an unbroken succession of Japanese monarchs since the legendary founding year of 660 BC.
17. Most historians regard Emperor Jimmu to have been a mythical ruler. Emperor Ōjin, traditionally considered the 15th emperor, is the first who is generally thought to have existed, while Emperor Kinmei, the 29th emperor according to traditional historiography, is the first monarch for whom verifiable regnal dates can be assigned.
18. The House of Hashim is descended from Banu Qatada, which was a branch of the House of Ali.
19. The House of Luxembourg-Nassau is descended from the House of Nassau-Weilburg, which is a branch of the House of Nassau and the House of Bourbon-Parma.
20. The Bendahara dynasty is the ruling dynasty of Pahang Darul Makmur and Terengganu. The Sultan of Pahang is the reigning Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
21. The throne of Malaysia rotates among the nine constituent monarchies of Malaysia, each ruled by a dynasty. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is elected by the Conference of Rulers.
22. The House of Orange-Nassau is a branch of the House of Nassau. Additionally, Willem-Alexander is also linked to the House of Lippe through Beatrix of the Netherlands.
23. The Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of:
    •   Aruba
    •   Curaçao
    •   Netherlands
    •   Sint Maarten
24. The House of Bourbon-Anjou is a branch of the House of Bourbon.
25. The House of Nahyan is the ruling dynasty of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Emir of Abu Dhabi is the incumbent President of the United Arab Emirates.
26. The President of the United Arab Emirates is elected by the Federal Supreme Council. The office has been held by the Emir of Abu Dhabi since the formation of the United Arab Emirates in AD 1971.

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "dynasty, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897.
2. Van Coppennolle, Brenda; Smith, Daniel (2023). "Dynasties in Historical Political Economy" (PDF). The Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy.
3. Liddell, Henry George & al. A Greek–English Lexicon: "δυναστεία". Hosted by Tufts University's Perseus Project.
4. Liddell & al. A Greek–English Lexicon: "δυνάστης".
5. Liddell & al. A Greek–English Lexicon: "δύναμις".
6. Liddell & al. "δύναμαι".
7. Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "house, n.¹ and int, 10. b." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2011.
8. Statement by Nick Clegg MP, UK parliament website, 26 March 2015 (retrieved on same date).
9. "Monaco royal taken seriously ill". BBC News . London. 8 April 2005. Archived from the original on 12 March 2010. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
10. Thomson, David (1961). "The Institutions of Monarchy". Europe Since Napoleon . New York: Knopf. pp.  79–80. The basic idea of monarchy was the idea that hereditary right gave the best title to political power...The dangers of disputed succession were best avoided by hereditary succession: ruling families had a natural interest in passing on to their descendants enhanced power and prestige...Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia, Maria Theresa of Austria, were alike infatuated with the idea of strengthening their power, centralizing government in their own hands as against local and feudal privileges, and so acquiring more absolute authority in the state. Moreover, the very dynastic rivalries and conflicts between these eighteenth-century monarchs drove them to look for ever more efficient methods of government
11. Harman, William. P (1992). The sacred marriage of a Hindu goddess. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 30–6. ISBN   978-81-208-0810-2.
12. Sathayanatha Iyer (1924). History of the Nayaks of Madura. p. 58.