Republicanism has long been one of the major challenges to monarchy, and the majority of countries in the world are now republics.  Yet monarchies endure.  King Charles III reigns over the United Kingdom and also over fourteen realms in the Commonwealth of Nations, from Canada to New Zealand, and from the Bahamas to the Solomon Islands. 

Many former realms of the British monarch, however, have become republics, most recently Barbados, and Jamaica plans to follow suit.  With Dr Harshan Kumarasingham of the University of Edinburgh, we conclude this series of podcasts with some reflections on the transition of British colonies to Commonwealth republics.  And we look at some of the issues involved in making that transition in a country such as Australia.

Image: Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth Nations at Windsor Castle (1960) Creative Commons

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The wave of anticolonialism and nationalism that swept the world after the Second World War brought about the independence of many former colonies.  The old imperial monarchs lost their crowns, but what form of government would prevail in the newly emancipated states?  Few of them, it turned out, restored pre-colonial monarchies, but that did not mean that old royal, princely and aristocratic families immediately lost the privileges and influence that some had even retained under colonial rule. 

With Dr Bayu Dardias Kurniardi of Gadjah Mada University, we look at the case of the 278 sultans and rajas of the colonial Dutch East Indies and their fate in the independent Republic of Indonesia proclaimed in 1945.  Somewhat surprisingly, in the present-day Republic of Indonesia, the Sultan of Yogyakarta continues to reign – and also to hold the position of hereditary governor of his province.

Image - Picture of Yogyakarta (Creative Commons)

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There were numerous emperors, kings and other hereditary rulers of nations in pre-colonial Africa, though European conquerors with racist perspectives common in the age of empire often demeaned them as only ‘chiefs’ of ‘tribes’. 

Many of the African rulers lost their political power under European overlordship, though their dynasties retained much cultural influence.  Some managed to stave off foreign occupation, at least for a while, and a few even survived under colonial rule – and afterwards.  In this podcast, we look at one of the most famous African sovereigns, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia – still revered by Rastafarians. 

Then, with Dr Hilary Sapire of Birkbeck, University of London, we turn to the Zulu dynasty of South Africa: kings who defeated the British, then were vanquished by them, but whose dynasty survived colonialism, apartheid and the transition to democracy.

Image - Emperor Haile SelassieI on Coronation Day (1930) - Creative Commons

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Since many royal families were related to each other by marriage, wars turned relatives into enemies.  Such was the case in the First World War, when the British King George V went to war with his German cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II. 

Most of the other European sovereigns as well were bound up in the belligerency of the Great War, facing the difficult task of trying to maintain some contact with their beloved dispersed families while supporting the wartime efforts of the nations over which they reigned. 

And among the casualties of the war were the dynasties of some of Europe’s most important dynasties.  We explore monarchy and the First World War with our guest, Moritz Sorg of the University of Freiburg.

Image - Wilhelm II and Edward VII (Creative Commons)

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Colonial expansion gave European (and some other) monarchs vast new domains – Queen Victoria, Empress of India, ruled over a fifth of humankind.  But colonial monarchs often displaced indigenous ones.  The leaders to whom colonial invaders were led were frequently emperors, kings, sultans and other hereditary rulers. 

Some were killed in warfare while resisting the foreigners, others remained on their thrones as puppet ‘protected’ rulers, and still others were dethroned and forced into exile.  In this episode of our series, joined by Dr Lorenz Gonschor of the University of the South Pacific, we focus on the islands of Oceania. 

Hereditary monarchs reigned in many islands, especially in Polynesia, before the European incursions, but only one reigning indigenous monarchy survives in the South Pacific today.

Image - Portrait of Queen Pomare IV of Tahiti, Charles Giraud, 1851. (Creative Commons)

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Many monarchs and other royals have met violent deaths – on the battlefield, by execution after revolution or their coup, and by assassinations at the hands of terrorists or madmen.  Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were sent to the guillotine in 1793, and the Romanov royal family was massacred by the Bolsheviks in 1918. 

Others have managed to escape with attempts on their lives. In this podcast, we look at some of them, but in particular at two who were not so fortunate, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, shot by firing squad in 1867, and the Austro-Hungarian Empress Elizabeth, better known as Sissi, who was killed by an anarchist in 1898.  We also consider the political motivations that led to their untimely demise, and the repercussions they produced.

Image - Édouard Manet, The Execution of Maximilian (1868) Creative Commons

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Monarchy is one of the oldest and most widespread forms of government in the history of the world.  Even today, more than forty countries have a monarch as the head of state.  Love them or loathe them, monarchs are some of the most important figures in history. However, monarchs and their dynasties have faced many challenges through the centuries.  This is the stuff of history and of drama, as anyone who has ever read or watched a play by Willliam Shakespeare will know.  

Scandals of various sorts have punctuated the history of royal dynasties, caused by family feuds, dubious financial arrangements, and frequently by sexual affairs and marriages considered incompatible with royal tradition and dignity. 

Such scandals attract much public attention, but also raise questions about individual figures and the monarchies of which they are a part.  Royals are also forced to devise strategies for surviving scandals. 

In this episode, we offer some fresh perspectives on one of the most famous modern scandals – the relationship between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, and the king’s eventual abdication in 1936 – and see how it involved not only the British but made international news.

Image - King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson on holiday in Yugoslavia, 1936 (Creative Commons)

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Join Emeritus Professor Robert Aldrich, and Associate Professor Cindy McCreery  - both from the University of Sydney - on this 8-episode podcast series about monarchy. With the help of expert guests, the series will examine challenges faced by monarchies in modern history – such as revolution, assassination, and scandal – and why some monarchies have survived, and others have disappeared.