A reign can be ended in several ways: •
Abdication •
Abolition of monarchy •
Death •
Deposition Abdication • Emperor
Ferdinand I of Austria, King of
Hungary and
Bohemia, King of
Lombardy-Venetia (r. 1835–1848) was abdicated due to his disabilities (
feeble-mindedness and
epilepsy). His successor, Emperor
Franz Josef (r. 1848–1916) reigned for 68 years. • King
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom reigned from January to December 1936 before he abdicated the throne. After his abdication he became known as the
Duke of Windsor. No other monarch of the
Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800), the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or any
Dominion or
Commonwealth realm has ever abdicated, though forced abdications did occur on rare occasions in the
Kingdom of England and the
Kingdom of Scotland prior to their merger in 1707. • Queen
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands reigned from 1890 to 1948, before abdicating in favor of her daughter, Queen
Juliana who then reigned until 1980 when she abdicated in favor of her daughter, Queen
Beatrix of the Netherlands. Beatrix followed suit and abdicated in 2013 in favor of her son and heir apparent, King
Willem-Alexander.
Abolition of monarchy • King
Louis XVI of France reigned from 1774 until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792 and his execution the following year. •
Xuantong Emperor of
China abdicated in 1912 following the
Xinhai Revolution, marking the end of the
Chinese monarchy. • King
Umberto II of Italy reigned for only a few weeks in 1946 before the abolition of the
Italian Monarchy. • King
Constantine II of Greece reigned from 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy in 1973. • Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia reigned from 1894 until 1917 when he was forced to abdicate and the
Russian Empire was overthrown during the
Russian Revolution. • Emperor
Haile Selassie of
Ethiopia reigned for over 40 years (1930-1974) until the
Derg forced him to abdicate and abolished the 3,000 year old monarchy, making him the 225th and final Emperor of Ethiopia. •
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of
Iran reigned for more than 37 years (1941–1979) until the
Iranian Revolution, which superseded the 2,500 years of monarchy with an
Islamic republic system of government. The Shah died the following year and is buried in
Cairo. ==See also==