The death of Queen Elizabeth II ended one of the world's longest apprenticeships and saw Charles III ascend to the UK throne.
To many outside the country, the focus on the succession of its constitutional monarchy may seem alien. Across the 19th and 20th century, most European countries took steps to abolish their monarchies permanently.Just 12 nations in Europe retain a form of monarchy to this day.
They are Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the Vatican and the UK.In all of the countries with abolished monarchies, there are still descendants of the final monarchs.These people go about their lives knowing that if the hand of history dealt them different cards, they’d be in a similar position to the newly anointed King Charles III in the UK.Here’s a list of the European monarchs who never were.Also, fun fact, almost all of these would-be regents are related to the UK’s Royal Family if you go back far enough.The last king of Albania was also the second king to some degree.
While the medieval Kingdom of Albania did have monarchs, by the 20th century that had been long disestablished.During the last century, there were two times Albania had a king.