Why do kings and queens not exist anymore?

They do! At the time of writing, 43 countries have royalty that governs or helps run the country in some way. Royals can be found in Eswatini, Denmark, England, and Japan, to name a few.

What do you think of when you hear the words "king" and "queen"? Fairy tales? People in puffy clothes, living in castles and competing in jousting tournaments? Something like that definitely existed hundreds of years ago in medieval Europe, but it's not really a thing anymore. Royalty looks different depending on the time and place.

When a country is ruled by a king or queen, that is called a monarchy and the ruler is called a monarch. People have different opinions about this system. Some question why kings and queens still exist. There are different types of monarchies. In an absolute monarchy, the monarch has full power. A constitutional monarchy means that the monarch shares power with a government. Federal monarchy is when a ruler oversees separate states. And in a mixed monarchy, power is divided up in a way specific to the country in question.

In Canada, we have a constitutional monarchy. The King of England is represented by the governor general, who works in Ottawa in the House of Parliament. We also have a Senate and the House of Commons. Find books at the library to understand how government works, and learn more about past leaders from around the world!