List of living former sovereign monarchs

This is a list of former monarchs of sovereign states who are living to date. While most monarchs retain their position for their lifetime, some choose to abdicate in favour of a younger heir, while other monarchs are deposed when their monarchies are abolished or when another ruler seizes power by force. By international courtesy, these individuals are usually still addressed by their monarchical titles.

Living former monarchs of sovereign states

Name	Title	Reign	Born	Age	Note
Benedict XVI	Sovereign of the Vatican City State	2005–2013	16 Apr 1927	93 years, 277 days	Resigned
Jamshid bin Abdullah	Sultan of Zanzibar	1963–1964	16 Sep 1929	91 years, 124 days	Monarchy abolished
Akihito	Emperor of Japan	1989–2019	23 Dec 1933	87 years, 26 days	Abdicated
Albert II	King of the Belgians	1993–2013	6 Jun 1934	86 years, 226 days	Abdicated
Simeon II	Tsar of the Bulgarians	1943–1946[1]	16 Jun 1937	83 years, 216 days	Monarchy abolished
Juan Carlos I	King of Spain	1975–2014	5 Jan 1938	83 years, 3 days	Abdicated
Beatrix	Queen of the Netherlands	1980–2013	31 Jan 1938	82 years, 353 days	Abdicated
Constantine II	King of the Hellenes	1964–1973	2 Jun 1940	80 years, 230 days	Monarchy abolished
Gyanendra	King of Nepal	1950–1951 and 2001–2008	7 Jul 1947	73 years, 195 days	Monarchy abolished
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani	Emir of Qatar	1995–2013	1 Jan 1952	69 years, 17 days	Abdicated
Fuad II	King of Egypt and the Sudan	1952–1953	16 Jan 1952	69 years, 2 days	Monarchy abolished
Jigme Singye Wangchuck	King of Bhutan	1972–2006	11 Nov 1955	65 years, 68 days	Abdicated

Besides these, there are three living former holders of the title Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Sirajuddin of Perlis, Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu and Muhammad V of Kelantan) in Malaysia (who are not listed because they remain leaders of one of the nine subnational Malay states), as well as two living former Presidents of France (Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande) who served as Co-Princes of Andorra.

Other territorial ex-monarchs

Name	Title	Reign	Born	Age	Note
Ghalib II al-Qu'aiti	Sultan of Qu'aiti	1966–1967	7 Jan 1948	73 years, 11 days	Monarchy abolished

Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II was Sovereign of the following 16 independent states until they later became republics. Years shown are from her accession in 1952 or independence chronologically up to the abolition of the monarchy.

State	Reign
Pakistan	1952–1956
Ghana	1957–1960
South Africa	1952–1961
Tanganyika	1961–1962
Nigeria	1960–1963
Uganda	1962–1963
Kenya	1963–1964
Malawi	1964–1966
The Gambia	1965–1970
Guyana	1966–1970
Sierra Leone	1961–1971
Ceylon	1952–1972
Malta	1964–1974
Trinidad and Tobago	1962–1976
Fiji	1970–1987[2]
Mauritius	1968–1992

Notes

1. Simeon returned to Bulgaria in 1996 after a half-century in exile and was elected Prime Minister under the name Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Simeon Sakskoburggotski) in 2001, serving until 2005.
2. Elizabeth was recognized as Paramount Chief of Fiji by the former Great Council of Chiefs after 1987.

See also

• List of countries by date of transition to republican system of government