From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abdication (from the Latin abdicatio, disowning, renouncing,
from ab, away from, and dicare, to declare, to
proclaim as not belonging to one) is the act of renouncing and
resigning from a formal office, especially from the supreme office
of state. In
Roman law the term was
also applied to the disowning of a family member, as the
disinheriting of a son. The term commonly applies to monarchs,
or those who have been formally crowned. A similar term for an elected or
appointed official is resignation.
Abdications in
western classical antiquity
Among the most memorable abdications of antiquity were those of
Lucius Cornelius Sulla the Dictator in 79 BC, Emperor Diocletian in AD
305, and Emperor Romulus Augustulus in AD 476.
The British
Crown
Probably the most famous abdication in recent memory is that of
King Edward VIII of the United
Kingdom in 1936. Edward abdicated the British throne in order
to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, over
the objections of the British establishment, the governments of the
Commonwealth, the royal family
and the Church of England. (See Abdication Crisis of Edward VIII.) This was
also the first time in history that the British crown was
surrendered entirely voluntarily. Richard II of England, for
example, was forced to abdicate after power was seized by his
cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, while Richard was out of the
country.
During the Glorious Revolution in 1688, James II of
England and VII of Scotland fled to France, dropping the Great Seal of the Realm into
the Thames, and the question was discussed in Parliament whether he
had forfeited the throne or had abdicated. The latter designation
was agreed upon, for, in a full assembly of the Lords and Commons,
it was resolved in spite of James's protest "that King James II
having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by
breaking the original contract between king and people, and, by the
advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, having
violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of
this kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is
thereby vacant." The Scottish parliament pronounced a
decree of forfeiture and deposition.
Because the title to the Crown depends upon statute, particularly the Act
of Settlement 1701, a Royal Abdication can only be effected by
an Act of
Parliament; under the terms of the Statute of Westminster
1931, such an act must be passed by the parliament of all
sixteen Commonwealth realms. To give legal
effect to the abdication of King Edward VIII, His
Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 was passed.
Modern
abdications
In certain cultures, if a monarch abdicated it was seen as a
profound and shocking abandonment of royal duty. As a result,
abdications usually only occurred in the most extreme circumstances
of political turmoil or violence. The monarchs of the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Cambodia have abdicated as a
result of old age. Prince Hans-Adam
II of Liechtenstein recently made his son regent, an act which amounted to an abdication
in fact if not in law.
List
The following is a list of important abdications:
| Lucius Tarquinius
Superbus |
510 BC (Roman Monarchy dissolved) |
| King Wuling of Zhao |
299 BC |
| Lucius Cornelius Sulla |
79 BC |
| Diocletian |
AD 305 |
| Romulus Augustulus |
476 (Western Roman Empire
dissolved) |
| Emperor
Gaozu of Tang China |
September 4, 626 |
| Pope Benedict IX |
1048 |
| Isaac I
Comnenus |
1059 |
| Henry IV, Holy Roman
Emperor |
1105 |
| Emperor
Huizong of Song China |
January 18, 1126 |
| Emperor
Gaozong of Song China |
July 24, 1162 |
| Albert I of
Brandenburg |
1169 |
| Dermot
McMurrough, High King of Ireland |
1169 |
| Emperor
Xiaozong of Song China |
1189 |
| Emperor
Guangzong of Song China |
1194 |
| Ladislaus III of Poland |
1206 |
| Pope Celestine V |
December 13, 1294 |
| John Baliol of
Scotland |
1296 |
| John Cantacuzene,
emperor of the East |
1355 |
| Richard II of England |
September 29, 1399 |
| Baldassare Cossa, Antipope John
XXIII |
1415 |
| Pope Gregory XII |
1415 |
| Erik VII of Denmark, XIII of
Sweden |
1439 |
| Amadeus VIII of
Savoy |
1440 |
| Murad II,
Ottoman
Sultan |
1444 |
| Bayezid
II, Ottoman Sultan |
April 25, 1512 |
| Charles V, Holy Roman
Emperor 1 |
1555/1556 |
| Christina of Sweden |
June 6, 1654 |
| Mary Queen of Scots |
July 24, 1567 |
| John Casimir of
Poland |
1668 |
| Frederick Augustus of Poland |
September 24, 1706 |
| Philip V of Spain |
14 January 1724 |
| Victor
Amadeus of Sardinia |
3 September 1730 |
| Ahmed
III, Ottoman Sultan |
1 October 1730 |
| Charles of Naples (on accession to
throne of Spain) |
6 October 1759 |
| Stanislaus II
of Poland |
7 January 1795 |
| Qianlong
Emperor of China |
February 9, 1796 |
| Charles Emanuel IV, King of
Sardinia |
June 4, 1802 |
| Francis II, Holy Roman
Emperor |
August 6, 1806 |
| Charles IV, King of Spain |
March 19, 1808 |
| Joseph Napoleon, King of Naples |
June 6, 1808 |
| Gustav IV Adolf, King of
Sweden |
March 29, 1809 |
| Louis Napoleon, King of Holland |
July 2, 1810 |
| Napoleon I, Emperor of the
French |
April 4, 1814, and again June 22, 1815 |
| Victor Emmanuel I, King of
Sardinia |
March 13, 1821 |
| Charles X, King of France |
August 2, 1830 |
| Pedro IV, King of
Portugal 2 |
May 28, 1826 |
| Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil 2 |
April 7, 1831 |
| Miguel, King of Portugal |
May 26, 1834 |
| William I, King of the
Netherlands |
October 7, 1840 |
| Louis Philippe, King of the
French |
February 24, 1848 |
| Ludwig I, King of Bavaria |
March 21, 1848 |
| Ferdinand, Emperor of
Austria |
December 2, 1848 |
| Charles II, Duke of
Parma |
March 14, 1849 |
| Charles Albert, King of
Sardinia |
March 23, 1849 |
| Leopold II, Grand Duke of
Tuscany |
July 21, 1859 |
| Isabella II, Queen of Spain |
June 25, 1870 |
| Amadeo I, King of
Spain |
February 11, 1873 |
| Alexander, Prince
of Bulgaria |
September 7, 1886 |
| Milan, King of
Serbia |
March 6, 1889 |
| Liliʻuokalani,
Queen of Hawaiʻi |
January 17, 1893 (monarchy abolished) |
| Sunjong, Emperor of Korea |
August 29, 1910 (monarchy abolished) |
| Xuantong Emperor
of China |
February 12, 1912 (monarchy abolished) |
| Nicholas II, Emperor of
Russia |
March 15, 1917 (monarchy abolished) |
| Ferdinand I, Tsar of the
Bulgarians |
October 3, 1918 |
| William II,
German Emperor |
November 9, 1918 (monarchy abolished) |
| Marie-Adélaïde,
Grand Duchess of Luxembourg |
January 14, 1919 |
| Constantine I, King of the
Hellenes |
September 27, 1922 |
| Prajadhipok, King of Siam |
March 2, 1935 |
| Edward VIII, King of
Great Britain and Ireland |
December 11, 1936 |
| Carol II, King of Romania |
September 6, 1940 |
| Bảo Đại, Emperor of Vietnam |
April 25, 1945 (Feudal Dynasty dissolved) |
| Victor Emmanuel III, King of
Italy |
May 9, 1946 |
| Michael, King of
Romania |
December 30, 1947 (monarchy abolished) |
| Wilhelmina, Queen of the
Netherlands |
September 4, 1948 |
| Léopold III,
King of the Belgians |
July 16, 1951 |
| Farouk, King of
Egypt |
July 26, 1952 |
| Talal, King of Jordan |
August 11, 1952 |
| Fuad II, King of Egypt |
June 18, 1953 (Monarchy abolished) |
| Saud, King of Saudi Arabia |
November 2, 1964 |
| Charlotte, Grand
Duchess of Luxembourg |
November 12, 1964 |
| Omar Ali
Saifuddin, Sultan of Brunei |
October 4, 1967 |
| Juliana, Queen of the
Netherlands |
April 30, 1980 |
| Jean, Grand Duke of
Luxembourg |
October 7, 2000 |
| Hans-Adam II, Prince
of Liechtenstein3 |
August 15, 2004 (Made his son regent) |
| Norodom Sihanouk, King of
Cambodia |
October 7, 2004 |
| Saad Al-Abdullah
Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait |
January 23, 2006 |
| Jigme Singye Wangchuck, King of
Bhutan |
December 15, 2006 (Made his son King) |
Notes
1Charles abdicated as lord of the Netherlands (October
25, 1555) and king of Spain
(January 16, 1556), in favor of his son Philip II of
Spain. Also in 1556 he separately voluntarily abdicated his
German possessions and the title of Holy Roman Emperor.
²Pedro IV of Portugal and Pedro I of Brazil were the same person.
He was already Emperor of Brazil when he succeeded to the throne of
Portugal in 1826, but abdicated it at once in favour of his
daughter Maria II of Portugal. Later he
abdicated the throne of Brazil in favor of his son Pedro
II.
³Hans-Adam II made his son Alois
regent, effectively abdicating; however, he still remains the
formal Head of State.
See also
References
- Public domain 1911 edition of The New Century Book of
Facts published by the King-Richardson Company, Springfield,
Massachusetts.
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