monarchy

noun

1. 1

   A government in which sovereignty is embodied within a single, today usually hereditary head of state (whether as a figurehead or as a powerful ruler).

2. 2

   The territory ruled over by a monarch; a kingdom.

3. 3

   A form of government where sovereignty is embodied by a single ruler in a state and his high aristocracy representing their separate divided lands within the state and their low aristocracy representing their separate divided fiefs.

4. 4

   States based on a system of governance headed by a king or a queen.