Modern Royal Families Trivia Quiz

Answer: The United Kingdom

Queen Elizabeth II is a member of the House of Windsor. In addition to being the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, she is also the Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The House of Windsor is a branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and was renamed the more "English sounding" House of Windsor during World War I due to the Germanic origins of the dynasty. Although the dynasty has only ruled the UK since 1901, Queen Elizabeth II is a descendant of English kings and queens going back well over 1000 years.

Answer: Saudi Arabia

The official title of the King of Saudi Arabia is "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques", which refers to Saudi Arabia's jurisdiction over the mosques of Masjid al Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, the two holiest sites in Islam.

Answer: Philadelphia

Prince Albert's mother was the American born Hollywood actress Grace Kelly who became Princess Grace of Monaco when she married Prince Rainier III in 1956. She died in an automobile accident in Monte Carlo in 1982. Monaco is the world's smallest hereditary monarchy.

The world's smallest country, The Vatican, is technically a monarchy (the reigning Pope is also the national sovereign) but not a hereditary monarchy.

Answer: a fascist dictatorship

Francisco Franco was the fascist dictator of Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. He advocated a restoration of the monarchy upon his death, apparently believing that Juan Carlos would continue Franco's right wing policies. Fortunately, Juan Carlos has been a champion of democracy and has led a restoration of Spain's democratic constitutional government.

Branches of the House of Bourbon have at various times ruled France, Spain, Luxemburg, Burgundy, Naples and Sicily. Bourbon whiskey is indirectly named after the dynasty.

Answer: The Netherlands

The city of Nassau, the Bahamas was named in honor of King William III of England who was also a member of the dynasty.

Answer: Norway

The Norwegian royal family is part of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of the House of Oldenberg. Another notable member of the House of Oldenberg is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II who was born Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark in Corfu, Greece.

Answer: Japan

The Yamato line is the world's oldest ruling dynasty. The dynasty began as local kings in the Yamato region of central Japan. The emperor Akihito assumed the throne in 1989. In Japan the emperor is never referred to by his name because doing so is considered overly familiar.

He is simply referred to as "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor" during his lifetime and is given a posthumous name after death. For example, Akihito's father Hirohito was given the name Shōwa after his death.

Answer: a French general

King Carl XIV Johan was born Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte in Pau, France in 1763. The son of a minor government official, he joined the French Army as a private at the age of 17. During the French Revolution he quickly rose through the ranks to become a general and later one of Napoleon's Marshals.

The elderly, childless, and mentally deficient King Carl XIII came to the throne of Sweden in 1809. The Swedish parliament, seeking a strong military leader who would be acceptable to the powerful Emperor Napoleon, invited Bernadotte to Stockholm where he was promptly adopted by the ailing king as his son and heir.

When the old king died in 1818, Bernadotte assumed the throne.

Answer: False

The line of succession to the British throne is governed by the 1701 Act of Settlement which limits the succession to the legitimate Protestant heirs of Sophia, the Electress of Hanover (1630-1714). Descendants who are Catholic or who marry Catholics are excluded from the line of succession.

Although Albert II is a descendant of Sophia of Hanover and a distant cousin of Elizabeth II, he is a Catholic and thus excluded from ever inheriting the British throne. Intermarriage among European royal families was common and many monarchs are closely related.

Other reigning monarchs who would have been in the line of succession but who are excluded for being Catholics include King Juan Carlos II of Spain and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg. Those who are in the line of succession include King Harald V of Norway, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Answer: Oil

Sultan Hassanal is worth an estimated $20 billion. Brunei has sometimes been jokingly refered to as the "Shellfare State" because the overwhelming majority of the nation's income comes from oil contracts with the Shell Oil company. The sultan owns the largest private collection of Rolls-Royces in the world.