The single person enjoys absolute power without any legal restrictions. Monarchy is the oldest form of Government. Absolute monarchy can no longer work in modern world and that is why it is vanishing away.
Forms of Monarchy:
Monarchy has been classified into two types : (i) Hereditary and elective monarchy, and (ii) absolute and limited or constitutional monarchy.
(i) Monarchy may be hereditary or elective:
When the king is chosen by the people or by a particular section of it then it is elective type of monarchy. In the hereditary form of monarchy, however, the monarch is not elected by the people but the crown passes from the father to the son, as it is the case in England.
Hereditary monarchy has been very common feature in most of the countries of the world. Elective Monarchy has been very rare, as for example, Poland had elective monarchy.
(ii) Monarchy may be absolute or limited:
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In an absolute monarchy the king is all powerful. His word or command is law. The Czar of Russia and Louis XIV of France were absolute monarchs and their governments absolute monarchies. But in the case of limited monarchies, the king is only a nominal or a titular head or sovereign.
He has to act according to the advice of his ministers. A good example of this from is the Government of Great Britain. As a matter of fact limited monarchy is a form of democracy and the term monarchy applies more aptly to the absolute type.