<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> A monarch is a sovereign head of state in a monarchy . A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in the state, or others may wield that power on behalf of the monarch . Typically a monarch either personally inherits the lawful right to exercise the state's sovereign rights (often referred to as the throne or the crown) or is selected by an established process from a family or cohort eligible to provide the nation's monarch . Alternatively, an individual may become monarch by conquest, acclamation or a combination of means . A monarch usually reigns for life or until abdication . </P> <P> If a young child is crowned the monarch, a regent is often appointed to govern until the monarch reaches the requisite adult age to rule . Monarchs' actual powers vary from one monarchy to another and in different eras; on one extreme, they may be autocrats (absolute monarchy) wielding genuine sovereignty; on the other they may be ceremonial heads of state who exercise little or no direct power or only reserve powers, with actual authority vested in a parliament or other body (constitutional monarchy). </P>

What is another term for kings or queens who hold total power