Government of Bloenland

The Kingdom of Great Blönland is a federal constitutional monarchy in which executive power, nominally vested in the King, the head of state, is delegated by legislation to a parliamentary system which combines elements of direct and indirect democracy. The King as Head of State still takes an active role in politics, which is unusual for most democratic constitutional monarchies of Uletha. The government is presided over by a Prime Minister who leads a collegial, nominally nonpartisan cabinet. The current Constitution, adopted in 1952, provides for a high level of federalism, giving a great degree of autonomy to the two Constituent Countries, Blönland (proper) and Remsfalen-Lüningen, formerly afforded only to the latter, which was annexed by Blönland in 1854. Blönland is also unique in terms of retaining a strong hereditary element in its upper house.

Constitution

Executive branch

Monarchy of Blönland

The King of Blönland (König von Blönland), styled His Majesty (Seine Majestät), is the Head of State. According to the constitution, all powers emanate from him but he is specifically the head of the executive branch. The current King is Friedrich-Alexander III, who succeeded his father Georg III upon his death in 1968 at the age of 23 years. He fulfills his mostly representative and cultural responsibilities together with his consort, Queen Olga, his heir apparent Crown Prince Georg and other members of the Royal Family. The King represents Blönland abroad and frequently attends international events with other heads of state.

The King's primary responsibility is to serve as the symbol of the State and maintain stability in the political process.

The King has the right to appoint and dismiss ministers, commission officers, open and close the parliament, grant honours and titles of nobility and grant reprieves and pardons. He makes use of all these rights regularly.

Succession

The monarchy of Blönland is hereditary. Succession is governed by the Constitution in 1952 and the Royal Household and Succession Act which was last updated in 1995. The crown is inherited under primogeniture in the male line, meaning that only male Princes of the Royal Family, descending through men only from a past King, may inherit it. Primogeniture means that the eldest son of the King is normally the heir apparent. Princesses and their descendants are excluded from the line of succession, as are children born out of wedlock unless their parents marry and obtain a letter of legitimization from the King.

The Constitution stipulates that the King must belong to the Catholic Church. It is up to debate among legal scholars whether this means that non-Catholics are excluded from the line of succession or merely cannot exercise their powers if they become King. The 1995 Royal Household and Succession Act has not clarified this yet, though the first 30 persons in line to the throne are currently Catholics, making the debate irrelevant. The Act has, however, lifted the requirement for the consort to also be Catholic, requiring that she merely "professes a Christian faith".

As one of the last monarchies in the world, Blönland still maintains a tradition of equal intermarriage, meaning that members of the Royal Family are expected or at least encouraged to marry other royals or members of the nobility. Until 1995, this was generally understood as encompassing only members of sovereign houses and certain high-ranking titled noble families, but the new Act clarified that even newly granted nobility of the spouse is theoretically enough to maintain one's position in the line of succession and that in other cases a written dispensation from the King is enough. In practice, as permission is needed for any marriage anyway, this difference is irrelevant, even though the permission was denied or granted only under condition of renouncing one's rights to the throne in many recent cases. However, most members of the Royal Family and all currently living ones still in the line of succession are married to nobles or royals, including King Friedrich-Alexander III himself, whose consort is a Princess of Remsfalen.

Royal Family

The Royal Family of Blönland is a branch of the von Burgenau family, which had ruled the city and the surrounding countryside at least since the 10th century, first as counts and later as dukes.

By statute, the Royal Family encompasses all male-line descendants of Blönland's first king, Rupprecht, from "approved marriages". King Rupprecht ruled from 1445 to 1477 and declared Blönland a kingdom in 1461. In reality, the earliest common ancestor of all current Princes and Princesses of the Blood is King Georg I., who ruled from 1805 to 1849. The Royal Family currently encompasses 56 individuals excluding the King and Queen - Princes, unmarried Princesses and Princesses Consort. Princesses born into the Royal Family traditionally give up their title upon marriage, there are currently 22 such former Princesses.

Princes who marry without the a person deemed of "insufficient rank" and give up their succession rights normally keep their title for life but a lower title, in recent times almost always "Count/Countess of Burgenau", is granted to their spouses and children, who do not obtain membership in the Royal Family.

Two cadet branches of the von Burgenau family not descending from King Rupprecht I exist. They do not belong to the Royal Family but hold titles in the Nobility of Blönland.

List of Kings of Blönland since Georg I

(Unless noted, Kings are sons of their predecessors)


Name	Birth	Rule	Death	Consorts	Notes
Georg I	1770	1805-1856	1856	Olga, née Princess of Remsfalen-Lüningen
Friedrich-Alexander II	1802	1856-1889	1889	Countess Friederike of Burgenau, née Baroness von Glückuhn (morganatic)	Descendants excluded from line of succession^[1]
Georg II	1804	1889-1895	1895	unmarried	Brother of Friedrich-Alexander II, died childless
Georg III	1847	1895-1917	1917	Alexandra, née Princess of Remsfalen	Nephew of Georg II
Albrecht IV	1884	1917-1955	1955	Friederike, née Princess of Blönland
Georg IV	1911	1955-1968	1968	Clothilde, née Princess of Baringen
Friedrich-Alexander III	1945	1968		Olga, née Princess of Remsfalen