Traditional monarchy

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Traditional monarchy (Spanish: Monarquía tradicional, Portuguese: Monarquia tradicional) describes a system of government in which the monarch has real political power and is more than a figurehead. In contrast to the centralized "absolutist" monarchies developed in the 16th and 17th centuries, or the highly decentralized Feudal monarchies, such as the Holy Roman Empire, which flourished in Europe in the 9th to 15th centuries, traditional monarchy is based on the principles of Thomistic Iusnaturalism,^[1] Medieval Corporatism,^[2] Municipalist Regionalism^[3][4] and Religious Integralism (like Catholic social teaching and Social Kingship of Christ). It has been advocated by various royalists and traditionalist movements, such as Carlism, Portuguese Integralism and Spanish Integrism.^[5][6]

We consider the Traditional Monarchy, as it existed in France with the States General, in Portugal and Spain with the Cortes, in England with the Parliament and in Germany with the Diet, the most perfect form of government. We believe, therefore, that the Prince must reign and govern, however, his power is specifically limited by the Assemblies. These, made up of the elected representatives of the Intermediate Bodies, of the Natural Groups that make up the Society, must be responsible for the management of the affairs of the State.

— Víctor Emanuel Vilela Barbuy

A traditional monarchy depends on natural law, custom, and traditional institutions such as aristocracy, clergy, and social corporations to moderate the Royal Power (rather than a written constitution), rejecting both the high-centralized "Absolutist" monarchies developed in the 16th and 17th centuries and the high-decentralized Feudal monarchies (such as the Holy Roman Empire) from late Ancien régime. There is a balance of power between the representative body, often the Parliament, and the monarch, in which both check each other subsidiarily to ensure their decisions benefit the common good and are virtuous. The traditional monarch is a strong sovereign supported and moderated by the nobility, the clergy that guide him, and the intermediate bodies that advise him. The monarch is also a guarantor of local government through his Coronation Oath of protection of the intermediate bodies (Organic social organizations between Persons and State), such as family, municipalities, estates of the realm, courts, guilds, churches, universities and other corporations. Proponents of traditional monarchy posit that it is the form of government which best adapts to the essence of authority, tradition, Idiosyncrasy and unique aspects of a particular people.^[7]

"The [Traditional] monarchy as a political form is nothing other than the continuity of a society, which is made up of families, through the continuity of a family, the royal family, which symbolizes and actualizes the continuity of each and every family and in which –in some way– the ordering providence of God participates through that order that gives continuity."

— Miguel Ayuso, Las Formas de Gobierno y sus Transformaciones