A king is a male monarch. A monarch is a supreme or absolute head of a state government, either in reality or symbolically.[1] Such a government is known as a monarchy. A monarch typically either inherits sovereignty (often referred to as the throne) by birth or who is elected monarch and who typically rules for life or until abdication. Monarchs' true powers vary from monarchy to monarchy; 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 power or only reserve power, with actual authority vested in a parliament or other body (constitutional monarchy).