Abdication - Modern Abdications

Modern Abdications

In certain cultures, if a monarch abdicated it was seen as a profound and shocking abandonment of royal duty. As a result, abdications usually only occurred in the most extreme circumstances of political turmoil or violence. However, monarchs of the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Cambodia have abdicated as a result of old age and it is considered normal and even expected in the Netherlands. In 2004, Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein made his son Alois regent, an act which amounted to an abdication in fact if not in law.. However, in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms it is still seen in a grave light, due to the abdication crisis of Edward VIII.