Abdication

The word abdication is derived from the Latin abdicatio meaning to disown or renounce (ab, away from, and dicare, to proclaim).

In 1936 Edward abdicated to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, over the objections of the royal family, the British establishment, the governments of the Commonwealth and the Church of England.

During the Glorious Revolution in 1688, James II and VII fled to France, dropping the Great Seal of the Realm into the Thames, and the question was discussed in Parliament whether he had forfeited the throne or had abdicated.

The latter designation was agreed upon in spite of James's protest, and in a full assembly of the Lords and Commons it was resolved "that King James II having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king and people, and, by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant."

In Scotland, Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate in 1567 in favour of her one-year-old son, James VI.

The high-priestly duties were deemed possible for a walking child; and a dynast who had passed his toddler years was regarded as suitable and old enough; reaching the age of legal majority was not a requirement.

These traditions show in Japanese folklore, theatre, literature and other forms of culture, where the emperor is usually described or depicted as an adolescent.

A potential abdication by the Emperor required an amendment to the Imperial Household Law, which at that time had no provisions for such a move.

On 8 June 2017, the National Diet passed a one-off bill allowing Akihito to abdicate, and for the government to begin arranging the process of handing over the position to Crown Prince Naruhito.

[8] On 1 December 2017, following a meeting of the Imperial Household Council, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the abdication would occur at the end of 30 April 2019.

The following Treaty of Versailles resulted in the abolition of both monarchies, leading to the other German kings, dukes, princes and other nobility to abdicate and renounce their royalty titles.

This made him unpopular both at home and abroad, and after the war, in July 1951, the Belgian government ordered Leopold III to abdicate.

In recent decades, the monarchs of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Qatar, Cambodia and Bhutan have abdicated either as a result of old age or to pass the throne to the heir sooner.