A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that share the same monarch while their boundaries, laws and interests remain distinct. It differs from a real union, where the constituent states are linked through some shared governmental institutions, and from a federation, where a central government unites states that would otherwise have independent governments; the monarch holding a personal union does not need to be a hereditary ruler. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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Diarchy and personal union both describe arrangements in which a single political structure is headed by more than one ruling authority, though personal union joins separate states under one monarch rather than splitting authority within one.
Personal union is an institution specific to monarchy, in which one monarch simultaneously holds the separate crowns of two or more otherwise distinct states.
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Personal Union (Wikipedia)
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A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct.
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