royalism n : adherence or attachment to a monarchy or to the principle of monarchal government

A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch. Most often, the term royalist is applied to a supporter of a current regime or one that has been recently overthrown to form a republic.

In the UK today, the term is almost indistinguishable from "monarchist," because there are no significant rival claimants to the throne. Conversely, in 19th-century France, a royalist might be either a Legitimist or an Orléanist, both being monarchists.

More specifically, it may refer to:

• A Cavalier, the nickname given to supporters of King Charles I (and later King Charles II) during the English Civil War
• A Jacobite who supports the claim of James II and his line (the head of which is currently Franz, Duke of Bavaria, the would be King Francis II) as King of England, Scots and Ireland
• A supporter of the restoration of France's monarchy:
  • Chouannerie, a royalist group during the French Revolution
  • Legitimists, French royalists upholding Salic Law
  • Orléanists, who, in late 18th- and 19th century France, supported the Orléanist branch of the French royal family, which came to power in the July Revolution
  • Ultra-royalists, a nineteenth-century reactionary faction of the French parliament
• Supporters of the return of Leopold III as King of the Belgians after the Second World War, also called Leopoldists
• Royalist (Spanish American Revolutions), a supporter of the Spanish Empire during the Hispanic American wars of independence
• A member of the Estonian Royalist Party
• A Loyalist or Tory during the American Revolution
• Ships:
  • HMS Royalist
  • The Royalist
  • TS Royalist

Bourbonism, Nazism, Toryism, backwardness, centralism, collectivism, communism, conservatism, conservativeness, constitutionalism, democratism, die-hardism, extreme right, extreme right wing, extreme rightism, fascism, federalism, feudalism, feudality, governmentalism, imperialism, know-nothingism, laissez-faireism, monarchism, national socialism, neofascism, old school tie, parliamentarianism, parliamentarism, pluralism, political principles, radical rightism, reaction, reactionariness, reactionaryism, republicanism, rightism, social Darwinism, socialism, standpattism, statism, ultraconservatism, unprogressiveness