Recently I was reading Locke's Second Treatise. In that book, he dedicates a not-inconsiderable amount of space to arguing against paternalism, largely (in my understanding) as an attack against monarchism.

That got me thinking - except the ancients, I don't think I have ever read an author who defends monarchism.

What are the arguments (outside of the ancient Greeks and Romans) in favor of a monarchy? What political theorists advocated for a monarchy and how did they do it?

I'm not asking for a list of the advantages of monarchies (those answers can go here). Advantages are only important if they are important claims in an argument supporting monarchy. I'm anticipating that at least some arguments will do this, but others could be non-consequentialist.

Recently I was reading Locke's Second Treatise. In that book, he dedicates a not-inconsiderable amount of space to arguing against paternalism, largely (in my understanding) as an attack against monarchism.

That got me thinking - except the ancients, I don't think I have ever read an author who defends monarchism.

What are the arguments (outside of the ancient Greeks and Romans) in favor of a monarchy? What political theorists advocated for a monarchy and how did they do it?

I'm not asking for a list of the advantages of monarchies (those answers can go here). Advantages are only important if they are important claims in an argument supporting monarchy. I'm anticipating that at least some arguments will do this, but others could be non-consequentialist.

Recently I was reading Locke's Second Treatise. In that book, he dedicates a not-inconsiderable amount of space to arguing against paternalism, largely (in my understanding) as an attack against monarchism.

That got me thinking - I don't think I have ever read an author who defends monarchism.

What are the arguments in favor of a monarchy? What political theorists advocated for a monarchy and how did they do it?

Recently I was reading Locke's Second Treatise. In that book, he dedicates a not-inconsiderable amount of space to arguing against paternalism, largely (in my understanding) as an attack against monarchism.

That got me thinking - except the ancients, I don't think I have ever read an author who defends monarchism.

What are the arguments (outside of the ancient Greeks and Romans) in favor of a monarchy? What political theorists advocated for a monarchy and how did they do it?

I'm not asking for a list of the advantages of monarchies (those answers can go here). Advantages are only important if they are important claims in an argument supporting monarchy. I'm anticipating that at least some arguments will do this, but others could be non-consequentialist.