You’d think they would’ve invented democracy just from sheer boredom.

I doubt they’d develop monarchy in the first place, unless there’s some actual biological/magical reason for the existence of royals.

Tis a lot easier to convince uneducated peasants, who manage to survive for a few decades, that you’re the God’s chosen representative on earth, than someone who remembers the last few thousand years of your rule and how you got to sit on the throne.

When you’re prince, you get all the niceties provided to a royal without much of the responsibility.

Once you become king, you’re suddenly responsible for performing diplomacy vs. many disparate groups of famously thin-skinned beings who can hold a good grudge for thousands of years.

I don’t think a lot of elven princes are chasing that promotion very hard.

Royals are also brought up to believe that it’s their life’s purpose to lead, and depending on the specific society and royalty’s role in the military they often also lust for glory. It would be particularly vexing if the prince actually wants to change things in society. Imagine you wanted to allow gay marriage (because you have a conscience, or are just fruity af) but the only way you’ll be able to do that is waiting 500 years until your dad dies.

When you’re prince, you get all the niceties provided to a royal without much of the responsibility.

I seriously doubt an immortal king would allow his heirs to be millenia old neet’s… I’d start them on the job asap, and the order of inherentence would be based on their performance and personal characteristics.

That’s when the railings start to crumble, food gets poisoned, and armed bandits attack the royal caravan