Direct answer:
The divine right of kings was a political and religious doctrine in medieval and early modern Europe that asserted monarchs derived their authority directly from God and were accountable only to God, not to earthly bodies like parliaments or the people. It was used to justify and legitimize royal authority and resist checks on royal power, though its influence waned after events such as the English Civil War, the Magna Carta’s legacy, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment. Key points

• Origins and meaning
  • The idea claims that a king’s right to rule comes from divine sanction rather than from the consent of the governed or an earthly lawmaking body.
  • Proponents argued that since rulers were God’s representatives on earth, questioning or resisting them was tantamount to questioning God.
• Historical context and proponents
  • In England, James VI/I and other monarchs promoted the doctrine to strengthen royal prerogative.
  • In France, Louis XIV is often associated with the absolutist model that echoed divine-right rhetoric.
  • The doctrine was tied to the broader Christian worldview of the time, including the belief that rulers stood above local estates and parlements.
• Limits and opposition
  • The Magna Carta (1215) and later constitutional developments gradually established that monarchs did not possess unlimited authority and were subject to law and some form of accountability.
  • Reforms during the Protestant Reformation and Enlightenment challenged the idea that authority was derived solely from God and emphasized social contract, consent, and legal restraint on rulers.
  • The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution (1688) further diminished the viability of divine-right claims in England.
• Decline and legacy
  • By the 18th century, the doctrine had largely declined as a normative justification for monarchic power in most European states.
  • Today, the divine-right concept is treated as a historical curiosity about how rulers attempted to legitimize power and how political theory shifted toward constitutionalism and popular sovereignty.

If you’d like, I can tailor this to a specific country or era (England, France, or the broader European context), or pull concise quotes from historical sources to illustrate how different rulers framed the doctrine.