a monarch or even a Duke with total political or military control would roll over them without batting an eyelash.
Maybe, but why would a ruler with absolute power risk destabilising the establishment and tradition that supports him in the first place.
Also, for all the power afforded to the ruler by institution, he is still reliant on others co-operating with him. A ruler who works himself into bad graces with the lower rungs of the power ladder could find himself poisoned one day, being vulnerable as he is to his servants... not a possibility in BM, but it still speaks of the need for prerequisites and possible consequences to government change. Otherwise it lacks the weight that it should in reality, creating a strong dissonance.
