Thinking about this, the recent push towards larger realms will see many less realms and therefore most of the game will be ruled by just a few families. I believe Vita said somewhere there are currently 46 realms total. If each island ends up with only 4-5 larger realms, that would reduce the ruler population down to around 20 positions. I am currently one of the 46, but it is unlikely that I would be one of the 20.
We could see 5-20 families "ruling" the game.
