It's the 17th not 16th Century, but I can't help think about the War of the Three Kingdoms. Already by that point the notion of a Divine Right of Kings was dinged enough that they could lop the head off of Charles I. And then, less than 40 years later, Parliament could trade out their king for a foreign one whom they liked better.
It just goes to show that the idea of a stable hereditary monarchy wielding absolute power has never been the whole picture. Monarchism is a smokescreen, replacing the messy reality of democratic life with an illusion that has never held up to historical scrutiny.
There is no way America shakes this insanity off easily, it will require a long time and (lots of) suffering.