Alolan Meowth were brought to Alola by that country's old monarchy, and judging by their behavior, they have never forgotten that fact. Despite a revolution over a century ago and the egalitarian human society of modern Alola, every Alolan Meowth imagines itself as the royal pet, with the arrogance to match. Yet rather than being hounded out of the region as counter-revolutionaries, or reviled as grave dangers to the island's unique and often endangered flying pokemon, Meowth have seen their numbers explode in the modern era as popular household pets.
Meowth ownership in the monarchical period was restricted to the royal family and the families of the island kahunas, although as Alolan royalty used the metaphor of a family to describe a king's relationship to his subjects, small numbers would find their way into the hands of lesser nobles, or individuals famed for great deeds. Inbreeding of this tiny population produced the breed's distinctive grey coat and curved whiskers, and no more than thirty-eight were attested as ever existing at one time in this era; the average number was closer to thirty.
There is a certain mystique associated with the symbols of monarchy which often long outlasts its presence as a political system, to Meowth's own paradoxical benefit. The Alolan revolution did not denounce Meowth, but the sumptuary laws which restricted them to a tiny elite; rather than denounce these pokemon, they promised all would be free citizens, with a Meowth to call their own – and the Meowth population, freed from their historical constraints on breeding, rapidly expanded to match demand. Yet their new trainers, freed from the exactions of royalty, often found themselves treated like subjects by their own pokemon.
Perhaps the Alolan Meowth was Alola's true king of kings!