They have no crown on their head, just a curled hair; no claim to the throne, save for a rock which is called magical because pokemon flinch when it is thrown at them. And yet to their followers, Politoed might as well be sitting on the Chrysanthemum Throne and ruling a vast empire.
Politoed maintain power in the way which most monarchies do; by brainwashing their subjects. Absent a friendly clergy preaching the Divine Right of Kings, or an appeal to the glory of the nation, Politoed brainwash their subjects the old-fashioned way: through hypnosis. The hair on their head contains the same pattern as the spirals of their lesser forms, and along with a small swirl on their chest, allow for a far more complete hypnosis than that of their predecessors. Poliwhirl can put a hostile foe to sleep, but only Politoed can put dozens to sleep at once, then form them into regiments and lead a shambling mass of pokemon into sleepwalking battle. Their battles are futile, over small and unneeded scraps of land, and show little purpose but to provide glory for kings, like a cosmic game of Civilization played with pokemon. Yet unlike kings, they are content to quit the field when the enemy pokemon faints, and if the territory is worthless it is because they rarely plunder and exploit what they win.
Because of their abundance in Kalos and the fact that they claim kingship, Politoed were long seen as a symbol of pre-Revolutionary Kalos. Every negative quality Politoed possess was ascribed to the king in propaganda pamphlets, and every positive quality was wiped from scientific journals of the era. Many Politoed lost their heads during the Terror, despite their short necks, and Kalos's national pokemon was switched to the Poliwrath.