Is being autonomous a necessary precondition for being happy? Can we be happy if we are under authority?

It is possible to be happy and under authority, even if our being able to do what we most strongly want to do is a necessary precondition for our being happy. Our being able to do what we most strongly want to do is not necessarily incompatible with having an authority over us, even an authority that is able to prevent us from doing all or some of the things we most strongly want to do. This authority might for example approve of what we most strongly desire to do or at least not want to prevent us from doing those things.

Of course, if one of the things we most strongly want to do is live without an authority over us and our happiness depended on it, then our being happy and having an authority over us would be incompatible.