While I agree that it's bad to prevent people from speaking poorly about a king, that's not representative of the kinds of things that the German law is addressing. As such this is not a very strong example, IMO.

You asked for examples in which free speech was too limited and resulted in a poor outcome for society. You asked that in response to:

"We need more freedom of speech, not less. The US is miles ahead of us in this respect. Here in Europe, we're missing that fundamental value of "I disagree with what you say, but I will fight for your right to say it". Instead, it's more like "I disagree with what you say so I'm going to try to get you arrested for it"."

Therefore my example is germane and quite a clear example given your question.

Here are more examples (again Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Spain):

http://www.euronews.com/2016/04/15/beyond-a-joke-7-countries...

That would be illegal in the US as well, under defamation or libel.

That's not how it works, and this is fundamentally different.

In the US, the offended person would have to sue the offender for libel or defamation. The State would not be bringing charges because this is not a criminal matter; it is a civil matter. Nor is it so obviously defamation or libel, as you suggest.

The lese majeste law is not a matter of the King suing the offender. It is a matter of the Dutch state pursuing criminal prosecution.