Regent: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

For the insecticide 'Regent', see Regent (insecticide)

A regent is an acting governor. In a monarchy, a regent usually rules due to the actual monarch's absence, incapacity, or minority. In the case of Finland and Hungary, military officers served as regents in the absence of a monarch, while in Iceland, the regent represented the King of Denmark as sovereign of Iceland until the country became a republic in 1944.

In San Marino, an independent republic surrounded within Italy, the 'Captains Regent', or Capitani Reggenti, are two officials elected as joint heads of state.

In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth kings were elected, which often led to relatively long interregna periods. It was the Polish primate who served as a regent, known at that time as an interrex (ruler between kings).

Occasionally, the term regent refers to positions lower than the ruler of a country; for instance, some university managers in North America are called regents. In Indonesia, the term regent is used in English to mean a bupati or local government official.

Examples of regents in various countries

It should be noted that those who held a regency briefly, for example during surgery, are not necessarily listed, particularly if they performed no official acts; this list is also not complete.

China

• See Empress dowager and Grand Empress Dowager

Egypt

• Hatshepsut of Egypt for Thutmose III of Egypt

Finland

• Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
• General Carl Gustaf Mannerheim

France

• Anne of Kiev, during the minority of her son Philip I
• Catherine de Medici:
  • While her husband Henry II of France left the kingdom for the campaign of Metz.
  • Later during the minority of her son Francis II of France
  • Again during the minority of her second son, Charles IX of France.
• Anne of Austria, during the minority of Louis XIV
• Philippe II of Orléans (1715-1723), during the minority of Louis XV; often called "the Regent", since he was the last regent of France;
• Louis-Stanislas-Xavier, while living in exile, self-declared Regent for his nephew Louis XVII of France after the 1793 guillotining of King Louis XVI.

Hungary

• Miklós Horthy

Iceland

• Sveinn Björnsson

Japan

• Fujiwara Regents as Kanpaku or Sessho
• Hojo Regents as Shikken, regents of the Kamakura shogunate

Liechtenstein

• Alois is Regent from August 15, 2004.

Netherlands

• Queen Emma, during the minority of her daughter Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

Norway

• King Magnus Eriksson after stepping down from the throne in favour of his son Haakon Magnusson
• Crown Prince Haakon, during the illness of his father King Harald

Scotland

• Mary of Guise, during the minority of her daughter Mary Stuart

Sweden

• Sten Sture the Elder the longest serving regent during the Kalmar Union
• Duke Charles after ousting the catholic king Sigismund
• Axel Oxenstierna during the minority of Christina of Sweden
• Crown Prince Charles (Bernadotte) for his adoptive father Charles XIII

United Kingdom

• George IV, Prince Regent during the incapacity of his father, George III.

See also: Regency