Regent

A regent (from the

Latin

: ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the regnant monarch is a minor, is absent, abdicated the throne, is incapacitated or dead, or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy.''Oxford English Dictionary'' The rule of a regent or regents is called a regency. A regent or regency council may be formed ''ad hoc'' or in accordance with a constitutional rule. ''Regent'' is sometimes a formal title granted to a monarch's most trusted advisor or personal assistant. If the regent is holding his position due to his position in the line of succession, the compound term ''prince regent'' is often used; if the regent of a minor is his mother, she is often referred to as ''queen regent'' or ''empress dowager''.

If the formally appointed regent is unavailable or cannot serve on a temporary basis, a may be appointed to fill the gap.

In a monarchy, a regent usually governs due to one of these reasons, but may also be elected to rule during the

interregnum

when the royal line has died out. This was the case in the Kingdom of Finland and the

Kingdom of Hungary

, where the royal line was considered extinct in the aftermath of World War I. In

Iceland

, the regent represented the King of Denmark as sovereign of Iceland until the country became a republic in 1944. In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795), kings were elective, which often led to a fairly long interregnum. In the interim, it was the Roman Catholic primate (the archbishop of Gniezno) who served as the regent, termed the (

Latin

: ruler 'between kings' as in ancient Rome). In the small republic of

San Marino

, the two captains regent, or , are elected semi-annually (they serve a six-month term) as joint heads of state and of government.

Famous regency periods include that of the Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, giving rise to many terms such as Regency era and Regency architecture. Strictly this period lasted from 1811 to 1820, when his father

George III

was insane, though when used as a period label it generally covers a wider period. Philippe II, Duke of Orléans was Regent of France from the death of

Louis XIV

in 1715 until Louis XV came of age in 1723; this is also used as a period label for many aspects of French history, as in French, again tending to cover a rather wider period than the actual regency. For a period of a month and a half, the

Second French Empire

was a regency. The

Emperor

departed with his army, giving his political powers to his wife who essentially carried out all his roles and even sent him orders. He would never be able to return to France, and the empire ended as a regency 2 days after his defeat and imprisonment at the Battle of Sedan. The equivalent Greek term is (), meaning overseer.

Liechtenstein

(under Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein) is the only country with an active regency.

Other uses

The term regent may refer to positions lower than the ruler of a country. The term may be used in the governance of organisations, typically as an equivalent of "director", and held by all members of a governing board rather than just the equivalent of the chief executive.

In the Society of Jesus, a regent is an individual training to be a Jesuit and who has completed his novitiate and philosophy studies but has not yet progressed to theology studies. A regent in the Jesuits is often assigned to teach in a school or some other academic institution.

Some

university

managers in

North America

are called regents, and a management board for a

college

or

university

may be titled the "Board of Regents" . In New York State, all activities related to public and private education ( P-12 and postsecondary) and professional licensure are administered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, the appointed members of which are called regents.

Europe

The term "regent" is also used for members of governing bodies of institutions such as the national banks of

France

and

Belgium

.

In the Dutch Republic, the members of the ruling class, not formally hereditary but forming a de facto patrician class, were informally known collectively as ''regenten'' (the Dutch plural for ''regent'') because they typically held positions as "regent" on the boards of town councils, as well as charitable and civic institutions. The regents group portrait, ''regentenstuk'' or ''regentessenstuk'' for female boards in Dutch, literally "regents' piece", is a

group portrait

of the board of trustees, called regents or regentesses, of a charitable organization or guild. This type of group portrait was popular in Dutch Golden Age painting during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Again in Belgium and France (''régent'' in French, or in Dutch), "regent" is the official title of a teacher in a lower secondary school (junior high school), who does not require a college degree but is trained in a specialized ''école normale'' (normal school).

Southeast Asia

In the Dutch East Indies, a regent was a native prince allowed to rule de facto colonized 'state' as a ''regentschap''. Consequently, in the successor state of

Indonesia

, the term regent is used in

English

to mean a ''bupati'', the head of a ''kabupaten'' (second level local government).

In

Malaysia

, a regent or "pemangku raja" in Malay is the interim ruler of a Malay state if the king is elected as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, or is unable to assume the role as head of state. For example, the regent of

Pahang

, Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah held the post after his father, Abdullah of Pahang was elected as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in 2019.

In the

Philippines

specifically, the

University of Santo Tomas

the Father Regent, who must be a Dominican priest and is often also a teacher, serves as the institution's spiritual head. They also form the Council of Regents that serves as the highest administrative council of the university.

See also

*Queen mother
*Empress dowager
*Queen dowager
*List of regents
*Regency Acts
*

Viceroy

, an individual who, in a colony or province, exercised the power of a monarch on his behalf
* Governor-General

References

{{Authority control

Heads of state
Titles
Monarchy