List of regents

Summary

A regent is a person selected to act as head of state (ruling or not) because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated.[1] Currently there is only one ruling Regency in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein. The following is a list of regents.

Gustaf Mannerheim as regent of Finland (sitting) and his adjutants (from the left) Lt. Col. Lilius, Cap. Kekoni, Lt. Gallen-Kallela, Ensign Rosenbröijer.

Regents in extant monarchies edit

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, presumably not even for all monarchies included. The list includes some figures who acted as regent, even if they did not themselves hold the title of regent.

Asia edit

Cambodia edit

Japan edit

Jordan edit

  • Prince Naif bin Al-Abdullah from 20 July to 5 September 1951, due to the schizophrenia of his brother King Talal, who was in a Swiss mental hospital.
  • A regency council (Ibrahim Hashem, Suleiman Toukan, Abdul Rahman Rusheidat and chairing Queen Mother Zein al-Sharaf Talal) took over during the king's ailment and continued after the king's forced abdication (on 11 August 1952), serving from 4 June 1952 to 2 May 1953, until King Hussein came of age.
  • Crown Prince Hassan, from 4 July 1998 to 19 January 1999 while his brother King Hussein was undergoing cancer treatments.

Malaysia and its constitutive monarchies edit

Terengganu edit
  • Tengku Muhammad Ismail (eight-years of age at the time), co-reigned with the three-member Regency Advisory Council (Majlis Penasihat Pemangku Raja) from 2006 to 2011. His father, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin the Sultan of Terengganu was elected as 13th King of Malaysia. The Malaysian constitution does not allow a simultaneous reign as both the King of Malaysia and as monarch of the King's native state (deemed absent on the State throne). Sultan Mizan was crowned as King on 13 December 2006 and the prince as the Regent (Pemangku Raja) of Terengganu effective on the same date.

Oman edit

  • for the minor Sa`id (II) ibn Sultan (b. 1790 – succeeded 20 November 1804 – d. 19 Oct 1856) : 20 November 1804 – 31 July 1806 Badr ibn Sayf (d. 1806)
  • for Sultan Turki ibn Sa`id (b. 1832 – succeeded 30 January 1871 – died 4 Jun 1888) : August – December 1875 Abdul-Aziz ibn Said – (b. 1850 – d. 1907)

Qatar edit

Saudi Arabia edit

  • 30 March 1964 – 2 November 1964 Crown Prince Faisal (b. 1906 – d. 1975) –Regent for his brother King Saud, and later his successor
  • 1 January 1996 – 21 February 1996 formally, but de facto until 1 August 2005 Crown Prince Abdullah (b. 1924 – d. 2015) –Regent for his brother King Fahd, and later his successor

Thailand edit

Africa edit

Morocco edit

Lesotho edit

Swaziland edit

Europe edit

Belgium edit

Denmark edit

Liechtenstein edit

Luxembourg edit

Monaco edit

Netherlands edit

Norway edit

Spain edit

Sweden edit

 
Sten Sture the Elder, long-serving regent of Sweden

United Kingdom and its predecessor realms edit

Kingdom of Great Britain edit
Kingdom of England edit
Kingdom of Scotland edit
House of Stewart edit

Regents in defunct monarchies edit

The same notes apply; inclusion in this list reflects the political reality, regardless of claims to the throne.

Asia edit

China edit

Afghanistan edit

Before the 1881 unification, there were essentially four rulers' capitals: Kabul, Herat, Qandahar and Peshawar (the last now in Pakistan); all their rulers belonged to the Abdali tribal group, whose name was changed to Dorrani with Ahmad Shah Abdali. They belong either to the Saddozay segment of the Popalzay clan (typically styled padshah, king) or to the Mohammadzay segment of the Barakzay clan (typically with the style Amir, in full Amir al-Mo´menin "Leader of the Faithful"). The Mohammadzay also furnished the Saddozay kings frequently with top counselors, who served occasionally as (Minister-)regents, identified with the epithet Mohammadzay.

Ahom Kingdom edit

Madurai edit

Mughal Empire edit

Vijayanagara Empire edit

Qutub Shahi dynasty edit

Travancore edit

Both before and during the British raj (colonial rule), most of India was ruled by several hundred native princely houses, many of which have known regencies, under the raj subject to British approval

Vakataka Kingdom edit

Iran edit

Iraq edit

In the short-lived Hashemite kingdom, there were three regencies in the reign of the third and last king Faysal II (b. 1935 – d. 1958; also Head of the 'Arab Union', a federation with the Hashemite sister-kingdom Jordan, from 14 February 1958) :

  • 4 April 1939 – 1 April 1941 Prince 'Abd al-Ilah (1st time) (b. 1913 – d. 1958)
  • 1 April 1941 – 1 June 1941 Sharaf ibn Rajih al-Fawwaz (b. 1880 – d. 1955)
  • 1 June 1941 – 2 May 1953 Crown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah (2nd time)

Korea edit

Mongolia edit

Myanmar edit

Mysore edit

Nepal edit

Ryukyu edit

Tibetan Empire edit

Turkey edit

 
The regent Yariri (r.) and his successor Kamani (l.), on a relief from Carchemish. An example of regency from ancient history.

Vietnam edit

Africa edit

Egypt edit

Ethiopia edit

Americas edit

Brazil edit

 
Princess Maria Leopoldina acting as regent of the Kingdom of Brazil on behalf of her husband Prince Pedro in 1822, as depicted in Sessão do Conselho de Estado
 
The oath of the provisional triumviral regents of the Empire of Brazil in 1831, during the regency period.
 
Isabel, Princess Imperial taking oath as regent of the Empire of Brazil on behalf of her father Pedro II, c. 1870

Europe edit

Austria edit

Bulgaria edit

Finland edit

After the abdication of Nicholas II of Russia, the throne of the Grand Duke of Finland was vacant and according to the constitution of 1772, a regent was installed by the Finnish Parliament during the first two years of Finnish independence, before the country was declared a republic.

France edit

Greece edit

German Empire edit

Anhalt edit
Baden edit
Bavaria edit
Brunswick edit
Hanover edit
Hesse-Darmstadt edit
Hesse-Homburg edit
Hesse-Kassel edit
Lippe edit
Mecklenburg-Schwerin edit
Mecklenburg-Strelitz edit
Prussia edit
Württemberg edit
Saxe-Altenburg edit
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha edit
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg edit
Saxe-Eisenach edit
Saxe-Hildburghausen edit
Saxe-Jena edit
Saxe-Meiningen edit
Saxe-Merseburg edit
Saxe-Weimar edit
Saxony edit
Waldeck edit

Hungary edit

Iceland edit

Italy edit

Italy edit

Mantua edit
Parma edit
Savoy edit

Kievan Rus' edit

Portugal edit

Romania edit

Russia edit

Serbia edit

Serbian regents abroad edit

Yugoslavia edit

Oceania edit

Hawaii edit

  • Queen Kaʻahumanu, between 1824 and 1832 during the rule of the infant Kamehameha III; she was also Kuhina Nui (co-ruler), regent, of Kamehameha II
  • Elizabeth Kīnaʻu, between 5 June 1832 – 17 March 1833 after Kaʻahumanu's death and before Kamehameha III became 20 years old[7]

Notes edit

  1. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term as "A person appointed to administer a State because the Monarch is a minor, is absent or is incapacitated."
  2. ^ "Kronprins Christian skal være regent for første gang - TV 2". nyheder.tv2.dk (in Danish). 30 January 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Kronprins Christian bliver for første gang regent | Nyheder". DR (in Danish). 30 January 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  4. ^ a b Pryde, E. B., ed. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-0-521-56350-5.
  5. ^ Trevor Bryce: The World of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History. Oxford, New York 2012, p. 95.
  6. ^ Shaw, Ian (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 291.
  7. ^ "Kuhina Nui 1819–1864". Centennial Exhibit. State of Hawaii Department of Accounting and General Services. Retrieved 3 October 2009.