List of regents


A regent is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. The following is a list of regents throughout history.

Regents in extant monarchies

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

Cambodia

Japan

Jordan

  • 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 took over during the king's ailment and continued after the king's forced abdication, 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

Terengganu

Oman

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Thailand

Africa

Morocco

Lesotho

Swaziland

Europe

Belgium

Denmark

Liechtenstein

Luxembourg

Monaco

Netherlands

Norway

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom and its predecessor realms

South America

Afro-Bolivian monarchy

Regents in defunct monarchies

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

Asia

China

Afghanistan

Before the 1881 unification, there were essentially four rulers' capitals: Kabul, Herat, Qandahar and Peshawar ; 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 or to the Mohammadzay segment of the Barakzay clan. The Mohammadzay also furnished the Saddozay kings frequently with top counselors, who served occasionally as regents, identified with the epithet Mohammadzay.

Ahom Kingdom

Madurai

Mughal Empire

Vijayanagara Empire

Qutub Shahi dynasty

Travancore

Both before and during the British Raj], 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

Iran

Iraq

In the short-lived Hashemite kingdom, there were three regencies in the reign of the third and last king Faysal II :

Korea

Mongolia

Myanmar

Mysore

Nepal

Ryukyu

Tibetan Empire

Turkey

Vietnam

Africa

Egypt

Ethiopia

Americas

Brazil

Mexico

Europe

Austria

Bulgaria

Finland

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

Georgia and its predecessor realms

Greece

German Empire

Anhalt

Hungary

Iceland

Italy

Kievan Rus'

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Serbia

Yugoslavia

Oceania

Hawaii