Prince Regent
For the station on the Docklands Light Railway, see Prince Regent DLR station.A
prince regent is a
prince who rules a country instead of a
sovereign, e.g., due to the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or absence (remoteness or non-existence). While the term itself can have the generic meaning and refer to any prince who fills the role of regent, historically it has only been used to describe a small number of individuals.
This title is most commonly associated with King
George IV of the United Kingdom, who held it during the incapacity of his father, King
George III (see
Regent for other regents).
Regent's Park and
Regent Street in
London are named after him.
This period is known as the
English Regency, or just the Regency.
The title was conferred by the
Regency Act on
February 5,
1811. Subject to certain limitations for a period, the Prince Regent was able to exercise the full powers of the King. The precedent of the Regency crisis in the previous decade was followed, from which George III recovered before it was necessary to appoint a Regent. The
Prince of Wales continued as regent until his father's death in 1820, when he became George IV.
Familiarly nicknamed "Prinny", George was unpopular in many quarters, and was the subject of scurrilous cartoons in the press of the day relating to his various extravagances. An oft-reproduced cartoon by Gilray entitled
A VOLUPTUARY under the horrors of Digestion shows a grossly fat Prince picking his teeth after an enormous meal. Behind him an overflowing chamber pot holds down lists of unpaid bills, while on a table against the wall stands a bottle labelled with a contemporary cure for the pox.
Another notable Prince-Regent was
Prince William of Prussia, who served as regent from
1858 to
1861 for his older brother
Frederick William IV, who had become mentally unfit to rule.
Prince Charles of Belgium served as Prince Regent of Belgium from
1944 to
1950 during the German captivity and then exile to Switzerland of his brother, King
Leopold III of Belgium.
Although other princes have served as regents (e.g.
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia in the country from
1934 to
1941,
Prince Luitpold and then
Prince Ludwig of
Bavaria from
1886 to
1913), they are not necessarily referred to as "the Prince Regent."
