Regent (pronounced ree-juhnt)
(1) A person who exercises the ruling power in a kingdom during the minority, absence, or disability of the sovereign.
(2) A ruler or governor (obsolete).
(3) In certain schools and colleges in Scotland, the US and Canada, a member of the governing board of a state university or a state educational system.
(4) A university officer who exercises general supervision over the conduct and welfare of the students (now rare); a senior teacher or administrator in certain universities (rare, mostly obsolete).
(5) In certain Catholic universities, a member of the religious order who is associated in the administration of a school or college with a layperson who is its dean or director.
1375-1400: From the Anglo-Norman regent (a ruler), from the adjective regent (ruling, governing (later "exercising vicarious authority")), from the Middle French, from the Old French, from the Medieval Latin regentem from regēns (ruling; ruler, governor, prince), present participle of regō (I govern, I steer), noun use of present participle of regere (to rule, direct). The ultimate root was the primitive Indo-European reg- (move in a straight line) derivatives of this carrying the sense “to direct in a straight line" thus eventually the meaning "to lead, rule". The most familiar meaning "one who rules during the minority or absence of a sovereign" emerged in the early fifteenth century as an alternative to king, not implying legitimacy or permanence of rule; the Latin for this was interrex (plural interreges). The sense "university faculty member" is attested from late fourteenth century and preserves the original meaning. When used in any of its adjectival forms, the sense is usually postpositive.
The last King of Italy
Umberto Nicola Tommaso Giovanni Maria di Savoia (1904–1983) was the last King of Italy, his reign lasting but thirty-four days during May-June 1946; Italians nicknamed him the May King (Re di Maggio) although some meaner types preferred "May queen". At the instigation of the US and British political representatives of the allied military authorities, he’d been appointed regent on 10 April 1944 because the king was tainted by his long association with the fascist regime.
Despite the king’s reputation suffering by association, his relationship with the fascists had often been uneasy and, seeking means to blackmail the royal house, Mussolini’s spies complied a dossier, reputably several inches thick, on his son’s private life. Then styled Prince of Piedmont, the secret police discovered Umberto was a sincere and committed Roman Catholic but one unable to resist his "satanic homosexual urges” and his biographer agreed, noting the prince was "forever rushing between chapel and brothel, confessional and steam bath" often spending hours “praying for divine forgiveness.” After a referendum abolished the monarchy, Umberto II lived his remaining thirty-seven years in exile and never returned to Italy. His turbulent marriage to Princess Marie-José of Belgium (1906-2001) produced four children but historians consider it quite possible none of them were his.
Lindsay Lohan at the Mr Pink Ginseng Drink Launch Party, Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills, California, 11 October 2012.
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