History Main / RegentForLife

* Francisco Franco was officialy Regent of the Kingom, amongst other jobs job. Despite popular belief he was not a Fascist but an Ultra-Conservative and a Monarchist (the Fascist party came to despise him for this), and was ostensibly holding power until the rightful King stepped in....though he did'nt actually say who that was until 6 years before his death. The man in question was the Carlist pretender Juan Carlos, who upon Franco's death promptly declared a liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy.

And once in a blue moon, the Regent is only called a Regent because [[KingInTheMountain the actual King has been gone for a very long time]], and the people are (at least theoretically) awaiting his [[ReturnOfTheKing return]]. Since nobody wishes to disrespect the title of King, the actual ruler of the country is officially merely a regent, but in practice has all the power of a king and isn't usually particularly worried about having to give up power to anyone but his son (or perhaps the next person smart enough to overthrow him).

When the heir is of age, the story can go several different ways. Perhaps the regent becomes the EvilChancellor and runs the kingdom through deception, manipulation, or some sort of evil control over the ruler. If if he's in line for the throne himself, he may become the EvilPrince. Other times he'll arrange for the true heir to be kidnapped, killed, [[ManInTheIronMask imprisoned]], or discredited. If the heir is of the opposite gender, the regent might attempt to marry them. While such intergenerational political marriages were once common, the Regent's anticipation of the consummation often pushes him over the MoralEventHorizon. If the regent is already married, or forbidden to marry, he may settle for [[ArrangedMarriage the heir marrying into his family]]. Subtler regents may try to introduce him to drink, drugs, and other pleasures in hopes that he will find decadence more pleasing than ruling; a grown figurehead is no different from a minor.

* BatmanBegins has a minor example, as the CEO takes over Wayne Enterprises soon after Bruce loses his parents. Near the end of the film, Bruce simply decides to [[AwesomeYetPractical discreetly buy stock until he was the majority shareholder.]]
* [[TheChroniclesOfNarnia Prince Caspian]] -- the central plot in the movie, as well as the book.
* The ''RichieRich'' movie features this when Richie's parents go missing (presumed dead). Cadbury is named the benevolent regent of the Rich estate...until the scheming van Dough frames Cadbury for their murder and takes the regent role by force.

* Dion Morgan, Regent of Nuin "for Our Very Present Emergency" in EdgarPangborn's DAVY. It is noted by one of the narrators that the "emergency" started as the accession of an inane hereditary President, but came to mean something like "period lasting from the year Your Excellency got away with it until Your Excellency can decently be kicked out" -- which duly happens.

* A slightly version is found in Tappan Wright's ISLANDIA, where the King of Islandia is technically regent for Alwin XVII, who was never seen again after a battle centuries before, but who has never been declared dead. Islandia's version of constitutional monarchy came about by this historical accident.

** Also in Egypt, Ay, who was vizier for several pharaohs and also regent for Tutankhamun whilst Tut was a child. An attempt by Tutankhamun's sister to bring in a prince from outside to be heir failed when the prince was killed on the way to Egypt, and when Tutankhamun died aged nineteen (foul play has never been proven, and given [[HistoryMarchesOn recent evidence]] is highly unlikely to have taken place) Ay became pharaoh.

* Queen Regent Clothilde in MercedesLackey's reworking of SwanLake (''The Black Swan'') intends to murder her son after he marries and conceives an heir.

* Johann Friedrich Struensee was royal physician to the schizophrenic King Christian VII of Denmark and a minister in the Danish government. He rose in power to a position of “de facto” regent of the country, where he tried to carry out widespread reforms. His affair with Queen Caroline Matilda caused scandal, especially after the birth of a daughter, Princess Louise Augusta, and was the catalyst for the intrigues and power play that caused his downfall and dramatic death.

** Fun fact: Valdemar was in his late 20's when his father dies. One can just imagine the tension between in the Royal Court between the now adult King and his father who had been the de facto ruler for decades.

* Louis [[strike: XIV]] XIII had [[strike: Ze Cardinal]] Cardinal Richelieu running the matters of the throne for basically his own life after his mother died.

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* Averted with prejudice and in a very GenreSavvy manner by Ezar Vorbarra in LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Barrayar'' series. Ezar picked the one man that he ''knew'' didn't want Imperial Power to be Regent for his grandson, Prince Gregor. When Gregor finally came of age, Aral willing stepped aside from Imperial power, becoming his Prime Minister in a strictly advisory role. Aral knew that he had succeeded in raising a true Emperor on the day that Gregor went against his advice when dealing with an interstellar crisis (though Aral still found it to be something of a shock.)

* Alia in {{Dune}}.

* In the ''RobinHood'' legend, King Richard's brother Prince John acts as his regent during the crusades. While gone, Prince John plots and manoeuvres to retain his despotic rule. (Note that as part of the Robin Hood legends, this is NewerThanTheyThink; Prince John had no part of the legends until Victorian times.)

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* Yzma in ''TheEmperorsNewGroove'', although her official title is Advisor. (And in this case, "for life" really carries some weight..)

** And in the book, Denethor would have a solid precedent for refusing to give Aragorn the throne.
*** As in "the last king was an absolute prat, and got himself stupidly killed."