Word.ws English Dictionary

custos regni

UK/ˈkʌstɒs ˈɹɜɡnaɪ/

custos regni noun: a kind of viceregal locum tenens appointed, either alone or jointly, to execute the political duties of a monarch during his or her absence from the seat of government.

Noun

custos regni (plural custodes regni)

  1. A kind of viceregal locum tenens appointed, either alone or jointly, to execute the political duties of a monarch during his or her absence from the seat of government.
    • If the King be abſent, and taken captive, the People may give the Royall power to one, or to ſome few to exerciſe it as cuſtodes regni.1644 October 7, Samuel Rutherford, Lex, Rex: The Law and the Prince, page 148
    • It was reſolved…[to] Petition…His Majeſty, to appoint a Cuſtos Regni, or Locum tenens during his Abſence out of this Kingdom; and amongſt other things, in ſpecial to give him Power, to give the Royal Aſſent in Parliament, and to do ſuch things as the King might do if he were preſent. [It was]...1683, John Nalson, An Impartial Collection of the Great Affairs of State, II, page 412

Forms of custos regni

pluralcustodes regni

Origin of custos regni

First attested in the plural in October 1644 and in the singular in 1683; Latin: custōs (“guard”, “protector”; “guardian”; “keeper”, “custodian”) + rēgnī (“of royal power”; genitive singular of rēgnum, “royal power”, “kingdom”) = “custodian of royal power” ≈ “guardian of the realm”.

Questions about custos regni

What does custos regni mean?
Custos regni means a kind of viceregal locum tenens appointed, either alone or jointly, to execute the political duties of a monarch during his or her absence from the seat of government.
What part of speech is custos regni?
Custos regni is a noun.
How do you pronounce custos regni?
Custos regni is pronounced /ˈkʌstɒs ˈɹɜɡnaɪ/ (UK).
What is the plural of custos regni?
The plural of custos regni is custodes regni.

Words near custos regni in the dictionary

  1. customs unions
  2. customs value
  3. customshouse
  4. customshouses
  5. custos
  6. custos regni
  7. custos rotulorum
  8. custrel
  9. custrels
  10. custron
  11. custrons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: custos regni (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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