Reign - Definition and Overview

A Reign is a period of time a person serves as a monarch or pope. No time limit exists on reigns, nor is there a term of office. Thus a reign usually lasts for the lifetime of the monarch, unless the monarchy itself is abolished or the monarch abdicates.

Reigns

• Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom reigned from 1837 to 1901.
• King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy reigned from 1900 to 1946.
• Pope John XXIII reigned from 1958 to 1963.

A reign can be ended in three ways:

• death
• abdication
• abolition of the office

Abdications

• King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom reigned from January to December 1937 before he abdicated the throne. After his abdication he became known as the Duke of Windsor. No other monarch of the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707-1800), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has ever abdicated, though abdications did occur on rare occasions in the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland prior to their merger in 1707.

• Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands reigned from 1890 to 1948, before abdicating in favour of her daughter, Queen Juliana. Juliana then reigned until 1980 when she abdicated in favour of her daughter, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Abolitions of Monarchies

King Constantine II of Greece reigned from 1963 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy in 1973.

King Humbert II of Italy reigned for only a few weeks in 1946 before the abolition of the Italian Monarchy.