Regent

Cersei Lannister's regency of her son, Joffrey Baratheon, ended upon his marriage to Margaery Tyrell.

"You're serving as Hand of the King till Father gets here. I am Queen Regent!"

―Cersei Lannister to her brother, Tyrion

A regent is a person who rules in the name of a king, queen, lord, or lady because the rightful ruler is a child, incapacitated, absent or otherwise incapable of ruling with any degree of force. When ruling in the name of a child, the regent's rule ends when the heir reaches adulthood. In the Seven Kingdoms, the legal age of adulthood is 16 years old. When a regent rules in the name of the King of the Andals and the First Men, he or she may also hold the title of Protector of the Realm. A royal regent also holds a seat in the small council, taking the place of the young monarch. While a regent functionally rules in place of an underage monarch, only the actual ruler and the Hand of the King may sit on the Iron Throne itself. For this reason, Queen Regent Cersei Lannister sits on a gilded chair at the foot of the throne.

If a king dies and the queen mother acts as regent for their child, she is known as the queen regent. Since a regency, by definition, requires a king's death, the title "king regent" is never used; a male acting as regent for a king would hold the title "lord regent". Regents for regular lordships may be called "lord (lady) protector" or "lord (lady) regent".

Various regents

• Lady {Lysa Arryn} assumes the position of lady regent to her son, Lord Robin Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie and Lord Paramount of the Vale after murdering her husband, Lord {Jon Arryn}. She is eventually murdered as well, by her second husband and accomplice, Lord {Petyr Baelish}, who takes over her position as lord protector.
• Lord {Eddard Stark}, Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North, and Hand of the King, was named lord regent of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm in Robert Baratheon's will. However, the Lannisters seized power and had Stark falsely imprisoned as a traitor so that he would not question the legitimacy of Cersei Lannister's children. Lord Eddard was impulsively beheaded a short time later by Ilyn Payne on King Joffrey's order.
• Queen {Cersei Lannister}, Robert Baratheon's widow, serves as queen regent during the reign of "their" eldest son, {Joffrey Baratheon}.
• Captain Daario Naharis rules the Bay of Dragons as regent for the absent Queen Daenerys Targaryen to keep the peace until power is transferred peacefully to the people.
• Princess Sansa Stark is appointed lady regent of the North by King Jon Snow, when he leaves his kingdom to meet with {Daenerys Targaryen}.
• Grey Worm essentially rules over the city of King's Landing as the commander of the Unsullied and the last surviving member of Daenerys Targaryen's small council after her assassination by Jon Snow. This contributes to an increase in tensions with the North until the Great Council of 305 AC, when Grey Worm peacefully agrees to yield King's Landing to Bran Stark in exchange for Jon Snow being exiled to the Night's Watch.

See also

• Regent on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (MAJOR spoilers for House of the Dragon)
• Regent on Wikipedia