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{{short description|Period in which a sovereign rules}}
{{Other uses}}
A '''reign''' is the period of a person's or [[dynasty]]'s occupation of the office of [[monarch]] of a nation (e.g., [[King of Saudi Arabia|Saudi Arabia]], [[List of Belgian monarchs|Belgium]], [[Co-princes of Andorra|Andorra]]), of a people (e.g., [[List of Frankish kings|the Franks]], [[List of Zulu kings|the Zulus]]) or of a spiritual community (e.g., [[Pope|Catholicism]], [[Dalai Lama|Tibetan Buddhism]], [[Aga Khan|Nizari Ismailism]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/reign|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925222719/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/reign|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 25, 2016|title=reign - definition of reign in English {{!}} Oxford Dictionaries|website=[[Oxford English Dictionary|Oxford Dictionaries]] {{!}} English|access-date=2017-04-09}}</ref> In most [[hereditary monarchies]] and some elective monarchies (e.g., [[Holy Roman Empire]]) there have been no limits on the duration of a sovereign's reign or [[incumbent|incumbency]], nor is there a [[term limit|term of office]]. Thus, a reign usually lasts until the monarch dies, unless the monarchy itself is abolished or the monarch abdicates or is deposed.

In [[elective monarchy|elective monarchies]], there may be a fixed period of time for the duration of the monarch's tenure in office (e.g., [[King of Malaysia|Malaysia]]).

The term of a reign can be indicated with the abbreviation "r." (for [[Latin]] ''{{lang|la|rexit}}'') after a sovereign's name,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ym12CgAAQBAJ&q=%22r.%22+abbreviation+monarch+%22reigned%22&pg=PA238|title=Fonseca Robbins´Lexicon|last=Robbins|first=John Fonseca|date=2015-08-31|publisher=[[Clube de Autores]]|location=[[Joinville]]|pages=238|language=en}}</ref> such as the following:
:[[George VI|George VI, King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions, Emperor of India]] (r. 1936&ndash;1952).

==Regnal periods==
Notable{{Clarify|date=October 2021}} reigns have included the following.
* Queen [[Queen Victoria|Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India]] reigned from 1837 to 1901.
* King [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy]] reigned from 1900 to 1946.
* King [[Bhumibol Adulyadej]] of Thailand reigned from 1946 to 2016.
* Queen [[Elizabeth II]] of the Commonwealth realms reigned from 1952 to 2022.
* [[Pope John XXIII]] reigned from 1958 to 1963.
* Emperor [[Akihito]] of Japan reigned from 1989 to 2019.

==End of reign==
A reign can be ended in several ways:

* [[Abdication]]
* [[Abolition of monarchy]]
* [[Death]]
* [[List of deposed politicians|Deposition]]

===Abdication===
{{Main|List of monarchs who abdicated}}
* Emperor [[Ferdinand I of Austria]], King of [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]], King of [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia|Lombardy-Venetia]] (r. 1835–1848) was abdicated due to his disabilities ([[Feeble-minded|feeble-mindedness]] and [[epilepsy]]). His successor, Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Josef]] (r. 1848&ndash;1916) reigned for 68 years.
* King [[Edward VIII]] of the United Kingdom reigned from January to December 1936 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]], the [[United Kingdom|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]], or any [[Dominion]] or [[Commonwealth realm]] has ever abdicated, though forced abdications did occur on rare occasions in the [[England|Kingdom of England]] and the [[Scotland|Kingdom of Scotland]] prior to their merger in 1707.
* Queen [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands]] reigned from 1890 to 1948, before abdicating in favor of her daughter, Queen [[Juliana of the Netherlands|Juliana]] who then reigned until 1980 when she abdicated in favor of her daughter, Queen [[Beatrix of the Netherlands]]. Beatrix followed suit and abdicated in 2013 in favor of her son and heir apparent, King [[Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands|Willem-Alexander]].

===Abolition of monarchy===
* King [[Louis XVI]] of France reigned from 1774 until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792 and his execution the following year.
* [[Puyi|Xuantong Emperor]] of [[Qing dynasty|China]] abdicated in 1912 following the [[1911 Revolution|Xinhai Revolution]], marking the end of the [[Monarchy of China|Chinese monarchy]].
* King [[Umberto II of Italy]] reigned for only a few weeks in 1946 before the abolition of the [[Italy|Italian]] Monarchy.
* King [[Constantine II of Greece]] reigned from 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy in 1973.
* Tsar [[Nicholas II]] of Russia reigned from 1894 until 1917 when he was forced to abdicate and the [[Russian Empire]] was overthrown during the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]].
* Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] of [[Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopia]] reigned for over 40 years (1930-1974) until the [[Derg]] forced him to abdicate and abolished the 3,000 year old monarchy, making him the 225th and final Emperor of Ethiopia.
* [[Shah]] [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] of [[Iran]] reigned for more than 37 years (1941–1979) until the [[Iranian Revolution]], which superseded the 2,500 years of monarchy with an [[Islamic Republic of Iran|Islamic republic]] system of government. The Shah died the following year and is buried in [[Cairo]].

==See also==
*[[Interregnum]]
*[[Rex (title)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Reigns| ]]