(in the UK) the holder of a university chair founded by a sovereign (especially one at Oxford or Cambridge instituted by Henry VIII) or filled by Crown appointment.
‘the Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford’
‘The Regius professor of public law at Edinburgh University says the parliament has brought in law reforms that would never have been achieved at Westminster.’
holder of a chair, chair, head of faculty, head of department
Origin
Latin regius ‘royal’, from rex, reg- ‘king’.
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