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DictionaryviceroyMonarch's representative
noun

viceroy

VYSS-roy/ˈvaɪsrɔɪ/

A ruler governing a territory on behalf of a monarch.

The viceroy governs the territory on behalf of the crown.

A seventeenth-century Spanish viceroy in New Spain administers a territory from a modest desk beneath a portrait of the distant crowned monarch he represents.
Etymology
viceOld Frenchdeputy; in place of
+royOld Frenchking

The pieces mean a deputy acting in a king's place. A viceroy exercises royal authority over a territory on the monarch's behalf, rather than ruling as an independent sovereign.

In context

History Of Latin Cultures0:21
A vice royalty was a huge territory governed by a viceroy who acted as the king of Spain's representative in the Americas.
What Was A Viceroyalty During Simon Bolivar's Independence Wars? - History Of Latin Cultures

More examples

  • The monarch appoints a new viceroy.
  • The museum explains the powers held by colonial viceroys.
  • A portrait of the viceroy hangs in the old palace.

Forms

viceroy · viceroys

Similar words

governor
Can govern without representing a monarch.
regent
A regent rules temporarily for an absent or underage monarch; a viceroy governs a territory as the monarch’s representative.