Regius Professor

The first Regius Professorship was in the field of medicine, and founded by the Scottish King James IV at the University of Aberdeen in 1497.

Regius chairs have since been instituted in various universities, in disciplines judged to be fundamental and for which there is a continuing and significant need.

Each was established by an English, Scottish, or British monarch, and following proper advertisement and interview through the offices of the university and the national government, the current monarch still appoints the professor (except for those at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, which left the United Kingdom in 1922).

This royal imprimatur, and the relative rarity of these professorships, means a Regius chair is prestigious and highly sought-after.

[1] The University of Glasgow currently has the highest number of extant Regius chairs, at fourteen.