regency [LME] Between 1811 and 1820 George, Prince of Wales was regent [LME] for his father King George III, who was suffering from a long-term mental illness. The period of the Regency was noted for its distinctive fashions and architecture. The balls and parties held by the aristocracy of the time are imagined in the romantic historical novels set in this period and called Regency romances. The source of regency is Latin regere ‘to govern, rule’, which means it is related to words like regal [LME] ‘like a ruler’; rector [ME] ‘governor’ (see vicar); regime [LME] ‘rule or regulation’; regiment [LME] which originally had the same sense as regime; region [ME] an area governed; regular [LME] originally ‘governed by a rule’; *royal; and *rule.