The Collaborative International Dictionary
Regius \Re"gi*us\ (r?l"?*?s), a. [L. regius, from rex, regis, a king.] Of or pertaining to a king; royal.
Regius professor, an incumbent of a professorship founded by royal bounty, as in an English university.
Wikipedia
A Regius professor is a university professor with royal patronage or appointment. They are a unique feature of academia in the British Isles. The first Regius professorship was in the field of medicine, and founded by the Scottish King James IV at Aberdeen University 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 a 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 the University of 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.
Regius professors are traditionally addressed as "Regius" and not "Professor". Glasgow University currently has the highest number of extant Regius chairs, at thirteen.
Usage examples of "regius professor".
Professor Busuttil, Regius Professor of Forensic Medicine, University of Edinburgh.
You, a man who should have been Regius Professor at a great University with a thousand students all revering you.
The 'Regius Professor of English' was asked to adjudicate on a dispute which was rending the Mess of a certain Light A.
If it was unlikely for a scruffy little girl to turn up in his cell knowing the very man who figured in his obsessions, the Regius Professor didn't notice.
Edward Johnston, Regius Professor of History at Yale, squinted as the helicopter thumped by overhead.
In 1645 he was appointed Master of Clare Hall, in place of the ejected Dr PASHE, and was elected Regius Professor of Hebrew.