Legal Definitions - regicide

Regicide refers to two distinct but related concepts:

• The act of killing a monarch, typically a king.
• The person who commits such an act.

This term specifically describes the unlawful taking of a sovereign's life, an act often laden with profound political, social, and historical consequences.

Examples:

• Example 1: A cabal of ambitious dukes, discontent with the young king's rule, secretly plotted to ambush him during a hunting expedition, intending to ensure his "accidental" death and pave the way for a new successor more amenable to their influence.

  Explanation: This scenario illustrates regicide as the planned act of killing a king, driven by political motives and a desire to alter the line of succession.

• Example 2: During a period of intense civil war, a rebel commander successfully led his forces to storm the royal palace. In the ensuing chaos, the commander personally confronted and executed the reigning emperor, declaring an end to the monarchy.

  Explanation: Here, the rebel commander is the regicide – the individual who directly kills the monarch – and his action constitutes the act of regicide, marking a violent shift in power.

• Example 3: A powerful religious faction, believing the queen had strayed from divine law, incited a popular uprising. The rebellion culminated in the queen's capture and public execution, carried out by a specially appointed tribunal that condemned her as a tyrant.

  Explanation: This example demonstrates regicide as the killing of a sovereign, even if carried out under the guise of legal or moral justification by a powerful group, fundamentally removing the monarch from power through death.