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{{unreferenced|date=April 2016}}
{{other uses|Protector (disambiguation)}}
'''Protector''', sometimes spelled '''protecter''', is used as a title or part of various historical titles of heads of state and others in authority.

==Political and administrative==

===Heads of state===

====Iran====
''Wakil ar-Ra`aya'' (rendered as '''Protector of the People''') was a title of the Persian imperial Monarch under the [[Zand dynasty|Zand]] dynasty, as those rulers refused (except the last as noted) the style [[Shahanshah]]. The founding ruler of the Zand dynasty adopted the style; it appears that his successors used the same style, although documentation is obscure.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}
*1773 - 1 March 1779 Mohammad Karim Khan Zand (b. c.1707 - d. 1779) 
*6 March 1779 - 1779 Abu al-Fath Khan Zand (1st time) (b. 1755 - d. 1787) - ''jointly with'' 6 March 1779 - 19 June 1779 Mohammad Ali Khan Zand (b. 1760 - d. 1...) 
*19 June 1779 - 22 August 1779 Abu al-Fath Khan Zand (2nd time) 
*22 August 1779 - 14 March 1781 Mohammad Sadeq Khan Zand (d. 1782) 
*15 March 1781 - 11 February 1785 Ali Morad Khan Zand (d. 1785) 
*12 February 1785 - 17 February 1785 Baqer Khan Khorasakani 
*18 February 1785 - 23 January 1789 Jaafar Khan Zand (d. 1789) 
*23 January 1789 - 10 May 1789 Seyd Morad Khan Zand 
*10 May 1789 - 30 October 1794 Lotf Ali Khan Zand (b. c.1766 - d. 1794); he again adopted the traditional style [[Shah]]anshah March 1794 - 30 October 1794

====Europe====
* [[Lord Protector]] (plural: Lords Protectors) is a title that has been used at times in British constitutional law for the head of state.
*In [[Iceland]], one Sovereign was styled ''Alls Íslands '''Verndari''' og Hæstráðandi til Sjós og Lands'' ("Protector and supreme authority of all of Iceland on land and sea") 25 June - 22 August 1809 (an intermezzo between Danish Governors styled ''[[Stiftamtmadur]])'': [[Jørgen Jørgensen]] (b. 1780 - d. 1841; nicknamed ''Hundadagakonungur'' "the Dog-Day King").
*In [[Estonia]], ''State-protector'' was a common rendering of [[Riigihoidja]], a Head of State and Head of Government, from 24 January 1934 to 24 April 1938 (acting to 3 September 1937). One example of this title's holder is Konstantin Päts (b. 1874 - d. 1956), who was earlier five times State Elder, thereafter the first and only President before the Soviet takeover.
*In [[Finland]] (linguistically close to Estonian), State Protector is a common rendering, besides Regent, of two Finnish Heads of State 18 May 1918 - 27 July 1919, the first incumbent being also the last of the previous — untitled — acting heads of state.
*In the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], King [[Karl X Gustaf]] of Sweden (b. 1622 - d. 1660) ({{langx|pl|Karol X Gustaw}}), was styled '''''Protektor''' Rzeczypospolitej'' in Polish ("Protector of the Republic") as challenger to the duly elected king Jan II Kazimierz during the middle part of his reign (17 January 1649 - 16 September 1668).

====Americas====
*in the [[Dominican Republic]]: 4 August 1865 - 15 November 1865, his first non-consecutive presidential term: [[José María Cabral|José María Cabral y de Luna]] (b. 1819 - d. 1899)
*in [[Haiti]]: Sylvain Salnave (b. 1826 - d. 1870), one of the three members of the previous Provisional Government, was President 4 May 1867 - 27 December 1869 and ''Protector of the Republic'' to 16 June 1867
*in present [[Nicaragua]]: on 20 April 1823 general [[José Anacleto Ordóñez]] was proclaimed ''General en Jefe del Ejército, Protector y Libertador de Granada''; he acted as head of state (e.g. in a treaty ), but set up a Governing [[military junta|Junta]] (it's unclear whether he was a member) which continued to govern after Granada's accession{{Clarify|date=November 2009}} to the [[Central American Federation]] on July 2
*in [[Peru]]: 3 August 1821 - 20 September 1822 general [[José Francisco de San Martín]] y Matorras (b. 1778 - d. 1850)
*in the [[Peru-Bolivian Confederation]]: [[Andrés de Santa Cruz y Calahumana|José Andrés de Santa Cruz y Villavicencio y Calumana]] (b. 1792 - d. 1865; Military) '''Supreme Protector''' 28 October 1836 - 20 February 1839 (also [[Bolivia]]n President 24 May 1829 - 20 February 1839) 
*in [[Brazil]], 12 October 1822 - 15 November 1889, the imperial style was ''Imperador Constitucional e '''Defensor Perpétuo''''' (Constitutional Emperor and '''perpetual defender''')

===Foreign hegemons===

====Napoleonic France====
*in most of Germany, east of the Rhine, except Prussia, from 25 July 1806 to 19 October 1813, the French Emperor, [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon I]], bore the additional title of '''''protecteur''' de la Confédération du Rhin'', i.e. Protector of the [[Confederation of the Rhine]], generally known as ''Rheinbund'' ('Rhenan League'), uniting the German princes that had bowed to the conqueror. The actual presidency of its diet and council of Kings was held by a German prince, the [[Fürstprimas]] ('Prince-primate').
*Bonaparte had a similar position in Switzerland (then called the [[Helvetic Republic]]/[[Swiss Confederation (Napoleonic)|Swiss Confederation]]) under French occupation, but there his style was ''Médiateur de la Confédération Helvétique'' (Mediator, 1809 - 31 December 1813), while the chairmanship of the Diet (legislative assembly, since 10 March 1803), the acting Head of the Confederation, with the title ''[[Landammann]] der Schweiz'' {{in lang|de}}/''Landamman de la Suisse'' {{in lang|fr}}/''[[Landamano]] della Svizzera'' {{in lang|it}}, fell simply to the [[chief magistrate]] of the canton hosting it.

====Nazi Germany====
*Nazi Germany was represented by a '''Reichsprotektor''' ('Reich protector') in the Czech puppet-state it installed on 16 March 1939 under the explicit name ''Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren'', the "[[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]]". (This excluded the ethnically German regions, which were annexed as ''Reichsgau'' [[Sudetenland]].) The Reichsprotektor held the real executive power, not the native President and Prime Minister. The German incumbents, after a month under a Military Governor, were:
**5 April 1939 &ndash; 20 August 1943 [[Konstantin von Neurath]], ''[[Freiherr]]'' (1873 &ndash; 1956) NSDAP 
**27 September 1941 &ndash; 4 June 1942 [[Reinhard Heydrich]] (1904 &ndash; 1942) NSDAP (acting for Neurath) 
**27 May 1942 &ndash; 28 May 1942 [[Karl Hermann Frank]] (1898 &ndash; 1946) NSDAP (acting for the mortally wounded Heydrich) 
**28 May 1942 &ndash; 14 October 1943 [[Kurt Daluege]] (1897 &ndash; 1946) NSDAP (acting [to 5 June 1942] for Heydrich]) 
**14 October 1943 &ndash; 8 May 1945 [[Wilhelm Frick]] (1877 &ndash; 1946) NSDAP 
**26 April 1945 &ndash; 8 May 1945 [[Ferdinand Schörner]] (1892 &ndash; 1973) (military commander with unrestricted executive power)

====Fictitious====
The self-styled [[Emperor Norton|Emperor Norton I of the United States]] included among his titles "Protector of Mexico."

===Colonial administration===
*In Spanish America, a '''[[Protector of the Indians]]''' was to restrain the abuses of the [[conquistadores]] at the expense of the [[indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] [[Amerindian|Indios]], e.g. granted to the first missionary [[bishop of Cusco]] (in Peru).
*In the British Empire, a colonial official responsible for administering the [[Chinese Protectorate]]s, entities charged with the well-being of [[Chinese race|ethnic Chinese]] residents of the [[United Kingdom|British]]-held [[Straits Settlements]]—which included current-day [[Singapore]]—during that territory's [[Colonialism|colonial]] period.
*In the French empire, the ''Protecteur des Indigènes'' 'Protector of the Natives' was a colonial official charged with the protection of an indigenous community; ironically, such 'native' status was also awarded to the (Asian) ''immigrants'' -thus officially named- on the island of [[La Réunion]].

==Religious==
===Catholic===
{{Main|Cardinal protector}}
Since the thirteenth century it has been customary at Rome to confide to some particular Cardinal a special solicitude in the [[Roman Curia]] for the interests of a given religious order or institute, confraternity, church, college, city, nation, etc. Such a person is known as a ''Cardinal Protector''.

===Islamic===
The title ''Hâdim ül Haramain ish Sharifain'' or ''Khādim al-Ḥaramayn al-Sharifayn'', [[Arabic]] for 'Servant of the Noble Sanctuaries', notably [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]] (the destinations of the [[hajj]] pilgrimage; both in the [[Grand Sherif]]'s peninsular Arabian territory; the third being [[Jerusalem]], part of an province) was awarded to Sultan [[Salim Khan I]] by the Sherif of Mecca in 1517, a year after his conquest of Egypt and assuming of the title of [[Commander of the Faithful]], and [[Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe]], i.e. Caliph; both remained part of the full style of his successors on the throne.

==See also==
* [[Defensor (disambiguation)|Defensor]]
* [[Heavenly protector]]
* [[Lord Protector]] (sometimes in the short form Protector)
* [[Protector of Aborigines]]
* [[Protectorate]] for the use of the word for a state 'protecting' another political entity
* [[Protectorate of Missions]]


[[Category:Ecclesiastical titles]]
[[Category:Heads of state]]
[[Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership]]