Regius Professor of Modern History (Cambridge)

Regius Professor of History, prior to 2010 Regius Professor of Modern History, is one of the senior professorships in history at Cambridge University. It was founded in 1724 by George I.

The appointment is by Royal Warrant on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the day. Traditionally the Patronage Secretary at Number 10 Downing Street 'took soundings' in Cambridge and put two names before the Prime Minister, of which one was forwarded to the monarch. In 2008, however, Prime Minister Gordon Brown devolved the appointment of all the Regius Professorships onto appointments committees at their respective universities; the Vice-Chancellor is now required to forward the name of the successful candidate, who must have accepted the offer of the post, to the Cabinet Office, which then initiates the recommendation by the Prime Minister and the issuing of the Royal Warrant. The Regius Professorship was originally intended by George I to teach contemporary European history, and four modern language instructors had to be paid for out of the Professor's salary. In 1861 this requirement was dropped. A number of the holders of the Professorship have in fact been medieval history specialists, following a later division of History into Ancient and Modern. In 2010, the Queen and the Privy Council approved the removal of the word 'modern' from the title to reflect this change in usage, on the recommendation of the History Faculty and the University.

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