Emperor

An emperor is the head of an empire. It comes from the Latin imperator, a commander. The female form is empress.

Originally, an imperator was one of the magistrates who governed the Roman Republic. They were vested with imperium, supreme power, including military command. It thus became a title of honour for military commanders between the time of a great victory and the formal triumph celebration.

The first person to use the title permanently was Julius Caesar, and his nephew and succesor Octavian (Augustus Caesar) adopted it as part of his name. The title was taken by all subsequent heads of the Roman Empire and its successor empires, including the Holy Roman Empire (to 1806) and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (to 1919).

The title has also been used by, or applied to, many other rulers. Examples include:

• Peter the Great and his successors as Tsar of Russia, 1721-1917.
• Napoleon, Emperor of France 1804-15; his nephew Louis Napoleon 1852-70.
• Pedro I and Pedro II, Emperors of Brazil 1822-89.
• Maximilian of Austria, Emperor of Mexico 1864-7.
• Kaiser Wilhelm I & II, Emperors of Germany, 1870-1918.
• The Queen or King of the United Kingdom was Empress or Emperor of India, 1876-1947.
• King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Emperor of Abyssinia 1936-46.
• The rulers of China for well over 3000 years until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1912.

The last ruler to use the title is the Emperor of Japan.

The word for king in Albanian is mpret, a corruption of imperator.

"Emperor" is also used to denote the biggest or best of something, for example Emperor penguin and Emperor concerto.