- 1 [countable] a special chair used by a king or queen to sit on at ceremonies Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveempty, vacant, imperial, … verb + throneascend, assume, come to, … prepositionon the throne phrasessomebody’s accession to the throne, a claimant to the throne, a pretender to the throne, … See full entry
- 2the throne [singular] the position of being a king or queen Queen Elizabeth came/succeeded to the throne in 1952. when Henry VIII was on the throne (= was king) Prince Charles is next in line to the British throne. Wordfinderkingabdicate, accede, crown, king, government, monarch, throne, reign, royal, succession Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveempty, vacant, imperial, … verb + throneascend, assume, come to, … prepositionon the throne phrasessomebody’s accession to the throne, a claimant to the throne, a pretender to the throne, … See full entry Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French trone, via Latin from Greek thronos ‘elevated seat’.Extra examples Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558. Left-wing revolutionaries toppled the king from his throne. Queen Victoria remained on the throne for over sixty years. The managing director’s secretary is the real power behind the throne. The marriage failed to produce an heir to the throne. The prince is second in line to the throne behind his brother. a claimant to the vacant Spanish throne He sat very upright in his chair, as if he were a king on his throne.Idioms
the person who really controls an organization, a country, etc. in contrast to the person who is legally in charge The president’s wife was suspected of being the real power behind the throne.
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