chair of state

plural chairs of state

1. governmentA chair reserved for a monarch or other person in authority, often with a canopy hung over it.

   And Paule saieth, that Antichrist in time to come, should set his chaire of state in the temple of God.

   1562, John Jewel, An Apologie, or Aunswer in Defence of the Church of England, page 35

   4 more examples

   Each Master of the Family, if he be rich, hath his chair of state, wherein he sits like a Prince, to shew that they were now redeemed from the bondage of Egypt.

   1655, Alexander Ross, Pansebeia, or, A View of All Religions in the World, section 1, page 36

   […] he sent them a herald; whom Aske, their leader, received with great ceremony; he himself sitting in a chair of state, with the archbishop of York on one hand, and lord Darcy on the other.

   1759, David Hume, The History of England, volume 1

   Although he had no reason to doubt that President Lincoln was as good a man as ever sat in the chair of state, he had little hope of his accomplishing much.

   1862, Richard Francis Burton, chapter 6, in The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California, page 306

   The first of the steps was very wide and on it were three chairs—the King’s chair of state in the centre, and on either side chairs in which the Resident and the Alaiye’s consort would presently sit.

   1973, T. M. Aluko, chapter 1, in His Worshipful Majesty, page 2

   Synonyms: state, throne