roi fainéant

plural rois fainéants

1. historicalAny of the later French kings of the Merovingian dynasty, considered to have played a merely ceremonial role.

   1 more example

   Whether it be some Visigothic chieftain raised on a shield above the shoulders of his shouting warriors, some Roi Fainéant of the Merovingian race, a listless, pallid, long-haired kingling, dragged languidly through the streets in a painted wagon by sleek oxen, […] it seems clear to me that we must have some sort of a show, and a pageant, and a ‘barbaric pomp’ of procession.

   1860, George Augustus Sala, Lady Chesterfield's Letters to her Daughter

2. A leader with only nominal power.

   He is a King Do-Nothing, a Roi Fainéant, who shirks and evades all the responsibilities of his position […]

   1898, Henry Harland, Comedies and Errors

   1 more example

   Although Jacques Chirac more recently gave the role a distinctly sleepy, roi fainéant flavor, it remains a throne more than a mere office.

   2012 May 7, Adam Gopnik, “Vive La France”, in The New Yorker