In ancient Gallaecia, long before the medieval Kingdom, an institution is documented that clearly shared traits of what we can call "royalty". This is the Galaic principatus, whose name appears in several inscriptions from the Roman period, referring, however, to an indigenous cultural background, Castrejo. The principatus moves away from the institutional universe of the medieval Christian kingship around which this Congress revolves, contrasting it with a pagan, Indo-European background, which would refer to a tribal headship that predates the formation of the State, of which there are numerous ancient parallels, and of which the principatus would constitute an example of regional shaping. In this Report, after the due conceptual assessments have been made, a summary of the current knowledge surrounding said institution is presented, which combines the circumstantial data of the Roman inscriptions themselves that document it, each indicative of the material and immaterial culture of Gallic Prehistory, framed both in the Castrex culture and in other previous chrono-cultural horizons. The headship that hides the principatus is without a doubt much earlier than its epigraphic embodiment, but it may also have achieved a later extensive survival, not directly documented. Although the political evolution of Roman Gallaecia, with the consolidation of the State, was harmful to the previous tribal structures and their chiefdoms, numerous literary and archaeological indications from the late antique and medieval period suggest their marginal survival in certain areas. Therefore, some of these indicators are explored, which can enrich the perspective of the origins of the medieval Galician Kingdom: a State of its own right built on a local juridical and organizational power that is richer and more diverse than is usually conceived, in which the old Galaic tribal structures and their chiefdoms.