Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is a fully managed service that simplifies the setup, operation, and scaling of relational databases in the cloud. It is designed to automate time-consuming administrative tasks such as hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, and backups, allowing developers and database administrators to focus on application development. With support for multiple database engines, Amazon RDS offers flexibility and reliability, making it a go-to solution for cloud-based database management.