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Pretender

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:''This page is about the word Pretender as it applies to a monarchy. For other meanings, see Pretender (disambiguation).'' A '''Pretender''' is a claimant to an abolished or already occupied throne. List of monarchs deposed in the 20th century Deposed monarchs are not seen as pretenders, as the term only applies to those who have ''never'' occupied the throne. The Pope papal equivalent is the antipope.

Modern pretenders
{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" ! rowspan=1 valign="top" | State ! rowspan=1 solid black;" valign="top" | Pretender ! rowspan=1 solid black;" valign="top" | Link to Past Monarchy |- | Albania | Crown Prince Leka Zogu | son of the last king, Ahmet Zogu Zog of Albania |- | Albania | Giorgio Castriota Scanderbeg | Descendant of Scanderbeg |- | Austria-Hungary | Archduke Otto Habsburg Otto, Crown Prince of Austria & Hungary | Otto is the eldest son of Karl I of Austria Karl, last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. Otto "renounced" his claim in order to pass freely into Austria, however, he continues to act (and is supported) as Head of the House of Habsburg. Since the republican government in Austria is seen as an illegitimate successor to the empire to royalists, the renounciation has no validity. |- | Bavaria | Franz, Duke of Bavaria | head of the Wittelsbach family; great-grandson of Bavaria's last King Ludwig III of Bavaria Ludwig III |- | Brazil | Prince Dom Luiz of Orleans-Braganza | head of the Vassouras branch of the last Brazilian Emperor Pedro II |- | Burma | Crown Prince Shwebomin | claims distant descent from the Bagan line of emperors of the first Burmese empire through Sinbyushin |- | Burma (Shan State) | HRH Sao Pan Thee | great grandson of Sao Shwe Thaik , Saopha of Yaunghwe |- | China | Yuyan | cousin of Puyi |- | Ethiopia | Zera Yacob Amha Selassie of Ethiopia | grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie |- | France | Henri, Comte de Paris, Duc de France (Orleanist: majority support) | descendant of Louis-Philippe of France |- | France | Louis-Alphonse, Duc d'Anjou (Legitimist: minority support) | descendant of Louis XIV of France |- | France | Charles Bonaparte (Pretender) Charles Bonaparte (Bonapartist) | descendant of Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte |- | Germany and Prussia | Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia | descendant of the last Emperor, Wilhelm II of Germany Wilhelm II |- | United Kingdom Great Britain and Ireland | Statutory monarchy and republic. | See discussion below. |- | Hyderabad State | Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah | grandson of the last Nizam Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII |- | Hawai'i | Quentin Kawananakoa | senior of the remaining relatives of Queen Liliuokalani |- | Iran | Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi II | son of the last Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi |- | Iraq | Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein | cousin of the last king, Faisal II |- | Italy | Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples Victorio Emanuele | son of the last king, Umberto II of Italy |- | Korea | Seok, Prince of Korea | son of Gang, Prince of Korea Prince Gang of Korea |- | Korea | Won, Prince of Korea | Gu, Prince of Korea Prince Gu's adopted son from one of the descendant of Gang, Prince of Korea Prince Gang of Korea |- | Laos | Sauryavong Savang | son of Savang Vatthana, the last king of Laos |- | Libya | Sayyid Muhammad as-Sanussi | son of Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Sanussi |- | Manchukuo | Jin Youzhi Puren | only surviving brother of Puyi |- | Mexico | Maximilian von Goetzen-Iturbide | descendant of Salvador de Iturbide y de Marzán Prince Salvador de Iturbide who was the grandson of Agustín de Iturbide Emperor Agustín of Mexico and the adopted son of Maximilian of Habsburg Emperor Maximilian of Mexico |- | Montenegro | Nikola, Prince of Montenegro | descendant of the last king, Nicholas I of Montenegro Nikola I of Montenegro |- | Miskito | Norton Cuthbert Clarence | since 1978 Pretender to the Miskito Kingdom and hereditary chief of the Miskito Nation |- | Ottoman Empire | Ertugrul Osman V | grandson of Abd-ul-Hamid II Sultan from 1876 to 1909. |- | Portugal | Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza Duarte Pio, Duke of Bragança | great grandson of king Miguel I of Portugal Miguel I and 3th-grandson of Pedro IV of Portugal Pedro IV through is mother Maria Francisca de Orléans e Bragança, the widely recognised would-be King of Portugal |- | Portugal | Rosario Poidimani, aka Rosario Saxe Coburg Gotha Bragança, claimant Duke of Bragança | heir of Hilda Toledano/''Maria Pia de Saxe Coburg Braganza'', claimed non-marital descendant of King Carlos of Portugal. |- | Russia | Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia | descendant of the former Emperor Alexander II of Russia Alexander II |- | Saxe-Coburg-Gotha | Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha HH Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | grandson of last reigning duke, Carl Eduard, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Carl Eduard |- | Serbia and Yugoslavia | Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia | son of the last king, Peter II of Yugoslavia Peter II |- | Sikkim | Wangchuk Namgyal | son of the last Chogyal, Palden Thondup Namgyal |- | Vatican City | many | The Catholic Church has experienced over 25 antipopes in 2000 years, the oddest circumstance being the so-called "Western Schism Great Schism" (1378-1417) when up to three men simultaneously claimed to be pope with sizeable portions of clergy and laity supporting each of them. Since the Second Vatican Council in 1965, a few Catholics believe that Popes could not have allowed such changes in the Church and reject post-Vatican II popes, considering them illegitimate. Among these many sedevacantists, a few have gone so far as to take it upon themselves to elect one. |- | Vietnam | Crown Prince Bao Long | son of the last emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty, Bao Dai |}

Pretenders in the Roman Empire
Ancient Rome knew many pretenders to the office of Roman Emperor. Especially during the Crisis of the Third Century, the Roman Emperor (Crisis of the Third Century) number of pretenders and/or usurpers ran exceptionally thick. A sample of these can be found, for example, in the book called "TYRANNI TRIGINTA" of the ''Augustan History''. The title of that book is usually translated in English as the "Thirty Pretenders" (e.g. Loeb Classical Library Loeb's translation), but that translation was rather chosen in order not to confuse with Athens' "Thirty Tyrants": not all "Tyranni Triginita" were afterwards considered ''pretenders'', some were actually successful in becoming Emperor, most of them slain after holding the office for a brief period.

Cypriot Pretenders
Following the defeat and death of King Jacques III of Cyprus in 1474, his younger and illegitimate brother, Barons di Baccari Eugene Matteo de Armenia (c1485-1523) had moved to Sicily, then Malta. He was acknowledged as Heir to Cyprus, Armenia, Jerusalem and Antioch, though never took it seriously. From a genealogical point, Barons di Baccari Eugene Matteo (de Lusignan) de Armenia was created a Barons di Baccari Sicilian title and worked as a Maltese nobility Jurat in Malta and in Sicily.

French Pretenders
Following the death of the childless legitimist pretender 'Henry V', Comte de Chambord, grandson of King Charles X of France in the 1880s, the majority of French monarchists accepted the Comte's selection as heir, his distant relative, the Orleanist pretender, the Comte de Paris, grandson of King Louis-Philippe of France Louis-Philippe (they descend from king Louis XIII) as the pretender to the French throne. A small minority refused to accept this designation, and chose instead a descendant of Louis XIV through the Spanish line, regarding Philip V of Spain's renunciation invalid. Of course, the Comte de Paris was more distant genealogically from comte de Chambord than the Spanish heir. Hence there are in effect ''two'' pretenders to the French throne, though the Orleanist pretender, the modern Comte de Paris, is generally accepted by most French monarchists as ''the'' pretender, as the list above shows. There is also a pretender to the imperial throne of France, in the person of Charles Bonaparte, descendant of the Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte Prince Napoléon.

Russian Pretenders
There is much debate over who is the legitimate heir to the Russian throne. George Mikhailovitch of Russia George of Russia, son of Maria Vladimirovna of Russia, is considered by some to be the legitimate heir, being the grandson of a cousin of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Unequal marriages have made tracking a legitimate heir to the Russian throne very difficult, and some believe there is no legitimate heir at all. Nicholas Romanov, the president of Romanov Family Association, a junior male descendant of the imperial family, is regarded by some as the head of the family, but he is born of a morganatic marriage and therefore not entitled to inherit the throne under strict Russian succession law. Those who impersonated the murdered daughters of Nicholas II were not pretenders to the throne, as women could not succeed to the Russian throne while a male dynast was alive. The last male dynast, Grand Duke Vladimir of Russia Grand Duke Vladimir, did not die until 1992.

English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and British Pretenders
Pretenders to the thrones of the United Kingdom and its predecessor realms, as well as the other historical jurisdictions that are modernly England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, were essentially taken care of by making the Irish and English (and subsequently, British) monarchies purely statutory institutions. Ireland further precluded any and all possible pretenders by declaring itself a republic in 1949. This change was first effected in England following the accession of Henry VII of England Henry VII, after a long series of strife and civil wars that began when Henry IV of England Henry IV deposed Richard II of England Richard II. Attempts to disrupt the statutory nature of the monarchy in England were made by some of the Stuart monarchs, who had not experienced the English checks on royal power when they were up north in Scotland. The Act of Settlement 1701 took care of that problem, and the Act of Union 1707 essentially extended the Act of Settlement to Scotland. The Act of Union 1800 subsequently extended the Act of Settlement to Ireland, but the Irish monarchy had already been made a statutory institution when Prince Henry, Lord of Ireland (Henry VIII of England) was named ''King'' of Ireland by the Irish Parliament in 1542. Nevertheless, there have been some great pretenders over the centuries. A few famous ones are noted here, and a few passive claims are still made. James Francis Edward Stuart was the Roman Catholic son of the deposed King James VII and II, forever eclipsed in the succession to the throne by the Act of Settlement 1701. Notwithstanding the Act of Union 1707, he claimed the separate thrones of Scotland, as James VIII, and of England and Ireland, as James III, until his death in 1766. James's sons carried on their own claims. The would-be Charles III, still famously known as "Bonie Prince Charlie" (there is only one 'n' in 'bonie' because he's male; 'bonnie' would make him female; the Scots word 'bonie/bonnie' being a translation of the French 'bon/bonne'), died in 1788. He is unquestionably the most famous pretender in British history, if not world history. His younger brother, Henry, took up the mantle after his death, if only symbolically, as the would-be Henry IX of England. He died in 1807. James VIII & III was commonly called "the King over the water," because he was resident in France (across the Channel) and is also known as ''The Old Pretender.'' (As no Jacobite monarch since has resided in Britain, Jacobites ever since have toasted 'the King/Queen over the water'.) Bonie Prince Charlie is also called ''The Young Pretender.'' See Jacobitism and :Category:Jacobite pretenders the related category for more information including the current Jacobite "pretender". Owain Glyndŵr (1349-1416) is probably the best-known Welsh pretender, though whether he was pretender or Prince of Wales depends upon your source of information. Officially, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, who died in 1282, was the last native and arguably greatest Prince of Wales. Since 1301, the Prince of Wales has been the eldest living son of the King or Queen Regnant of England (subsequently of Great Britain, 1707, and of United Kingdom, 1801). The word "living" is important. Upon the death of Prince Arthur, the Prince of Wales, Henry VII invested his second son, the future Henry VIII, with the title. The title is not automatic, however, but merges into the Crown when a prince dies or accedes to the throne, and has to be re-created by the sovereign. Nevertheless, it is Glyndŵr whom many remember as the last native Prince of Wales. He was indeed proclaimed Prince of Wales by his supporters on 16 September 1400, and his revolt in quest of Welsh independence was not quashed by Henry IV of England Henry IV until 1409. Later, however, one of Glyndŵr's cousins, Owain Tudor, would marry the widow of Henry V of England Henry V, and their grandson would become Henry VII of England Henry VII, from whom the current British monarch is descended (through his daughter Margaret Tudor, who was married off to James IV of Scotland). So, in a way, Glyndŵr might be said to have had the last laugh. The business of Irish pretenders is rather more complicated because of the nature of kingship in Ireland before the Norman take-over of 1171. In both Ireland and Scotland, succession to kingship was elective, often (if not usually) by contest, according to matrilineal descent. That is, the head of state of any kingdom, sub-kingdom, high kingdom, etc., was always a king, but the king always inherited the crown through his mother, as a ranking princess royal, not through his father. (See, e.g., ''The Lion in the North: A Personal View of Scotland's History'', by John Prebble ISBN 0140036520 ; among other works.) Thus, you, as king, would not be succeeded by your own son but would normally be succeeded by your mother's other sons; then by your sisters' sons; then, your maternal aunt's sons; and so on, traveling through the female line of the royal house. This combination of male succession through matrilineal descent produced a cumbersome system under which the throne passed cyclically from brother to brother, then uncle to nephew, and then cousin to cousin, before starting over as brother to brother, uncle to nephew, etc. {See, e.g., ''The Lion in the North: A Personal View of Scotland's History'', by John Prebble; among other works.} In Scotland, Malcolm II of Scotland Malcolm II tried to get around this system and by killing off all of the heirs between himself and his grandson, Duncan; except for Prince Lulach of Moray, who was just five years old at the time and - more importantly - was successfully rumoured to be half-witted (thus, he survived). Duncan I of Scotland Duncan I did become king, but Lulach's step-father, Maelbeth -rendered "Macbeth of Scotland Macbeth" in English - successfully claimed the throne in his own right and on Lulach's behalf. Duncan I's son, Malcolm III Canmore, ultimately returned from exile in England and took the throne from Maelbeth and Lulach (the latter reigning 1057-1058, after the death of Maelbeth in battle against Malcolm). Malcolm was succeeded by his brother, as Duncan II, but then by four of his own sons - one of whom, King Edgar of Scotland Edgar (1097-1107), changed the official language of Scotland from Gàidhlig (then, still a Scottish dialect of Old Irish) to Scots (then, a language similar to English but missing the Saxon element that has always been part of standard English). Gaelic dominance of Scotland ended during the reign of King Alexander I of Scotland Alexander I (1107-1124), and the old Celtic system of matrilineal kingship finally ended and was replaced by a system of primogeniture. Such a transition never happened in Ireland, but civil war and the imposition of Anglo-Norman rule intervened. Although Ireland had been culturally unified for centuries, it was not politically unified, even as a tribal nation. The Romans having ignored the big green island west of Britain, the Gaels themselves were the last people to successfully invade Ireland and, notwithstanding 750 years of English rule, it is very arguable whether the Norman English ever truly ''conquered'' Ireland. (They controlled Ireland, certainly, but that is not all there is to conquest.) So, even serious coastal encroachments by the Vikings a millennium after their arrival did not prompt the Gaels of Ireland to see a need for political unity even to build a concerted national defence. When a people believe they and their country are immune from invasion, it takes a while for them to realise how vulnerable they actually are. The High King of Ireland was essentially a ceremonial, pseudo-federal overlord (where his over-lordship was even recognised), who exercised actual power only within the realm of which he was actually king. In the case of the southern branch of the Uí Niall, this would have been the Kingdom of Meath (modernly the counties of Meath, West Meath and part of County Dublin). High Kings from the northern branch of the family ruled various kingdoms in what eventually became the province of Ulster. Nevertheless, the Uí Niall were apparently powerful in ceremony if not in politic, so that political unification of Ireland was not aided by the usurpation of the high kingship from Mael Sechnaill II and the southern Uí Niall in 1002 by ''Briain ‘Boruma’ mac Cennédig'', of the Kingdom of Munster. This was the third of the so-called "Three Usurpations of Brian Boru." Brian Boru was a strong king who could have unified Ireland politically, and there is some suggestion he intended to make himself High King of Scotland as well. But he was killed in the Battle of Contarf in 1014, and twelve years as High King was not long enough to unify the island politically. Mael Sechnaill II was restored to the High Kingship but ''he'' died in 1022, too soon to undo the damage done by Brian's "coup." From 1022 through the Norman take-over of 1171, the High Kingship was held by "Kings with Opposition" - that is, whoever was strong enough to overthrow the High King of the day and take the Hill of Tara simply did so. This 150-year period of regnal unrest between families now called O'Brian, O'Conner, McLoughlin/O'Melaghlin, and others, was eventually immortalised in the children's game called "King of the Hill." The game is still popular among American children, who take turns trying to push each other off a low stool, chair, or other make-shift hill while arguing, "I'm king of the hill!" "No! I'm king!" Because the native Irish high kingship never transitioned to a system of nation-state kingship primogeniture but simply faded into an oblivion of civil war between competing Irish royal families, there are literally as many as a million or more people who can make a claim to the ancient high kingship of Tara that is as equally valid as anybody else's under the old system disrupted by what may be called Brian Boru's "coup de tribe." Indeed, as a reputed descendant of Brian Boru and of the Uí Niall Dynasty both through his late grandmother, the current heir to the statutory throne that includes Northern Ireland, Prince Charles, could be considered a viable pretender to the high kingship of Ireland, especially as he ''would'' be making the claim through the female line of his ancestry. {The British Royal Family has publicly claimed descent from Brian Boru through the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and from other ancestors associated with the Ui Niall Dynasty - usually connected by marriage through the Royal Family's Scottish ancestry; see the history section of the Royal Family's website for bloodlines and timelines.] However, right after the Easter Uprising in Ireland, there was talk about inviting the kasier's son, Prince Joachim of Prussia to be the next Irish king, and today his great-grandson, George Mikhailovitch of Russia George of Russia would be next in line as king, or his father would be king, if they didn't want to skip a generation. George could be an Irish pretender as well as a Russian pretender, since his dad was Franz Wilhelm Viktor Christoph Stephan Prince of Prussia. So his dad would be the pretender to the Irish throne, and George would be the heir.

Ottoman Pretenders
Eldest son during the reign of his father, Mehmet II Mehmet the Conqueror claimed the Sultanate although he was defeated in battle months later by his eldest brother (by birth) Bayezid II. He fled to Rhodes Island then eventually to the Papal Territories. His List of claimants to the title of Principe de Sayd descendants claimed Cem rights until Malta defeated the Ottomans in the 16th century.

Iraqi Pretenders
There are two claimants to the throne of Iraq: *Prince Prince Ra'ad Ra'ad, Head of the Royal House of Iraq *Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein, leader of the Iraqi Constitutional Monarchy party

Fake pretenders
Some well-known impostor impostors who claimed to be genuine pretenders include: * Various impersonators of Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, notably Anna Anderson * The fake Baldwin I of Constantinople, whose real name probably was Bertrand of Rais * Lambert Simnel, who claimed to be Edward, Earl of Warwick * Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York (Prince in the Tower) Richard, Duke of York * The three False Dmitriy I false Dimitris of Russia * Eugenio Lascorz who claimed connection to the Byzantium * Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, one of over 30 pretenders who claimed to be Louis XVII of France * Alexis Brimeyer who claimed connections to various European royal houses Category:Pretenders *Pretenders ca:Pretendent al tron de:Thronprätendent sv:Tronpretendent

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