20 Times Pretenders Usurped European Thrones

Claiming to be the youngest prince to have survived the infamous “Princes in the Tower,” Perkin Warbeck managed to convince several European rulers that he was indeed who he claimed to be. He invaded England several times in the late 15th century before being captured by Henry VII. While in prison, he confessed to being the son of a Flemish boatman and was subsequently executed.

Posing as the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible—who was believed to have been poisoned—the False Dmitry rallied thousands of supporters to his cause. He succeeded in seizing the Russian throne in Moscow for about a year before being killed in 1605. He was burned, and, according to most historians, his ashes were fired from a cannon toward Poland.

Shortly after the False Dmitry I, another impostor appeared out of nowhere, claiming to be him. Curiously, the widow of the first False Dmitry “identified” her new lover as her late husband in order to maintain her status. He never managed to regain the Kremlin, but he established a vast camp of pretenders that plunged Russia into years of civil war.

Fortunately, another impostor appeared in Russia around the same year! Also known as Pugachev, this man entered the city of Pskov and proclaimed himself the legitimate tsar. He gained the support of the Cossacks for a time before eventually being exposed and sent to Moscow to face trial for his crimes.

King Sebastian I of Portugal died in battle during an expedition to Morocco in 1578. Unwilling to accept their king’s death, some Portuguese continued to believe that their sovereign was still alive. Several years later, an Italian named Marco Tullio Catizone appeared in Venice, claiming to be King Sebastian, returned from his adventures. He bore no resemblance to the late monarch, but nevertheless managed to rally some Portuguese exiles to his cause, until the Spanish intervened.

Walking around acting like a king seems like a pretty pleasant way to live. Unless, that is, you’re a baker in 13th-century Modena, Italy, who started acting as if he were King Enzio of Sardinia. Local authorities quickly put an end to his attempted coup, but not before he managed to convince a few peasants to follow him.

Giannino di Guccio was told by conspirators that he was in fact King John the Posthumous of France. The young king was said to have died in infancy, but Guccio spent decades posing as the rightful king of France from his home in Italy. He even managed to convince some Hungarian lords to recognize him as their king at one point. An admirable effort for a false king.

Young Margaret died on her journey to Scotland, thereby triggering the succession crisis that would shake British history to its core. Several years later, a woman appeared in Bergen, claiming to be the young princess. She told everyone that she had been sold by her wet nurses after Margret’s death. The commoners of Norway rallied to her cause until the king had her burned at the stake.

A man arrived in Denmark claiming to be King Olaf II of Denmark and Norway. He was said to have died in his mother’s arms as a child, which naturally made Queen Margaret skeptical. She summoned this mysterious traveler to question him, and he eventually confessed that he was a Prussian commoner.

Believed to have died long ago in 1400, Richard II quickly became the target of impostors who claimed to be the true king. Thomas Warde, of Trumpington, spent nearly two decades fueling this rumor while living a comfortable life as a guest at the Scottish court. He was often used as a political pawn by Henry IV’s enemies, but never took up arms himself.

Dozens of men claimed to be France’s “lost Dauphin” during the Revolution, but none was arguably as colorful as the King of the Alps. This vagabond wandered from town to town, recounting his miraculous escape. He never gained much political support, but he did find an audience among the common people.

Of all the claimants to the title of Louis XVII, Naundorf was undoubtedly the one with the longest career, as his descendants continued to legally claim the throne for over a century. Arriving in Berlin with the story that he had been smuggled out of prison in a laundry basket, Naundorf convinced many people that he was the real Louis XVII, living his entire life as if he were of royal blood.

Taking advantage of the frequent power vacuums that characterized Hungary in the 15th century, an impostor named Sigismund promised to save the country by restoring the old laws and reducing taxes on the peasants. He managed to maintain a tenuous hold on the outlying provinces until the true ruling council sent forces to investigate the self-proclaimed king’s popularity.

Posing as Peter III, the husband of Catherine the Great, this Russian carried out his imperial campaign throughout Russia. Promising to end serfdom under the nobility, he sparked a massive rebellion that nearly overthrew the government. Pugachev was eventually captured and taken to Moscow in a cage made of iron bars.

Frederick II was supposed to have died years earlier, but a wandering hermit named Tile Kolup appeared in Germany, claiming that the emperor was traveling incognito in the East. He assembled a miniature court and began issuing official decrees that several German cities obeyed for a time. It took the intervention of King Rudolf of Habsburg to restore order to the region by arresting Kolup for heresy.

Emperor Baldwin I of Jerusalem was one of many rulers who vanished without a trace during the Crusade of 1205. Two decades later, a well-built man appeared in the forest of Glan-Châtel and proclaimed himself to be the missing monarch. The impoverished Flemish people immediately hailed him as their lord, until the King of France discovered his past as a tavern keeper named Bertrand de Ray. He was then dragged through the streets as a traitor.

Scotland was still reeling from its defeat at Flodden when impostors began to appear in the countryside, claiming to be King James IV. Many refused to believe that their sovereign had perished and eagerly awaited his return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Several thousand false kings emerged over the years, but none succeeded in overthrowing the regency government.

In the 1360s, a humble old man came forward and claimed to be Margrave Valdemar, who had been missing for twenty-eight years. Emperor Charles IV accepted this claim and allowed him to reclaim his former estate as if nothing had happened. When it was discovered that he was merely a miller with no legitimate claim to the throne, Charles found himself in a very awkward situation.

Stephen the Little of Russia is said to have hidden in Montenegro for years, eventually convincing the country’s citizens that he was their king. In reality, he is said to have been the late Russian Tsar Peter III and to have ruled this mountainous nation with confidence. Numerous reforms were implemented under his leadership until his would-be assassin, acting on behalf of the Ottomans, tracked him down.