Contested heirs: these men and women claim to be royals

Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, is actually George Frederick I of Germany for those who wish the country to become a monarchy again. In addition to that, he is by kinship the 150th person in the succession to the British crown. Here we see him with his wife, Sophie of Isenburg.

This man claims the throne of Hawaii and, as long as the monarchy is not reinstated, he exercises politics as a representative of the Republican Party.

Image: Daniel Ramirez / Flickr, 2013 / Wikimedia

Delphine Boël is an artist with pop-inspired paintings, installations, sculptures, and jewelry designs. Many of them deal with the greatest struggle in her life: being the secret daughter of Belgium's former king, Albert II.

Boël filed a lawsuit against the royal family in order to be recognized as the daughter of Albert II of Belgium. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2017, but in 2020 she had better luck. By October 2020, her brother King Philippe acknowledged that she was part of the family. Now she may be called Princess officially.

If the Austro-Hungarian Empire (dissolved with World War I) had still existed, Charles of Habsburg-Lorraine would be its emperor. As the return of the Austrian monarchy did not seem likely, he instead went into politics and became a conservative MEP. For his monarchical supporters, however, he is still Charles II of Austria, Charles IV of Bohemia, Charles V of Hungary, and Charles V of Croatia.

In the 1979 Iranian revolution, Ayatollahs sent the Shah of Persia, a near-absolute monarch whom many Iranians hated, into exile. Reza Ciro Pahlaví is the heir to the Iranian throne, but he is not necessarily pursuing it. Since his exile to the United States, he has pursued political work to promote democracy in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In 1970, the town of Hutt River seceded from Australia over a tax dispute. Their leader was Leonard George Casley, who crowned himself Prince Leonard. This new country, not recognized by Australia, was about 18,500 acres large. Leonard's heir, Greame I, was the last ruler of the nation until the principality was dissolved due to Covid-19.

He has lived a humble life working as a waiter in a small town in Catalonia, but Albert Solá (Barcelona, 1956) says his father is King Juan Carlos I. He claims that his mother met the royal heir when she was 17 years old and that they had a short-lived romance. He died in October 2022 - some say, suspiciously - a few days before he was going to do an interview on public television.

Image: Telecinco Spain

Juan Carlos married Sofía of Greece in 1962. According to Albert Solá, the Spanish heir then ignored the son from his earlier, romantic adventure. Albert could have been the next in line for the Spanish throne, he says. But the royal family never acknowledged his kinship to Juan Carlos.

This man, a heraldic expert born in France, regards himself as the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Patagonia and Araucania (also called the Kingdom of New France). This monarchy was invented by another imaginative Frenchman back in 1869, Antoine of Tounens. He proclaimed himself king of a territory that today would belong to Argentina and Chile and was inhabited by the Mapuche people. Now, Frédéric I wants to reinstate the monarchy and be a Latin American king.

Image: Kppcom / Wikimedia

70-Year old Francois Graftieaux swears that his grandmother had an affair with Edward VIII when he was a prince back in 1916. They met in Paris, which at that time was a famous society hotspot thanks to its nightlife. Francois talks about this in his book, 'The Man Who Should Have Been King.'

Image: @graftieauxfrancois / Instagram

According to Francois Graftieaux, Edward VIII had a sporadic relationship with his grandmother, a model in Paris. When Marie-Leoni Graftieaux got pregnant, the British Crown reportedly paid her to cover up the scandal. With the hush money, she set up a fashion and sewing studio. Francois has asked Queen Elizabeth herself for a DNA test to prove that his grandmother's story is true - and, incidentally, to claim his place in the succession to the throne. He could be entitled to the Crown of England.

Although the country is very republic, France currently has two contenders for the royal family. On the one hand, there's Alphonse of Bourbon (right in the photo) and on the other hand, there's Jean of Orleans (left in the photo). They represent two historically competing families. Alphonse of Borbon wants to restore the fourth Bourbon dynasty and Jean of Orleans the monarchy that the French Revolution of 1789 liquidated by guillotining his ancestor Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Image of Alphonse: @luisalfdeborbon / Instagram
Image of Jean: Getty

And then, there is also the inevitable Napoleon Bonaparte claiming the French throne. Jean Christophe Albéric Ferdinand Napoleon Bonaparte says he should be the Emperor of France like his ancestor Napoleon.

Image: Cyril Girault / Wikipedia

Víctor Manuel of Savoy and Amadeo of Savoy-Aosta literally fought each other over the Italian throne. It happened during a dinner at the Spanish King Juan Carlos's palace while celebrating his son Philip's wedding (image). The father of the groom himself had to intervene in this brawl, separate the competitors, and shout: "Never again!" To add more shame to the scene, an Arab sheik attending the party put ice on Amadeo's face.

The reason for the conflict between the two cousins, Amadeo and Victor Manuel, was the decision by the Council of the Kingdom that the heir to the Italian throne was Amadeo of Savoy-Aosta. However, this organization is not granted any legitimacy in the Republic of Italy. Meanwhile, others say that Victor Emmanuel of Savoy should be the true king of Italy.

In the image, Amadeo, who passed away in 2021, via Marco Spada / Wikimedia

But the fight with his cousin is not the only controversy that has plagued Victor Manuel de Savoy. In 1978 he was implicated in a homicide charge. His shotgun had gone off while a boat was being stolen on the island of Corsica, leaving the thief dead. Victor Manuel de Savoy was acquitted due to a lack of evidence. In 2006, the nobleman was imprisoned for a case of currency trafficking, document fraud, and prostitution. Again, he was acquitted in the end.

This Sir proclaims himself Leka II of Albania and wants to re-establish the monarchy in that country. Leka II (in the picture marrying Albanian actress and singer Elia Zaharia) is pursuing a political campaign to make his monarchy a reality.

His father, Leka I, had favored other methods than politics. He was in exile in Spain while the communists ruled Albania, and in 1979 the Spanish discovered an immense arsenal of arms in his possession. Leka had been planning a coup against the communists, and the Spanish expelled him for it. His son Leka II is taking the path of Albania's current democracy.

Simeon of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha is the son of Boris III: the tsar who ruled Bulgaria before the country became a communist republic. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the advent of democracy in Bulgaria, Simeon ran for election and became Prime Minister. His governing style was problematic and, after cases of corruption involving members of his party, he decided to abandon politics. His aspirations for the throne are merely symbolic.

The Bolshevik revolution in Russia gave rise to the Soviet Union and a firing squad killed Tsar Nicholas I and his entire family. However, in Madrid, Spain, lives a man (born in 1981) who claims to be a descendant of the Tsar of Russia. His name is Jorge (George) Mikhailovich Romanov.

This supposed heir to the throne of Romania had not set foot in the country until 1990, the year communism lost its hold on the country. It was the communists who had thrown her father, King Miguel I, out. The heiress now lives without a crown. She carries out social work in Romania through the Princess Margarita of Romania Foundation.

The father of Nicholas of Greece reigned as Constantine II. He was overthrown for engaging in political conspiracies that ended in a military dictatorship. When democracy returned, the Greeks decided to establish a republic. Constantine of Greece returned to the country in 2013 and his heir Nicholas still dreams of wearing a crown. But the Greeks will not easily abandon their republic.

His father Peter II of Yugoslavia was beaten during World War II and the establishment of Tito's socialist republic. When communism fell, a civil war broke Yugoslavia into Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. So this man not only lacks a crown, but also a country. Alexander Karađorđević is now trying to get the throne of Serbia. He leaves the rest of the former Yugoslav countries to their own free will.

Portugal had been a monarchy for 900 years when it switched to the status of a republic in the early 20th century. Duarte Pío de Braganza (in the image with his wife Isabel de Herédia) is the offspring of the former kings. He would like to become Duarte II of Portugal, but it seems unlikely to happen.

David de Bragation is a Spaniard who aspires to the throne of the former Soviet republic of Georgia. His father, George of Bragation, was a Formula I racer, and his mother was the Spanish aristocrat María de las Mercedes de Zornoza y Ponce de León.

Image: Alexei Nikolayevich Romanov / Wikipedia