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. Deposed monarchs are not seen as pretenders, as the term only applies to those who have never occupied the throne. The papal equivalent is the antipope.

Some modern pretenders

Cypriot Pretenders

Following the defeat and death of King Jacques III of Cyprus in 1474, his younger and illegitimate brother, 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, Eugene Matteo (de Lusignan) de Armenia was created a Sicilian title and worked as a 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 Legitimists accepted the Comte's selection as heir, the Orleanist pretender, the Comte de Paris, grandson of King Louis-Philippe as the Legitimist pretender to the French throne. A small minority refused to accept this designation, and chose instead a very distant Spanish-based descendant of an earlier monarch. Hence there are in effect two legitimist pretenders, 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 Prince Napoléon.

Russian Pretenders

There is much debate over who is the legitimate heir to the Russian throne. Grand Duke George is considered by some to be the legitimate heir, being the grandson of a cousin of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. However, the Grand Duke's mother, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna also claims to be the rightful heir to the throne. The massacre of the Romanovs that followed the Russian Revolution has made tracking a legitimate heir to the Russian throne very difficult, and some believe there is no legitimate heir at all.

British Pretenders

The son of the deposed James II, James Francis Edward Stuart, was a pretender to the throne of Great Britain, and was commonly referred to as The Old Pretender. His son, Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie, or The Young Pretender) claimed the throne after James' death. See Jacobitism and the related category for more information including the current Jacobite "pretender".

Ottoman Pretenders

Eldest son during the reign of his father, 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 descendants claimed Cem rights until Malta defeated the Ottomans in the 16th century.

Fake pretenders

Some well-known impostors who claimed to be a 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
• The three false Dimitris of Russia
• Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, one of over 30 pretenders who claimed to be Louis XVII of France
• Michel Lafosse, a.k.a. Prince Michael of Albany, who claims to be the jacobite heir to the Scottish throne