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(#11) Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples
- Noble person
Vittorio Emanuele is the son of Umberto II, the last king of Italy. His full name is Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria di Savoia.
After the end of World War II, the royal family was forced into exile after supporting fascism during the war. The current Italian government does not legally recognize Emanuele's claim to rule the country.
In the years during his exile, Vittorio was caught up in several incidents that have given him an infamous reputation. In 1969, he tried to declare himself King of Italy in exile, effectively usurping his own father's claims to the throne. He was also arrested for shooting and killing someone who had taken his yacht's rubber dinghy, but only received a six-month suspended prison sentence. He has also been accused of anti-semitism, he punched the Duke of Aosta at a wedding party, and he was arrested on counts of corruption, criminal association, and exploitation of prostitution in 2006. He is also suspected of having Mafia ties.
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(#9) King Michael: King of Romania
Michael was, in fact, the King of Romania, from 1927-1930 and again from 1940-1947. He dined with Hitler and Mussolini during World War II, and was later awarded medals by both President Truman and Joseph Stalin. He is also the great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria and the cousin of Queen Elizabeth.
In 1944, Michael ordered the arrest of the fascist dictator Ion Antonescu, and helped engineer Romania's switch from the Axis to the Allies, thus likely shortening the war.
Michael lost his throne for good and was forced into exile when his country fell under control of the Communist Party. At 94, he's the oldest surviving World War II-era head of state, and during his exile took jobs ranging from test pilot to running a chicken farm to stay afloat. During the era of the Warsaw Pact, Michael lived in Switzerland. When the Soviet Union fell, he refused to run for Romanian office and instead opted for the quiet life.
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(#1) Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris
- Family member
Henri d'Orléans is a pretender to the French crown (under the name Henry VII) and a member of the former French ruling dynasty, the House of Bourbon. He is backed by French royalists loyal to the succession of Louis-Philippe, who call themselves Orleanists.
Henri is the oldest son of the previous Henri d'Orléans, his father, and Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza. He was born in Belgium in 1933 because 1886 law banned the heirs of formerly reigning French dynasties from entering the country (this law was later repealed).
Henri married the Duchess Marie Therese of Württemberg and had five children, but when he divorced her and remarried outside of the Church, he lost the support of some Catholic French royalists and was temporarily disinherited by his father, though eventually tempers cooled, Henri was reinstated as heir, and in 2009, the Vatican arranged to have his second marriage legitimized.
In an attempt to establish himself as the one true king of France, Henri sued his rival Louis-Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, over the right to use royal insignia. The French court ruled, essentially, that the entire thing was nonsense.
Henri has his own line of perfume.
Just before Henri's father died of cancer in 1999, he told one of his daughters, "I will leave you nothing but hatred," and told his other estranged children, "You will have nothing but your tears to cry with."
It turns out that Henri's father did, in fact, leave them practically nothing, as he sold off all his assets or left them to the state of France. Ever since, Henri and his siblings have been trying to reclaim the fortune their father refused to leave them.
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(#7) Karl von Habsburg: Emperor of Austria
Karl von Habsburg is an Austrian politician and the grandson of the last Austrian emperor, Charles I. Before careers in politics and business investment, he was a game show host on Austrian TV.
Karl was born in exile in Germany, in 1961, as his family had been banished from their native Austria. His father Otto von Habsburg later renounced his claims to the Austrian throne as a condition of being allowed to return to his country.
Karl's full name is Archduke Karl of Austria, Royal Prince of Hungary, Bohemia, and Croatia; however, it is illegal to use royal titles in both Austria and Hungary, so he usually goes by either Karl von Habsburg or Karl Habsburg-Lothringen in those nations.
As a descendant of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Karl has gone on record defending the old Austria-Hungary government against those who blame them for World War I. "It would be wrong to point the finger at one state," he said. -
(#5) Franz, Duke of Bavaria
- Noble person
Franz (aka, His Royal Highness Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria von Bayern, Duke of Bavaria, Duke in Franconia and Swabia, and Count-Palatine of the Rhine) is an 81-year-old German duke descended from James I, the king who first united England and Scotland in 1603.
The Jacobites, members of a movement to restore the Stuart Kings of England, Ireland, and Scotland, see Franz as the legitimate heir to the English throne under the name Francis II. (Franz could also lay claim to the title King of Bavaria, as his great-grandfather, Ludwig III, was the last Bavarian king before the royal title was abolished during WWI.)
During the Second World War, Franz's family opposed the Nazis and as a boy, Franz spent time in several concentration camps, including Dachau. He now devotes himself to various charitable enterprises, including aid for displaced orphans.
Even though the Duke has no interest in being a king (he's perfectly happy just being Duke of Bavaria), if Scotland had voted for independence in 2014, there was a chance he would have been offered their new throne.
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(#10) Carlos, Duke of Parma
- Noble person
Carlos Hugo was a direct male descendant of Louis XIV. He was born Hugues Marie Sixte Robert Louis Jean Georges Benoît Michel, but in 1963 a French court renamed him simply Charles Hugues.
Inheriting a contested claim to Spain's throne that spawned three civil wars in the 19th century, Carlos worked hard to rally support behind his cause. He married Princess Irene of the Netherlands in 1964, a move that helped make him a more attractive candidate for Spanish rule (though the marriage caused a political crisis in the Netherlands).
However, when the fascist dictator Franco declared Juan Carlos de Bourbon King of Spain in 1969, Carlos changed his cause to a Spanish socialist movement. After his socialist movement lead to violence, Carlos abandoned his claim and went to teach at Harvard. Then, suddenly, in 2003, Carlos took up his claim to the Spanish throne once again and bestowed it to his son, Carlos Javier.
Carlos died in 2010 at the age of 80.
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Before the birth of modern European civilization, the political model of the European countries only continued the tradition of ancient tribal political culture, and the monarchy had always been the mainstream political system in medieval Europe. With the development and transformation of society, after the First World War, most of the monarchy was overthrown due to war or revolution. Although many European countries still retain the royal family, these royals no longer have political rights.
By the 21st century, most countries in Europe are republics. The heads of state are elected, and many modern heirs to the historical thrones have become ordinary people. This model is unique and only suitable for European countries with long historical traditions. The random tool lists 12 modern royals of historical thrones that you did not know.
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