I know the probability of this happening is close to nil so you don’t need to tell me that it’ll never happen. Just play along and assume you read about someone in Europe retaking the throne. Who do you think it would be?
Scotland & The Stuarts? Would certainly be an interesting twist if the Scots gain independence.
France and the House Bourbon or the House Orleans? I remember from my French class in the 80’s that a French pretender would offer to take the throne every few years but was politely refused.
Russia and the Czar (HouseRomanov)? Maybe back about 5 years ago with renewed interest in the Romanovs but they can’t decide on who the pretender is so no organized effort to bring back the Czardom.
A unified Germany under the Hohenzollern? Might have happened if Germany were unified in 1945 and not 45 years later.
While I agree that the probability of restoring any monarchy is zip, I find the prospect of some sort of dictatorship seizing power in at least one European country to be all too likely, given the economic chaos, failure of leadership, and the sprinting of large numbers of voters into the arms of extremist parties with communist or fascist tendencies.
Which is why I think it would be Greece with the “This isn’t working. Let’s try something else.” attitude. Some other countries might have had a chance if 2 or 3 key historical events happened simultaneously like Russia if the veneration of the Romanov’s occur when the Communists lost power instead of years later.
Leka I, Albanian pretender and son of the deposed Zog I, re-entered Albania in 1993 with a passport that he had essentially issued to himself, in which he listed his profession as “King.” That didn’t go over well, but he continued trying to jockey for power for another 10 years or so. He died in 2011. His son, Leka II, is a government employee in Albania and president of the Albanian Golf Federation. There is reportedly some monarchichal sentiment still active in the country, but he does not appear to be actively pursuing the throne.
Bulgaria would do better-they could have a Tsar!
Maybe the New Greece might take a second chance with a monarch.
But I’d like to see Romania become a monarchy again.
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was an elective monarchy, so if the Poles and/or the Lithuanians ever wanted to “restore” it (reunification would be a different question), I guess they could choose anybody they like, and it need not be Pole nor a Lithuanian (several Kings of Poland & Grand Dukes of Lithuania were foreign).
I doubt it! The Stuarts ‘died out’ with the death of Queen Anne in 1714, even if her father had been ousted from the throne in 1688. The Stuarts were as much English kings as Scottish, and the Scots will almost certainly share England’s monarchy, as a Commonwealth realm.