# Which of the dispossessed royal families has the best chance to regain its throne? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 24, 2010, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170 "2010-10-24T06:40:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/41 "2010-10-26T16:50:29Z")
I would not be _too_ surprised to see a constitutional monarchy in Ethiopia someday, mostly because they’re so politically unstable that I wouldn’t be too surprised to see just about anything happen in their government. And they’ve still got Zera Selassie hanging around in Addis Ababa. I wonder which family has been out of power the longest, but still has a guy at the ready just in case. Once I stumbled across an internet site that featured the heir designee of the _Komnenoi_ for heaven’s sake, and Trebizond fell in 1461. That’s a lot of time to be doing nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/42 "2010-10-26T16:54:50Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > _NORTON I, Emperor of the United States_ That’s Emperor of the United States _and Protector of Mexico_ to you. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/43 "2010-10-26T17:02:54Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I would not be _too_ surprised to see a constitutional monarchy in Ethiopia someday, mostly because they’re so politically unstable that I wouldn’t be too surprised to see just about anything happen in their government. And they’ve still got Zera Selassie hanging around in Addis Ababa. > > I wonder which family has been out of power the longest, but still has a guy at the ready just in case. Once I stumbled across an internet site that featured the heir designee of the _Komnenoi_ for heaven’s sake, and Trebizond fell in 1461. That’s a lot of time to be doing nothing. Well, they probably also knit. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/44 "2010-10-26T17:07:54Z")
There’s [the guy who](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Plantard) claimed to be the true King of France - as a descendant of the Merovingian Dynasty. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/45 "2010-10-26T17:24:09Z")
Interestingly, Greece passed a law stripping the exiled King Constantine of his passport and Greek citizenship because he refused to adopt a surname. Some supporters also consider Constantine the heir to the Byzantine throne. And apparently Jeff Foxworthy is the heir to the throne of [Portugal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duarte_Pio,_Duke_of_Braganza). Hey, there’s an idea: The Deposed Royalty Comedy Tour! ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/46 "2010-10-26T17:48:55Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > The Romanovs have a [website](http://www.imperialhouse.ru/eng/), and [so do](http://www.preussen.de/en/today.html) the Hohenzollerns. Could not find one for the Bourbons. They spell it Borbón. The official website of the [Casa de Su Majestad el Rey de España](http://www.casareal.es/) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/47 "2010-10-26T19:15:41Z")
I wonder if we can sell the History Channel on a reality show. “We put eight dispossessed claimants to the thrones of Europe all together in one chateau. See what happens when people stop being royal and start getting real.” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/48 "2010-10-27T08:29:41Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > They spell it Borbón. The official website of the [Casa de Su Majestad el Rey de España](http://www.casareal.es/) Note that only includes JCI, Sofía, their children, and the spouses and children of these - neither the rest of the Borbones (including for example Luis Alfonso de Borbón aka Louis Alphonse de Bourbon, one of the claimants to the French throne) nor the rest of the Greek royal family. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/49 "2010-10-27T09:16:31Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Why Elizabeth? We already have royalty on stand-by in Hawaii. Do they have birth certificates? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/50 "2010-10-27T11:30:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I wonder if we can sell the History Channel on a reality show. > > “We put eight dispossessed claimants to the thrones of Europe all together in one chateau. See what happens when people stop being royal and start getting real.” Even better - [a royal dating show](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undercover_Princes). What’s going on with Romania? I can’t tell whether the royals are back in place there or not. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/51 "2010-10-27T13:14:18Z")
> [@Todderbob](#): > > All if the royal families in Europe are related. How do the Grimaldis fit in? I remember Catherine Oxenberg talking smack about Monaco’s royals, saying Princess Caroline had to use the honorific “Her Serene Highness” because she wasn’t entitled to use “Her Royal Highness.” ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/52 "2010-10-27T13:45:30Z")
Poor woman, what hardship! ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/53 "2010-10-27T14:13:11Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > How do the Grimaldis fit in? I remember Catherine Oxenberg talking smack about Monaco’s royals, saying Princess Caroline had to use the honorific “Her Serene Highness” because she wasn’t entitled to use “Her Royal Highness.” The Grimaldis are related to the others – Prince Rainier’s father was a Polignac, for example. His grandfather Prince Louis II’s mother was Lady Mary Hamilton, the daughter of the 11th Duke of Hamilton and Princess Marie of Baden (herself the daughter of Karl, Grand Duke of Baden and Stephanie de Beauharnais). HSH/HRH has nothing to do with how closely related they are to anyone else, its just a matter of rank. Not that Catherine Oxenberg could really talk smack or should, considering she has no royal title at all – her father was a commoner and her mother a member of the royal house of Yugoslavia. The royal house that genealogically is furthest out from the other European dynasties is probably the Zogu dynasty of Albania. Even then, Crown Prince Leka’s mother was a half-American, half-Hungarian countess and thusly he’s distantly related to the other royal families. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/54 "2010-10-27T14:51:56Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Does Boadicea have any direct lineal descendents? Possibly, but who knows. She was kind of far from Ireland, though. Brian Boru had descendants, though. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170/55 "2010-10-27T22:40:03Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Even better - [a royal dating show](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undercover_Princes). > > What’s going on with Romania? I can’t tell whether the royals are back in place there or not. No, but the [last king](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_of_Romania) is still alive. (Grandson of the infamous “Marie of Roumania”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-dispossessed-royal-families-has-the-best-chance-to-regain-its-throne/558170.md?page=2)