# Who is the rightful Russian czar now? Could there be one? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-rightful-russian-czar-now-could-there-be-one/189065 "2003-07-17T04:41:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alzarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@Alzarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alzarian)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-rightful-russian-czar-now-could-there-be-one/189065/1 "2003-07-17T04:41:46Z")
So, I’m told that the russian czar and his immediate family were executed in 1917 or thereabouts. My question is simply whether there could be a person living today who could legitimately claim the title of czar. I’m not saying this is a good or bad thing. It just seems to me, that if Nicholas II and his immediate family aren’t available, one could move to his siblings, or even back a generation or two, until finally finding a way to trace forward to the present. Has anyone ever tried this? ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-rightful-russian-czar-now-could-there-be-one/189065/2 "2003-07-17T04:46:25Z")
The position of Czar no longer exists in Russia, so even if a descendant wanted to claim the title, there is no title to claim. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-rightful-russian-czar-now-could-there-be-one/189065/3 "2003-07-17T05:00:11Z")
The whole sad tale was unreeled in this thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154021](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154021)