A self-proclaimed monarchy is established when a person claims a monarchy without any historical ties to a previous dynasty. [1] [2] In many cases, this would make them a pretender to the throne (when a ruling dynasty is already established). The self-proclaimed monarch may be of an established state, such as Zog I of Albania, or of a micronation, such as Leonard Casley of Hutt River, Western Australia.
In 1928, Ahmet Zogu, a president of Albania, proclaimed himself "King Zog I". [3] He ruled for 11 years in a nominally constitutional monarchy that was overthrown in the Italian invasion of Albania. [4]
In 1934, Boris Skossyreff declared himself "Boris I, King of Andorra". His pretended reign only lasted a few days, he was expelled when he declared war on Justí Guitart i Vilardebó, Bishop of Urgell and ex officio co-prince of Andorra. [5]
In 1970, after a dispute over wheat production quotas, Leonard Casley proclaimed his wheat farm in Western Australia the "Principality of Hutt River", styling himself as "HRH Prince Leonard I of Hutt". [6] The Australian government did not recognize his claim of independence. [7] Casley abdicated in 2017, passing the principality to his son, "Prince Graeme I". The principality formally dissolved in 2020. [8]
Lekeaka Oliver was a separatist rebel commander who fought in the Anglophone Crisis. In 2019, he proclaimed himself "Paramount Ruler" [9] or "King" of Lebialem, a department of Cameroon. [10] This move was condemned both by Cameroonian loyalists as well as other rebels. [9] [10] Oliver was killed in 2022. [11]
In 1976, a short-lived 'Imperial' monarchy, the "Central African Empire", was created when dictator Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic proclaimed himself "Emperor Bokassa I". The following year, he held a lavish coronation ceremony. He was deposed in 1979.
In 1860, a French adventurer, Orélie-Antoine de Tounens, proclaimed the "Kingdom of Araucanía" in Chile with the support of local Mapuche chiefs. He called himself "Orélie-Antoine I". In 1862, he was arrested and deported by the Chilean government.
Hong Xiuquan proclaimed himself the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom during the Taiping Rebellion in 1851.
In 1915, the president of China, Yuan Shikai, declared a restoration of the Chinese monarchy, with himself as emperor. The plan failed, and he was forced to step down. [12]
Since then, there have been repeated attempts by individuals to declare themselves Chinese emperor or empress. In the 1920s and 1930s, there were several peasant rebels who declared themselves members of House of Zhu and tried to restore the Ming dynasty, such as the self-proclaimed emperors "Chu the Ninth" (1919–1922, backed by the Yellow Way Society), "Wang the Sixth" (1924), [13] and Chu Hung-teng (1925, backed by the Heavenly Gate Society). [14] In course of the Spirit Soldier rebellions (1920–1926), a former farm worker and rebel leader named Yuan declared himself the "Jade Emperor". [15] Following the Chinese Civil War, there have been hundreds of monarchist pretenders who oppose the Chinese Communist Party and often gathered small groups of supporters. Notable self-proclaimed monarchs include: Li Zhu, declared a new dynasty in 1954; [16] Song Yiufang, leader of the Nine Palaces Way (crowned by his followers after sneaking into the Forbidden City in 1961); [16] Yang Xuehua, empress of the Heavenly Palace Sect (arrested in 1976 and executed after allegedly planning a rebellion); Chao Yuhua, empress of the "Great Sage Dynasty" (crowned in 1988 in a factory); [17] Tu Nanting, ex-soldier and emperor (believed in his emperorship after reading several books on prophecies, the arcane, and morals); [18] Yang Zhaogong who attempted to establish a new dynasty with alleged backing of CCCPC members. [19] In general, these self-proclaimed monarchs were not very successful and quickly arrested by security forces. [19] However, one self-proclaimed emperor, Li Guangchang, organized a large sect of supporters and factually governed a small territory in Cangnan County, called the "Zishen Nation", from 1981 to 1986 in de facto independence from China. He was eventually arrested, reportedly after attempting to organize a wider rebellion. [16]
Within days of being independent from Belgium, the new Republic of the Congo found itself torn between competing political factions, as well as by foreign interference. As the situation deteriorated, Moise Tshombe declared the independence of Katanga Province as the State of Katanga on 11 July 1960. Albert Kalonji, claiming that the Baluba were being persecuted in the Congo and needed their own state in their traditional Kasai homeland, followed suit shortly afterwards and declared the autonomy of South Kasai on 8 August, with himself as head. [20] [ full citation needed ] On 12 April 1961, Kalonji's father was granted the title Mulopwe (which roughly translates to "emperor" or "god-king"), [21] but he immediately "abdicated" in favor of his son. [20] On 16 July, but retained the title of Mulopwe and changed his name to Albert I Kalonji Ditunga. [22] The move was controversial with members of Kalonji's own party and cost him much support.
Shortly thereafter, as preparation for the invasion of Katanga, Congolese government troops invaded and occupied South Kasai, and Kalonji was arrested. [20] He escaped, but South Kasai ultimately returned to the Congo. [20]
In 1736, Freiherr Theodor Stephan von Neuhof established himself as King of Corsica in an attempt to free the island of Corsica from Genoese rule.
In 1804, French Consul Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself "Emperor Napoleon I". [23] Although this imperial regime ended with his fall from power, Napoleon's nephew, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, was elected in 1848 as President of France. In 1852, he declared himself "Emperor Napoleon III"; he was deposed in 1870. [24]
In 1804, in Haiti, the governor general, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, proclaimed himself "Emperor Jacques I". He ruled for two years. [25] [ full citation needed ] In 1811, the president, Henry Christophe, proclaimed himself "King Henri I" and ruled until 1820. [26] In 1849, the president, Faustin Soulouque, proclaimed himself "Emperor Faustin I" and ruled until 1859. [27]
On 19 May 1822, Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu, was crowned as Emperor of Mexico. He was a Mexican-born general who had served in the Spanish Army, during the Mexican War of Independence, but switched sides and joined the Mexican rebels in 1820. He was proclaimed president of the Regency in 1821. When King Ferdinand VII of Spain refused to become a constitutional monarch, Iturbide was crowned Emperor. He ruled Mexico for less than as a year as he abdicated and went into exile during a revolt in March 1823. He returned to Mexico on 14 July 1824 and was executed by the Provisional Government of Mexico.
Maximilian I was proclaimed emperor by Mexican conservatives with the help of Napoleon III in 1864, he was overthrown and executed in 1867.
Florin Cioabă proclaimed himself King of the Roma Everywhere. He died in 2013. [28]
In 1823, in Manila, Philippines, a regimental captain, Andrés Novales, staged a mutiny and proclaimed himself "Emperor of the Philippines". After one day, Spanish troops from Pampanga and Intramuros removed him. [29]
In 1893, James Harden-Hickey, an admirer of Napoleon III, crowned himself "James I of the Principality of Trinidad". [30] For two years he tried but failed to assert his claim.
In 1850, James J. Strang, who claimed to be Joseph Smith's successor as leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, proclaimed himself king of his followers on Beaver Island, Michigan. On 8 July 1850, he was crowned in an elaborate coronation ceremony. Strang evaded Federal government charges of treason and continued to rule until 1856, the year he was assassinated by two disgruntled "Strangites". [31]
In 1859, Joshua Abraham Norton, a failed businessman from San Francisco, declared himself "Emperor of America and Protector of Mexico"; he became and remained a local celebrity for the rest of his life. [32]
The Principality of Seborga (Italian : Principato di Seborga) is a micronation that claims a 14 square kilometres (5.4 sq mi) area located in the northwestern Italian Province of Imperia in Liguria, near the French border, and about 35 kilometres (22 mi) from Monaco. [33] The principality is in coexistence with, and claims the territory of, the town of Seborga. In the early 1960s, Giorgio Carbone, began promoting the idea that Seborga restore its historic independence as a principality. [34] [35] By 1963 the people of Seborga were sufficiently convinced of these arguments to elect Carbone as their Head of State. He then assumed the style and title His Serene Highness Giorgio I, Prince of Seborga, which he held until his death in 2009. The Principality of Seborga is an elective monarchy and elections are held every seven years. The subsequent monarch was Prince Marcello Menegatto (Prince Marcello I) who ruled from 2010 to 2019. On 23 April 2017, Prince Marcello was re-elected and took office for another seven years, [36] but abdicated the throne in 2019. [37] Nina Menegatto was elected head of state as Princess Nina on 10 November 2019. [38]
In 1967, Paddy Roy Bates, a former major in the British Army, took control of Roughs Tower, a Maunsell sea fort situated off the coast of Suffolk and declared it the "Principality of Sealand". [39] Upon his death in 2012, "Prince" Paddy Roy Bates was succeeded by his son, Michael. [40]
Romana Didulo, a Filipina–Canadian woman, claimed to be the "secret Queen of Canada" in June 2021, and amassed a cult-like following, mainly consisting of right-wing QAnon supporters, being followed by 17,000 users of Telegram, a messaging platform favoured by the far-right and QAnon figures. She and her followers began to hand out "cease and desist" letters, demanding people and businesses stop following Canadian COVID-19 restrictions. [41]
In an introductory video on Telegram, Didulo claimed to be "the founder and leader of Canada1st", an unregistered political party, and "the head of state and commander in chief of Canada, the Republic". She alleged that Canada's actual head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, had been secretly executed and that she had been appointed as Queen by "the same group of people who have helped president Trump", in reference to a common belief within the QAnon conspiracy theory. [42] [43] In reality, Elizabeth II died of natural causes on September 8, 2022. [44] [45]
The word emperor can mean the male ruler of an empire. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife, mother/grandmother, or a woman who rules in her own right and name. Emperors are generally recognized to be of the highest monarchic honor and rank, surpassing kings. In Europe, the title of Emperor has been used since the Middle Ages, considered in those times equal or almost equal in dignity to that of Pope due to the latter's position as visible head of the Church and spiritual leader of the Catholic part of Western Europe. The emperor of Japan is the only currently reigning monarch whose title is translated into English as "Emperor".
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic, to fully autocratic, and can span across executive, legislative, and judicial domains.
A micronation is a political entity whose representatives claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by any sovereign state. Micronations are classified separately from de facto states and quasi-states; they are also not considered to be autonomous or self-governing as they lack the legal basis in international law for their existence. The activities of micronations are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than disputed by the established nations whose territory they claim—referred to in micronationalism as "macronations". Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals and other state-related items, some as a source of revenue. Motivations for the creation of micronations include theoretical experimentation, political protest, artistic expression, personal entertainment and the conduct of criminal activity. The study of micronationalism is known as micropatriology or micropatrology.
A prince is a male ruler or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. Prince is also a title of nobility, often hereditary, in some European states. The female equivalent is a princess. The English word derives, via the French word prince, from the Latin noun prīnceps, from primus (first) and caput (head), meaning "the first, foremost, the chief, most distinguished, noble ruler, prince".
A principality can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under the generic meaning of the term prince.
The Principality of Hutt River, often referred to by its former name, the Hutt River Province, was an unrecognized micronation in Australia, proclaimed on 21 April 1970 when farmer Leonard Casley declared his farm to be a sovereign state, the "Hutt River Province". He claimed to have seceded from Australia, which occurred during his dispute with the authorities concerning wheat production quotas. A few years later, Casley began styling himself as "Prince Leonard" and granting family members royal titles, although he did not include the word "principality" in the official name until 2006. In 2017, Casley's claim to rulership was taken over by his son Graeme, who dropped the claim to sovereignty on 3 August 2020.
The abolition of monarchy is a legislative or revolutionary movement to abolish monarchical elements in government, usually hereditary.
The Principality of Seborga is an unrecognised micronation that claims a 14 km2 area located in the northwestern Italian Province of Imperia in Liguria, near the French border, and about 35 kilometres (20 mi) from Monaco. The principality is coextensive with the town of Seborga; assertions of sovereignty were instigated in 1963 by a local campaigner based on unproven claims about territorial settlements made by the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars.
A pretender is someone who claims to be the rightful ruler of a country although not recognized as such by the current government. The term is often used to suggest that a claim is not legitimate. The word may refer to a former monarch or a descendant of a deposed monarchy, although this type of claimant is also referred to as a head of a house.
The Crown of Napoleon was a coronation crown manufactured for Napoleon and used in his coronation as Emperor of the French on December 2, 1804. Napoleon called this crown the "Crown of Charlemagne", which was the name of the ancient royal coronation crown of France that had been destroyed during the French Revolution. This name allowed Napoleon to compare himself to the famed medieval monarch Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor.
How To Start Your Own Country is a British six-part documentary comedy series aired between August and September 2005. The show was presented by British comedian Danny Wallace and followed his quest to start his own country in his flat in Bow, London. The micronation he created was eventually named "Kingdom of Lovely".
Seborga is a small village and self-proclaimed principality in the region of Liguria near the French border. Administratively, it is a comune of the Italian province of Imperia. The main economic activities are horticulture and tourism. It is known for being the 'territory' of the self-proclaimed micronation the Principality of Seborga. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Albert Kalonji Ditunga was a Congolese politician best known as the leader of the short-lived secessionist state of South Kasai (Sud-Kasaï) during the Congo Crisis.
Micronations are ephemeral, self-proclaimed entities that claim to be independent sovereign states, but which are not acknowledged as such by any recognised sovereign state, or by any supranational organisation. The constant reiteration of the flag as a symbol of a something that exists by the entity that it symbolises confirms the validity of the flag as an officially sanctioned and/or definitive symbol of an entity; therefore, there has been a close association between vexillology/vexillogic imagination in creating visual symbols that appear to legitimise micronational claims.
Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations is an Australian gazetteer about micronations, published in September 2006 by Lonely Planet. It was written by John Ryan, George Dunford and Simon Sellars. Self-described as a humorous guidebook and written in a light-hearted tone, the book's profile of micronations offers information on their flags, leaders, currencies, maps and other facts. It was re-subtitled Guide to Self-Proclaimed Nations in later publications.
There are 12 monarchies in the Americas, being either sovereign states or self-governing territories that have a monarch as head of state. Each is a constitutional monarchy, wherein the monarch inherits his or her office according to law, usually keeping it until death or abdication, and is bound by laws and customs in the exercise of their powers. Ten of these monarchies are part of the global personal union known as the Commonwealth realms and share Charles III, who resides primarily in the United Kingdom, as king. The other two are the Monarchy of the Netherlands which is used in states of the Dutch Caribbean, and the Monarchy of Denmark which is used in Greenland. As such, none of the monarchies in the Americas have a permanently residing monarch, though the Commonwealth realms each have a resident governor-general to represent King Charles III and perform most of his constitutional duties in his name; and a high commissioner represents the King of Denmark and the Danish government in Greenland. Additionally, each of Canada's 10 provinces functions as a subnational constituent monarchy, with the constitutional powers vested in the King exercised at the provincial level by a lieutenant governor.
Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. Conversely, the opposition to monarchical rule is referred to as republicanism.
Leonard George Casley, better known as Prince Leonard, was the founder of the self-proclaimed micronation, the Principality of Hutt River, within the Australian state of Western Australia. He governed Hutt River from 21 April 1970 until his abdication in February 2017, at a coronation ceremony that placed his son Prince Graeme on the throne.
How to Rule Your Own Country: The Weird and Wonderful World of Micronations is a 2022 book by Australian lawyers and legal academics Harry Hobbs and George Williams about micronationalism—exploring several micronations and their motivations for declaring independence. The book gives an overview on the topic of micronationalism and explores numerous micronations, extant and defunct, as well as their motivations for declaring sovereignty. An overarching theme is the disproportionate number of micronations located within Australia. How to Rule Your Own Country is a follow-up to Hobbs' and Williams' more academic 2021 work Micronations and the Search for Sovereignty.