List of current pretenders

Americas

A realm that was never diplomatically recognized by any state, is the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia, a short-lived attempt at establishing a constitutional monarchy during the 19th Century. It claimed the far southern stretches of South America where the native Mapuche were fighting to maintain their sovereignty against the advancing Argentine and Chilean forces. In 1860, the Frenchman Orélie-Antoine de Tounens convinced the Mapuche chiefs that they would be better served in negotiations with the surrounding powers by a European leader, and he was elected "king" over a loosely governed confederation of tribes. The proclaimed kingdom never exercised more than a marginal de facto sovereignty over a small area in present-day Chile, around a Mapuche town or tent camp called Perquenco. The efforts by Tounens to gain international recognition prompted an invasion by Chile, worried by the possibility of the establishment of a French protectorate in Araucania. The Chilean invasion resulted in Tounens' capture and deportation. The last pretender is Jean-Michel Parasiliti di Para, since January 9, 2014.

Asia

The current pretender to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a rebel Chinese state that existed from 1851 to 1864, is unknown.

India and Pakistan

Following the Partition of India in 1947, the majority of princely states in the subcontinent acceded to either the Dominion of Pakistan or the Union of India. Official recognition of hereditary royal entitlements and accompanying privy purses was abolished in the Republic of India through a constitutional amendment on 28 December 1971. The same was done in Pakistan on 1 January 1972. In many cases, members of the former ruling families of princely states retain a considerable degree of political influence within their communities. Many leaders continue to be referred to by their claimed titles, including most notably within the Supreme Court.

Nepal

Nepal's numerous small monarchies were collectively abolished by the federal government on 7 October 2008. At the time, the thrones of both Salyan and Jajarkot had been vacant since the deaths of rajas Gopendra Bahadur Shah and Prakash Bikram Shah respectively (both in 2003), and have remained vacant.

Yemen

Former states of the British Aden Protectorate were united in the 1960s to form the People's Republic of South Yemen, which became independent on 30 November 1967. South Yemen later merged with its northern counterpart to form the modern state of Yemen in 1990.

Europe

The thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland have not strictly been abolished but rather unified into the British Crown. The abolition dates given above refer to the acts of union which unified them, the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. The Jacobite claim to these thrones predates both Acts, dating from the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

Germany

The German Empire was a federation of a score of smaller monarchies, all of which are now abolished under modern republican Germany although a handful never abdicated their titles. As a result, there are a large number of claimants to various German thrones. Since the dissolution of the empire, however, a number of former royal households have become extinct in the male line, and are therefore not represented in the list below. Mecklenburg–Schwerin became extinct in 2001, Saxe-Altenburg in 1991, and Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen in 1971.

Italy

Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Italian peninsula comprised a number of states, some of which were monarchies. During the Italian unification, the monarchs of such agglomerated states lost their sovereignty and their titles became purely ceremonial. The resultant throne of the Kingdom of Italy was held by the former king of Sardinia.

Croatia

Crown prince Karlo Habsburško-Lotarinški

During the fall of the K.u.K. monrchy in 1918 the Sabor of the Kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia with Rijeka declared the unification of all Croatian lands and ended the state union with Austria and Hungary, but never dethroned king Karlo I.(IV.). During the Independent State of Croatia 1941-1945 the Habsburgs were officially dethroned, but since today's Republic of Croatia does not consider itself the successor of the Independent State of Croatia, following the succession rite king Karl's grandson Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen is the first in line to succeed to the Croatian throne.

Crown prince Amedeo Zvonimir of Savoy-Aosta

Upon its independence from the kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941 the Independent State of Croatia was created under the protection of Italy and Germany. On the 15 May 1941 three laws on the crown of King Zvonimir were passed, which put the sovereignty of the state on the newly created crown, which made the country a kingdom. Three days later in Rome, Croatia signed the Treaties of Rome with Italy. Under the treaties the head of the House of Savoy appointed Prince Aimone as king. Aimone accepted the nomination, adopting the regal name "Tomislav II" and received the royal regalia. He was forced to abdicate his throne on the orders of the Italian king Vittorio Emanuele III, before been crowned. Aimone formally renounced all claims in October 1943. Since his death on 29 January 1948, his eldest son Amedeo may be argued to be the heir to that throne.

Finland

In 1918, following Finland's independence from Russia, the national parliament made an attempt to establish a monarchy under the reign of a German king. Prince Friedrich Karl, of the House of Hesse, was elected as King of Finland in October 1918. He renounced this throne two months later, without ever having taken up the position, and Finland subsequently adopted a republican constitution. For this reason, there is a dispute as to whether the House of Hesse may lay claim to this title, as many maintain that since the king-elect was never installed, the title was never officially bestowed, and thus no claim has any legal basis. The order of succession to the throne was never established. In 2002 Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat declared Phillipp von Hessen, the great grandson of Friedrich Karl, as the current heir of throne. This was based on the assumption that the Finnish throne would have been separated from the senior line of the Hessen family.

Irish Clans

The Chiefs of the Name are the hereditary chieftains of the Irish clans, who are directly descended from the Gaelic royal families which ruled in parts of Ireland until the beginning of the seventeenth century. Most prominent among these are:

Lithuania

Following the country's independence from Russia in 1918, the Council of Lithuania voted to establish a monarchy, and invited Prince Wilhelm, the Duke of Urach, to take the throne as king. Wilhelm accepted the nomination in July 1918, and adopted the regnal name Mindaugas II. During the subsequent German Revolution, however, the Council withdrew its decision in November 1918, and Wilhelm was never crowned. His grandson Wilhelm Albert, Duke of Urach, is the head of the family since 9 February 1991. His marriage in 1992 was morganatic and so in 2009 his brother, Prince Inigo of Urach, visited Lithuania and announced that if offered the throne he would be ready to assume it.