Alexis Brimeyer
Encyclopedia
Alexis Ceslaw Maurice Jean Brimeyer (1946–1995) was a false pretender
who claimed connection to various Europe
an thrones. He used fraud
ulent combined titles like Prince d'Anjou Durazzo Durassow Romanoff Dolgorouki de Bourbon-Conde. He also sold false titles of nobility through "orders" he and his associates had created.
, Democratic Republic of the Congo
). His Belgian
mother Beatrice, daughter of Ceclava Czapska
, divorced his father, Victor Brimeyer, two months after his birth. She later remarried September 13, 1950 in England
to Ferdinand Joseph Oscar Fabry.
with the name His Highness Prince Alexis Romanov Dolgorouki.When he contacted a Brussels
Orthodox priest, Jean Maljinowski, to be baptized, the priest was suspicious since the supposed prince didn't speak a word of Russia
n.
He commissioned two death certificate
s to be published in Le Soir
. Through them, he claimed that Nikolai Dolgorouki, his supposed father, had used a pseudonym
of Nicholas di Fonzo to escape the October Revolution
and lived under the name. In actuality, the Bolshevik
s executed the real Nikolai Dolgorouki after the Revolution.
sued Brimeyer. They charged that Brimeyer was using their noble titles with malicious intent. The prosecutor presented a large number of fraudulent documents, including letters where Emperor Charles V supposedly ennobles Brimeyer. The court noted that his claim of marriage between his "grandfather", Prince Dolgorouki, and his "grandmother", supposedly survived Maria Nikolaevna, was false. On November 24, 1971, Brimeyer was sentenced to jail for 18 months but had fled to Greece
from where he sent a letter to the prosecutor. In it he claimed descent from such luminaries as Emperors of Byzantium.
In Greece Brimeyer presented himself in the police station, and said that his passport
had been stolen. He requested temporary documents. He registered then himself as Alexis Romanov Dolgorouki and for the next ten years he used those documents to "prove" his status.
and contacted the cadet line
of the Anjou Durasso's. He convinced some of them to give their support and recognize him as the head of the royal house of Anjou-Durazzo. 1982 he published a book "I, Alexis, Great Grandson of the Tsar" by "H.R.H. Prince Alexis d'Anjou Romanov-Dolgorouki, Duke of Durazzo". The book included a "will" where Vassili d'Anjou Durassow supposedly recognized him as his only son. Thus he claimed connection to the house of Anjou
and the throne of Naples
.
Brimeyer claimed Victor Brimeyer was not his father. He claimed that after his mother divorced Brimeyer she married Vassili d'Anjou Durassow on April 15, 1947 and that he was born exactly two years after his real birth date. Note that Durassow never actually married and was homosexual. This supposed marriage was then annulled
and she married Prince Igor Dolgorouki on September 6, 1946. Note that she married Farby two years later. Brimeyer claimed that the couple had been elected as royal rulers of Ukraine
and had resigned 1939.
, Countess di Fonzo", married Alfonso Yorba (also known as the Major General Bruce-Alfonso de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, or more simply, Bruce Conde
). After the wedding, the supposed prince adopted Brimeyer. This gave Brimeyer an excuse to add the title Bourbon-Condé, and a supposed link to throne of Navarre
.
and somehow convinced a few orthodox priests that he was the heir to a throne that doesn't actually exist. Through the Grand Duchess, Brimeyer claimed a connection to the Romanov
s and the Russia
n throne.
College of Arms
to include himself in documents. Lord Mountbatten of Burma
wrote to him on January 3, 1977, and recognized him as Prince Dolgorouky.
In 1992, two Greater Serbia
n nationalist, including Vojislav Šešelj
, visited Brimeyer in Spain
. Supposedly they offered him the throne of Serbia. He told journalists that he had been in touch with Slobodan Milošević
, who was supposedly in favor of restoring the Serbian monarchy. Then he used the title, "Prince Alexis II Nemanitch Romanov Dolgorouki", Grand Master of the (fraudulent) Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. He had convinced his Serbian nationalist supporters that he was descended, in a very convoluted manner, from Hrebeljanovic Nemanitch.
Brimeyer claimed to have accepted the throne of Serbia. There appeared to be at least some support for him. The European Monarchist Association published a communiqué, where it stated Brimeyer's real identity. The scheme then appears to have collapsed.
in Madrid
in March 1995. Some of his supporters continued to run his affairs for some time afterwards.
Pretender
A pretender is one who claims entitlement to an unavailable position of honour or rank. Most often it refers to a former monarch, or descendant thereof, whose throne is occupied or claimed by a rival, or has been abolished....
who claimed connection to various Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an thrones. He used fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
ulent combined titles like Prince d'Anjou Durazzo Durassow Romanoff Dolgorouki de Bourbon-Conde. He also sold false titles of nobility through "orders" he and his associates had created.
Early life
Brimeyer was born on May 4, 1946, in Costermansville (now present day BukavuBukavu
Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo , lying at the extreme south-eastern extent of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the Sud-Kivu province and as of 2009 it had an estimated population of...
, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
). His Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
mother Beatrice, daughter of Ceclava Czapska
Ceclava Czapska
Ceclava Czapska - was the woman who claimed to be Grand Duchess Maria, daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last autocratic ruler of Imperial Russia, and his wife Tsarina Alexandra....
, divorced his father, Victor Brimeyer, two months after his birth. She later remarried September 13, 1950 in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to Ferdinand Joseph Oscar Fabry.
Noble Pretender
Brimeyer's first attempt to ennoble himself came when he named himself, Brimeyer de la Calchuyére, in the 1950s when he was about ten years old. This came to nothing. In 1955, he took a name, His Serene Highness Prince Khevenhuller-Abensberg, but the real Princess Khevenhuller threatened to sue him. He backpedaled and apologized. Brimeyer also wrote to a number of aristocrats to convince them to adopt him. In 1969, he received a passport of the Principality of SealandPrincipality of Sealand
The Principality of Sealand is an unrecognized entity, located on HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea 10 km off the coast of Suffolk, England, United Kingdom ....
with the name His Highness Prince Alexis Romanov Dolgorouki.When he contacted a Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
Orthodox priest, Jean Maljinowski, to be baptized, the priest was suspicious since the supposed prince didn't speak a word of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n.
He commissioned two death certificate
Death certificate
The phrase death certificate can describe either a document issued by a medical practitioner certifying the deceased state of a person or popularly to a document issued by a person such as a registrar of vital statistics that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death as later...
s to be published in Le Soir
Le Soir
Le Soir is a Berliner Format Belgian newspaper. Le Soir was founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel. It is the most popular Francophone newspaper in Belgium, and considered a newspaper of record.-Editorial stance:...
. Through them, he claimed that Nikolai Dolgorouki, his supposed father, had used a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Nicholas di Fonzo to escape the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
and lived under the name. In actuality, the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s executed the real Nikolai Dolgorouki after the Revolution.
Khevenhüller Trial
Princess Khevenhüller-Abensberg, Maria Dolgoroukov and Prince Alexander Pavlovich DolgoroukiDolgorukov
Dolgoroukov is the name of a princely Russian family Dolgorukovs of Rurikid stock. Descendants of Mikhail of Chernigov, they took their name from one prince of Obolensk, whose sobriquet was Dolgorouky, or "Long-Armed" in Russian, alluding their lineage to the ancient Persian monarchy. Among its...
sued Brimeyer. They charged that Brimeyer was using their noble titles with malicious intent. The prosecutor presented a large number of fraudulent documents, including letters where Emperor Charles V supposedly ennobles Brimeyer. The court noted that his claim of marriage between his "grandfather", Prince Dolgorouki, and his "grandmother", supposedly survived Maria Nikolaevna, was false. On November 24, 1971, Brimeyer was sentenced to jail for 18 months but had fled to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
from where he sent a letter to the prosecutor. In it he claimed descent from such luminaries as Emperors of Byzantium.
In Greece Brimeyer presented himself in the police station, and said that his passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
had been stolen. He requested temporary documents. He registered then himself as Alexis Romanov Dolgorouki and for the next ten years he used those documents to "prove" his status.
"I, Alexis, Great Grandson of the Tsar"
In 1979 Brimeyer was living in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and contacted the cadet line
Cadet branch
Cadet branch is a term in genealogy to describe the lineage of the descendants of the younger sons of a monarch or patriarch. In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets – titles, realms, fiefs, property and income – have...
of the Anjou Durasso's. He convinced some of them to give their support and recognize him as the head of the royal house of Anjou-Durazzo. 1982 he published a book "I, Alexis, Great Grandson of the Tsar" by "H.R.H. Prince Alexis d'Anjou Romanov-Dolgorouki, Duke of Durazzo". The book included a "will" where Vassili d'Anjou Durassow supposedly recognized him as his only son. Thus he claimed connection to the house of Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
and the throne of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
.
Brimeyer claimed Victor Brimeyer was not his father. He claimed that after his mother divorced Brimeyer she married Vassili d'Anjou Durassow on April 15, 1947 and that he was born exactly two years after his real birth date. Note that Durassow never actually married and was homosexual. This supposed marriage was then annulled
Annulment
Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...
and she married Prince Igor Dolgorouki on September 6, 1946. Note that she married Farby two years later. Brimeyer claimed that the couple had been elected as royal rulers of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and had resigned 1939.
Ties to the House of Condé
In August 1984 Brimeyer's mother, who now styled herself as "Princess Olga Beatrice Nikolaevna Romanovskaia Dolgoroukaia, Princess of the UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Countess di Fonzo", married Alfonso Yorba (also known as the Major General Bruce-Alfonso de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, or more simply, Bruce Conde
Bruce Conde
Bruce Conde was a US Army officer, stamp collector, royal pretender, and a general for Royalist forces during the North Yemen Civil War.-Early years:...
). After the wedding, the supposed prince adopted Brimeyer. This gave Brimeyer an excuse to add the title Bourbon-Condé, and a supposed link to throne of Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
.
Ties to Russia
Next, Brimeyer began to claim that his father was the son of Prince Dolgorouki. He again claimed that Prince Dolgorouki had married the supposedly escaped Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, and that his mother was their only daughter. Brimeyer claimed that his alleged grandfather had been elected Volodar of UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and somehow convinced a few orthodox priests that he was the heir to a throne that doesn't actually exist. Through the Grand Duchess, Brimeyer claimed a connection to the Romanov
Romanov
The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...
s and the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n throne.
Serbian Throne
Brimeyer sent numerous letters to King Juan Carlos of Spain and demanded his recognition. At some point, Brimeyer married and had a son. He also managed to convince the BritishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
College of Arms
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
to include himself in documents. Lord Mountbatten of Burma
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
wrote to him on January 3, 1977, and recognized him as Prince Dolgorouky.
In 1992, two Greater Serbia
Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia applies to the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology directed towards the creation of a Serbian land which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to the Serbian nation...
n nationalist, including Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj, JD is a Serbian politician, writer and lawyer. He is the founder and president of the Serbian Radical Party and was vice-president of Serbia between 1998 and 2000...
, visited Brimeyer in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Supposedly they offered him the throne of Serbia. He told journalists that he had been in touch with Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
, who was supposedly in favor of restoring the Serbian monarchy. Then he used the title, "Prince Alexis II Nemanitch Romanov Dolgorouki", Grand Master of the (fraudulent) Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. He had convinced his Serbian nationalist supporters that he was descended, in a very convoluted manner, from Hrebeljanovic Nemanitch.
Brimeyer claimed to have accepted the throne of Serbia. There appeared to be at least some support for him. The European Monarchist Association published a communiqué, where it stated Brimeyer's real identity. The scheme then appears to have collapsed.
Death
Alexis Brimeyer died of AIDSAIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in March 1995. Some of his supporters continued to run his affairs for some time afterwards.