One does not become, but is born a king. Monarchies are the biggest racket going, a job you can only get through sheer nepotism. Despite a healthy amount of dissent and calls to abolish royal families across the world, most still cling on to however much power and wealth they can. In that case, if you can't beat them, why not just join them? Dozens of normal men and women throughout history have simply declared themselves to be royalty... with mixed results. The traditional route to reigning upon a throne is either being part of a bloodline, or else killing whoever was occupying the seat of power beforehand. A route these enterprising sorts shirk. Still, just because you don't have a Windsor family name or a troubling amount of inbreeding through your lineage, doesn't mean you aren't entitled to putting a crown on your head, parading about the place and making royal proclamations. It just means that most people won't take you very seriously. Unless you stick a gun in their face, anyway. That works for some. Then there are those who were confidence tricksters, the men (it's mostly men) who decided that they deserved monarchistic power, and just the plain loons. Here are ten regular people who declared themselves royalty.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
