Alexis Brimeyer

Alexis Ceslaw Maurice Jean Brimeyer (1946-1995) was a false pretender who claimed connection to various European thrones. He used fraudulent combined titles like Prince d'Anjou Durazzo Durassow Romanoff Dolgorouki de Bourbon-Conde. He also sold bogus titles of nobility through "orders" he and his associates had created.

Brimeyer was born May 4 1946 in Costermansville (now Bukavu), Zaire. His Belgian mother Beatrice (daughter of Ceclava Czapska) divorced his father Victor Brimeyer two months later and remarried 1950 in England with Ferdinand Fabry.

Brimeyer's first attempt to ennoble himself came when he named himself "Brimeyer de la Calchuyére" in the 1950s. This came to nothing. In 1955 he took a name "His Serene Highness Prince Khevenhuller-Abensberg" but real princess Khevenhuller threatened to sue him; he backpedaled and apologized. He also wrote to number of aristocrats trying to get them to adopt him. In 1969 he received a passport of the principality of Sealand with a name "His Highness Prince Alexis Romanov Dolgorouki". When he contracted Brussels orthodox priest Jean Maljinowski to be baptized, the priest got suspicious because this supposed prince did not speak a word of Russian.

Brimeyer commissioned two death certificates that were published in "Le Soir". Through them, he claimed that Nikolai Dolgorouki, his supposed father, had used a false name of Nicholas di Fonzo to escape the October Revolution and lived under that name. Note that Bolsheviks executed real Nikolai Dolgorouki after the Revolution.

Princess Khevenhuller-Abensberg, Maria Dolgoroukoff and Prince Alexander Pavlovich Dolgorouki sued Brimeyer. They charged that Brimeyer was using their noble titles with malicious intent. Prosecutor presented large number of fraudulent documents, including letter where emperor Charles V supposedly ennobles Brimeyers. Court noted that his claim of marriage between his "grandfather" prince Dolgorouki and his "grandmother", supposedly survived Maria Nikolayevaco, was false. November 24 1971 Brimeyer was sentenced to jail for 18 months but by then he 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, said that his passport had been stolen and requested temporary documents. He registered himself as Alexis Romanov Dolgorouki and for the next ten years he used those documents to "prove" his status.

1979 Brimeyer was living in Spain and contacted the cadet line of the Anjou Durassos. 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 15 April 1947 and that he was born exactly two years after his real birth date. Note that Durassow never actually married and was possibly homosexual. This supposed marriage was then annulled and she married Prince Igor Dolgorouki on 6 September 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.

In August 1984 Brimeyer's mother, now styled "Princess Olga Beatrice Nikolaevna Romanovskaia Dolgoroukaia, Princess of the Ukraine, Countess di Fonzo" married Alfonso Yorba (aka Major General Bruce-Alfonso de Bourbon, Prince of Condé). After the wedding the supposed prince adopted Brimeyer. This gave Brimeyer an excuse to add a title "Bourbon-Conde" and a supposed link to throne of Navarre. Note that the last known member of the house of Conde hanged himself 1830.

Next Brimeyer begun to claim that his father was the son of prince Dolgorouki. He again claimed that prince Dolgorouki had married Grand Duchess Maria Nicolaevna, who had supposedly escaped her execution in Ekaterinburg and that his mother was their only daughter. He also claimed that his alleged grandfather had been elected Volodar of Ukraine and somehow convinced some orthodox priests that he was the heir of a throne that does not actually exist. Thus he claimed connection to Romanovs and the throne of Russia.

Brimeyer sent numerous letters to king Juan Carlos and demanded recognition. In some stage he had married and sired a son. He also managed to convince the British College of Arms to include himself in some of the documents.Lord Mountbatten wrote to him on 3rd of january 1977 and recognized him as Prince Dolgorouky.In 1992 two Greater Serbian-nationalists including Vojislav Šešelj visited Brimeyer in Spain, supposedly to offer him the throne of Serbia. Brimeyer told the journalists that he had been in touch with Slobodan Milošević who was supposedly in favor of restoring the Serbian monarchy, in the form of Greater Serbia including most of former Yugoslavia. At that sage he used a 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 at least appeared to be some support. The European Monarchist Association published a communiqué where it stated Brimeyer's real identity. The scheme appears to have collapsed.

Alexis Brimeyer died of AIDS in Madrid in March 1995. Some of his supporters have continued to run his affairs for some time afterwards.

ee also

*Romanov claimants

References

* [http://www.chivalricorders.org/royalty/fantasy/brimeyer.htm Alexis Brimeyer in the Chivalric Orders sire]
* [http://famous.adoption.com/famous/brimeyer-alex-ceslaw-maurice-jean.html Adoption Network]
* [http://www.chivalricorders.org/orders/self-styled/selfsty2.htm The self-styled Orders of Saint John] by Guy Stair Sainty