Michael Lafosse
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The self styled "Prince Michael of Albany"
Michel Roger Lafosse (born Watermael-Boitsfort, Brussels on 21 April 1958), subsequently known as Michael James Alexander Stewart of Albany, says he is a descendant of Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") and thus the legitimate Jacobite claimant to the throne of the former Kingdom of Scotland.
Since 1979 he has referred to himself as "HRH Prince Michael James Alexander Stewart, 7th Count of Albany", stating that a direct ancestry used the title "Count of Albany". Lafosse also says he has a legitimate right to use other noble titles including Comte de Blois, Duc d'Aquitaine and Baron Lafosse de Chatry.
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[edit] History of the Royal House of Stuart
The Royal House of Stuart became extinct in the male line with the death in 1807 of Henry Benedict Stuart, called "King Henry IX" by Jacobites, in turn successor to his elder brother, Charles Edward Stuart, in 1788. Charles left one daughter, Charlotte, Duchess of Albany. The Jacobite claim has since been inherited by various continental Catholic dynasties, most recently the Wittelsbach dynasty, whose head, Franz, Duke of Bavaria, is the heir to the Royal House of Stuart.
[edit] Early life
There is some disagreement over who Lafosse's parents and ancestors were. Lafosse says he was born in Brussels on 21 April 1958 in the Ville de Bruxelles district, and that his parents were Baron Gustave Joseph Fernand Clément Lafosse and Princess Renée Julienne Stewart. In 2002, Brussels authorities stated that this certificate is a forgery, [1] and that they have [2] a birth certificate showing that Lafosse was born in Brussels on 21 April 1958, in the Watermael-Boitsfort district to parents Gustave Joseph Clément Fernand Lafosse, a shopkeeper, and Renée Julienne Dée, a business employee.
[edit] Michael of Albany's Claims
Lafosse states that this history is inaccurate and that the Stuart line did not end with the death of Henry Benedict Stuart. Instead, Lafosse says that Charles Edward Stuart secretly obtained a papal annulment of his marriage to Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, and subsequently in a secret ceremony, remarried a woman called Marguerite O'Dea d'Audibert de Lussan, Comtesse de Massillan. He says this union produced an heir in 1786, a son, Edward James Stuart, Count Stuarton, Count of Albany, from whom he says he was descended.
Lafosse says he is the son of "HRH Princess Renee Stewart, Lady Derneley", (according to Lafosse, the senior descendant in the female line of Edward James Stuart) and "Gustave Lafosse de Chatry, 5th Baron de Chatry". These individuals, as well as others, are listed in an extensive genealogy presented by Lafosse as evidence that he is descended from the last Stuart King of Scotland.
Lafosse has also stated that he was "President of the European Council of Princes", following Archduke Otto of Austria's tenure in that position. Archduke Otto has said that he had never been president of any such body, or a member of any such body, and that, in fact, he had never heard of it[3].
Lafosse currently has a following among some Scots dissatisfied with the current British Monarchy and government who support his claims[citation needed].
[edit] Present Activities
Although born in Belgium as Michel Roger Lafosse, he became a naturalized British citizen in the 1990s and has since used the name Michael James Alexander Stewart of Albany. In 1998 he authored The Forgotten Monarchy of Scotland, within which he makes the case for his ancestral ties to the Royal House of Stuart.
His website states that he is a diplomat of the Federation of Autonomous Priories of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta (not the SMOM), and a Cultural Attaché at the Knights of Malta's embassy in the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe in West Africa and that he has been awarded the United Nations 2001 "Volunteer Service Medal" under the name "Albany".
In 2005 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the "Order of St. George" under the name "Prince Michael of Scotland". Lafosse says he is the Fons Honorum and Grand Protector of The Imperial and Royal Dragon Court and Order in Britain and the English speaking world. [4]. The heraldry website Heraldica.com does not list the "Noble Order of the Guards of St Germain" as an official Order of Chivalry. [5]
On Sunday 18 June 2006 the Sunday Mail Newspaper, in a story entitled "King of Scotland loses citizenship after fraud claims over passport", by Norman Silvester reported that LaFosse was set to be deported after having lost British Citizenship because, it is alleged, he submitted a forged birth certificate.
On Sunday 23 June 2006, the Sunday Mail Newspaper, in a story entitled "Fake King of Scots Flees to Belgium", by Norman Silvester, reported that in the wake of the publicity surrounding his claims and his loss of British citizenship, he had sold up his house in Edinburgh and returned to Belgium to live with his mother.
[edit] External links
- Fantasy Royalty - a dismissal of the genealogy presented by Lafosse
- A page detailing the unlikelihood of his claims, and suggesting the documents he presents are forged
- A site by Laurence Gardner, supporter of Lafosse
- BBC mirroring Lafosse's publisher's comments
- Details of the self-styled "Federation of Autonomous Priories of The Order of Saint John of Jerusalem - Knights of Malta", apparently incorporated in 1988 in Missouri
- Report on Lafosse's pedigree, including copies of certificates
- The Sunday Herald report on various difficulties with Lafosse's story and pedigree
- Exposé
