List of Exiled and Pretending Byzantine Empresses - Empress of The Byzantine Empire (in Pretence)

Empress of The Byzantine Empire (in Pretence)

The Byzantine Empire fell in 1453. Three pretenders from the dynasty followed. The last Palaiologan pretender, Andreas Palaiologos, sold his right to the imperial succession to Charles VIII of France, but he also willed the imperial titles to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille, and so in a since either the French Spanish queens have been the titular Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire since the 15th century. Another Palaiologan, Manuel Palaiologos, sold his right of succession to Ottoman Sultan Bayazid II (the Ottoman sultans already claim to be the Kaizer-i Rum or Roman Emperor); but since there is no such thing as a sultaness, there are no Ottoman consorts. Not counting the Ottoman, the two successors of the Palaiologans were all Catholic instead of Orthodox.

The two other claimants are both Orthodox. The first one is the former Queens of Greece because the Greek monarchy mainly created in 1832 to be the successor of the Byzantine Greek monarchy that was replaced by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Their husband descend from five former imperial dynasties of the Empire. The former Empresses of Russia is one of the strongest claimant, mainly because of their claim as the Third Rome and their Orthodox faith. The Russian tsar or emperors were not a Palaiologan successor but they claim so from the marriage of Ivan the Great to Zoe Palaiologina; although the Palaiologian bloodline of Zoe died out along with the main Rurikid line in the 17th century

Neither the Empresses of Russia, the Queens of France, the Queens of Spain, or the Queens of the Hellenes claimed any sort of Byzantine titles, and only the current Queen of Spain is even an official queen. There are two Russian pretenders, three French pretenders, and one Greek pretender. One of them Maria Vladimirovna could claim as empress regnant; or as empress consort, co-ruling with her husband as emperor.