Pietro Paleologo Mastrogiovanni | |
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Born | 5 March 1931 |
Died | 2017 |
Nationality | Italian |
Occupation(s) | Psychiatrist, pretender |
Pietro Donato Paleologo Mastrogiovanni (5 March 1931 – 2017), self-styled as Pietro III Paleologo[1][2] or Pietro III Paleologo Mastrogiovanni,[3] was an Italian psychiatrist and pretender. Claiming descent from Thomas Palaiologos, a brother of the last Byzantine emperor, though a son called "Rogerio", whose existence is overwhelmingly dismissed as fantasy in scholarship, Mastrogiovanni claimed to be the sole legitimate pretender to the throne of the Byzantine Empire. None of the sparse documents supposedly confirming Mastrogiovanni's descent have been authenticated.