Enrico de Vigo Paleologo

Enrico Constantino de Vigo Aleramico Lascaris Paleologo^[a] (1918 – 10 November 2012), self styled as Prince Enrico III, was an Italian eccentric, pretender and con artist. Possibly of humble origins, the young Enrico worked as a hairdresser in Genoa and had repeated run-ins with the law, at times being convicted of theft, slander and fraud, as well as not paying child support. In order to elevate his status, Enrico fabricated a genealogy which linked him to the Byzantine emperors of the Palaiologos dynasty and further enhanced his claimed descent by also claiming descent from the kings of Serbia, the kings of Jerusalem, the kings of the Two Sicilies and the Roman emperor Nero (r. 54–68). As the legitimate "Emperor of Constantinople", Enrico claimed to be the head of different chivalric orders and also claimed the right to grant titles of knighthood and nobility. Such rights were mainly used by Enrico as a money-making scheme. Throughout his life as "prince", he hosted numerous "charity balls", wherein he sold titles to gullible people, some of them celebrities, for considerable amounts of money. Because the balls were frequently hosted at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and Palm Beach in Florida, Enrico earned the nickname "The Emperor of Palm Beach".

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