Politically titled person controlled by outside forces
A puppet ruler is someone who holds a title of political authority, but is loyal to or controlled by outside persons or groups. When a foreign government wields such outside control, the puppet ruler's territory is referred to as a puppet state. Internal factors, such as non-elected officials, may also exert power over the puppet monarch. A figurehead monarch, as a source of legitimacy and perhaps divine reign, has been the used form of government in numerous circumstances and places throughout history.
There are two basic forms of puppet monarchs: a figurehead monarch who is a puppet of another person or a group in the country who rules instead of the nominal ruler; and a puppet government under a foreign power. Examples of the first type are the Emperors who were the puppets of the shōguns of Japan and the kings who were the puppets of the Mayor of Palace in the Frankish kingdom. Client kingdoms under the Roman Republic and Roman Empire and the British Empire's colonial relationship with King Farouk of Egypt in the 1950s are examples of the second type.
List of puppet kings and queens
[edit]
Classical antiquity
[edit]
Post-classical period
[edit]
Early modern period
[edit]
- Rulers of the princely states of India under paramountcy of the British East India Company and later the British Raj
- Hussein Shah of Johor – proclaimed Sultan of Johor by the British Empire during the succession crisis of the Johor Sultanate.
- Mubarak al-Sabah – signed an agreement with the British Empire to make the Sheikhdom of Kuwait a British protectorate
- Pedro V of Kongo – ruled the Kingdom of Kongo (modern-day Angola, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the Congo) as a client king for the Portuguese Empire
- Gungunhana – Portuguese client ruler of the Gaza Empire, exiled after unsuccessful rebellion against Portuguese rule.
- Osman Mahamuud – client king of the Majeerteen Sultanate (modern-day Puntland) for the Italian Empire
- Muhammad Rahim Bahadur II and Isfandiyar Jurji Bahadur – Russian client rulers of the Khanate of Khiva
- Guangxu Emperor of Great Qing – dominated by Empress Dowager Cixi
- Emperor Gojong and Sunjong of Korea – ruled as puppets of the Japanese Empire after the Russo-Japanese War
- Aimone of Savoy, King of Croatia – appointed by Fascist Italy after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia as figurehead for Ante Pavelić's Ustaše regime
- Aisin-Gioro Puyi, Emperor of Manchukuo – former Emperor of China appointed to lead Japan's puppet state of Manchukuo[1][2]
- Bảo Đại, Emperor of Vietnam – emperor of the French protectorate of Annam and Japanese-occupied Vietnam, later chief of state of South Vietnam
- Sisavang Vong, King of Luang Phrabang – client king of the French protectorate of Laos
- Tashi Namgyal and Palden Thondup Namgyal – ruled Sikkim as protectorate of India after 1950.
- Sisowath Monivong, of Cambodia – king of the French protectorate of Cambodia
A puppet does not have to be a national ruler, or even a person. For example, Oscar K. Allen was widely recognized to be Huey Long's puppet while serving as governor of Louisiana.[3] The government of Manchukuo was controlled by the Japanese government.