Carol II of Romania

Born heir to Romania's throne in 1893, Carol forfeited his succession rights in 1925 after a scandalous marriage and a persistent affair with Elena Lupescu got him exiled to France. When his five-year-old son Michael inherited the crown in 1927, political chaos pulled Carol back in 1930; he deposed the boy and claimed the throne as Carol II. He ruled through the Depression by appointing weak coalition governments and surrounding himself with corrupt advisors, eventually suspending the constitution in 1938 to establish a royal dictatorship aimed at countering the Iron Guard. After Romania lost vast territories to the Soviets, Hungarians, and Bulgarians in 1940, his regime collapsed and he was forced to abdicate by a Nazi-backed general. He left the country with a fortune as Iron Guard gunmen shot at his departing train, married Lupescu in Brazil in 1947, and died in Portuguese exile in 1953 - his son refusing to attend the funeral.