Prince Nicholas Obolovitch

Prince Nicholas Obolovitch is the heir whose supposed death leaves his identity open to exploitation and whose eventual return alters the contest to restore Herzoslovakia’s monarchy. Believed to have died in the Congo, he has concealed the truth by his own account: he spread the report of his death and emerged from Africa as Anthony Cade. In the meantime, King Victor has used the same presumed-dead prince as a false identity to solicit American investment.

Identity and the Succession

After Prince Michael’s murder, Superintendent Battle identifies Prince Nicholas Obolovitch as the next heir and Michael’s first cousin. The succession question is politically consequential: Michael had been the candidate favored by the Herzoslovakian Loyalist Party, while the possibility of Nicholas’s claim redirects attention to another royal claimant.

The possibility of restoration is tied to foreign backing and financial interests. The people of Herzoslovakia are reported to want the monarchy restored, with the crown offered to Prince Michael, who has the support of the British government. In return for a loan of about a million, Michael is prepared to grant concessions to Isaacstein and Company. Nicholas’s place in the succession therefore matters not only as a matter of royal descent but also because a different claimant could change which foreign investors and political interests stand to benefit.

Presumed Death and Life as Anthony Cade

When asked where Nicholas is, Battle says there is reason to believe he is in the United States, where he had been raising money against his prospects. This account establishes the presumed heir as an active participant in the financial and political contest, though his identity remains concealed from the people discussing his whereabouts.

The final revelation gives a different explanation for the belief that Nicholas died in the Congo. Speaking to Herman Isaacstein, Anthony Cade says that Nicholas was indeed reported killed there, but clarifies that he caused the report to be spread. He denies that this means he murdered anyone: the statement concerns the false report of his own death. He then identifies himself as Nicholas Sergius Alexander Ferdinand Obolovitch and explains that the name was too long for the life he intended to lead, so he left the Congo as Anthony Cade.

King Victor’s Impersonation

The presumption of Nicholas’s death also supplies King Victor with a usable disguise. Battle explains that Victor seized on the difficulty of verifying a death in the Congo, revived Nicholas’s identity, and presented himself in the United States as the prince. Under that assumed identity, Victor raised a large sum in American dollars on the promise of oil concessions, before being unmasked by accident and leaving the country hurriedly.

The counterfeit claim and Nicholas’s real concealment are distinct deceptions with opposing purposes. Victor appropriates a royal identity to obtain money; Nicholas says he adopted an ordinary name after arranging for the world to believe him dead. The revelation that Anthony Cade is the real heir retrospectively connects the investigation into Victor’s American fraud with the succession crisis at Chimneys.

Revelation and Political Consequences

The truth comes out during a conversation about whether Isaacstein will extend the same loan, on the same terms, to Michael’s cousin. When Isaacstein asks whether Nicholas can be produced, Cade answers by offering himself as the prince. His disclosure turns an abstract question of inheritance into a direct negotiation over the proposed restoration and its financing.

Nicholas’s account also explains why his identity could carry both political and financial weight despite his long absence. Before the revelation, others can speak of him as a possibly living heir in America; after it, Cade can present the claimant in person. The contrast between a royal name used fraudulently by King Victor and the heir’s own chosen identity underscores how the succession depends on both inherited status and who can credibly claim it.