King Victor—Prince Nicholas Obolovitch

King Victor’s impersonation of Prince Nicholas turns a presumed death into a financial instrument: after escaping French surveillance, he travels to the United States, claims the identity of a prince believed to have died years earlier, and obtains a substantial sum on the strength of supposed oil concessions. The deception is exposed by accident, forcing him to flee to England and drawing him back into the danger surrounding Chimneys.

The assumed identity

After his release from prison, King Victor eludes the French detectives who are trying to keep track of him. They expect him to go directly to England, but he instead crosses the Atlantic. The French detective reports the unexpected destination to Anthony Cade and Superintendent Battle, explaining that King Victor has adopted the name and part of Prince Nicholas of Herzoslovakia.

The choice depends on a gap in what can be verified. Prince Nicholas was widely believed to have died in the Congo years before, and a death in such circumstances was difficult to prove. King Victor exploits that uncertainty, presenting the absent prince as alive and making the old report of his death serve as cover for his impersonation.

The American fraud

Under the borrowed identity, King Victor secures a large haul of American dollars by invoking supposed oil concessions. The deception therefore rests not only on personal resemblance or a royal title, but on the financial promise attached to the prince’s name and the anticipated value of Herzoslovakian oil. The account identifies the investors’ money and the concessions as the practical stakes of the masquerade.

The fraud does not end through a planned investigation or a confession. A mere accident unmasks King Victor, and he has to leave the country hurriedly. His success in extracting money is thus followed by an abrupt collapse of the identity that made the scheme possible.

Return to England and significance

Once exposed, King Victor does come to England. The French detective believes he will sooner or later turn up at Chimneys, and suspects that he was there both on the night Prince Michael died and the previous night. This suspicion connects the American impersonation to the present mystery at the country house, although the account at this point presents it as the detective’s belief rather than established proof.

The episode makes the uncertain fate of Prince Nicholas consequential: a death reported far away can be revived as a convincing public identity, then converted into money. King Victor’s assumed name also sharpens the distinction between a genuine royal claim and a performance designed to profit from one. His flight to England carries that performance back into a plot already shaped by concealed identities and contested evidence.