Prince Nicholas Obolovitch—Prince Michael Obolovitch

Prince Nicholas Obolovitch and Prince Michael Obolovitch are first cousins whose relationship turns a murder into a succession crisis: when Michael is killed, Nicholas becomes the next heir. Believed dead and absent from the political negotiations conducted in his name, Nicholas ultimately appears as Anthony Cade, revealing that the succession question and the mystery of his identity are inseparable.

Family Connection and Succession

The two princes are identified as first cousins. Before Nicholas’s identity is fully disclosed, George Lomax reluctantly acknowledges that Prince Nicholas would probably be next in the line of succession. After Michael’s murder, Superintendent Battle makes the relationship explicit: Nicholas Obolovitch is Michael’s first cousin and the next heir.

That rule turns Michael’s death into more than the loss of a claimant. The people negotiating a restoration must reckon with a living—or presumed living—relative who may supersede their preferred candidate. Nicholas is initially believed to be in the United States, where he has been raising money on his expectations, but his actual whereabouts and identity remain concealed.

Restoration Politics and the Loan

The political plan discussed by George Lomax centers on restoring the monarchy and offering the crown to Prince Michael. The proposed arrangement has a financial dimension: Michael is prepared to grant concessions to Herman Isaacstein’s company in return for a loan of about a million to help put him on the throne. The memoirs of Count Stylptitch threaten to disrupt this plan, making the question of who will inherit the crown urgent as well as dynastic.

After Michael is dead, Anthony asks whether Isaacstein will offer the same loan on the same terms to Nicholas. Isaacstein demands to know whether Nicholas can be produced, observing that he thought the prince had been killed in the Congo. Anthony answers that Nicholas was indeed reported dead, but clarifies that he himself spread the report. He then identifies himself as Nicholas Sergius Alexander Ferdinand Obolovitch and asks whether he can fulfill the promise of a prince. The exchange converts an abstract succession claim into a direct negotiation over the throne and its financing.

Nicholas’s Concealed Identity

Nicholas explains that he adopted the name Anthony Cade because his full royal name was too long for the life he intended to lead. His supposed death was therefore not a confirmed death but a deliberate false report, which allowed him to disappear from the succession’s public view while others acted on the assumption that he was gone.

The concealed identity also shaped the danger surrounding him at Chimneys. As the next heir, Anthony could be suspected of wanting Michael removed. He acknowledges that he feared Battle had noticed his unease, though he believes the detective lacked a motive. Battle says he never believed Anthony had shot Michael, but knew he was concealing something; had he learned Anthony’s real identity sooner, the evidence might have led him to arrest him. The kinship that makes Nicholas the heir thus also makes his presence in the murder investigation perilous.

Consequences of the Relationship

The cousins’ relationship links three strands of the plot: the murder of Michael, the attempted restoration, and Anthony’s assumed identity. Michael’s death changes the expected succession; Nicholas’s presumed death obscures who can claim the crown; and his eventual disclosure gives Isaacstein a potential alternative to the dead claimant. The revelation does not erase the political and financial stakes, but it changes who can negotiate over them.

Nicholas’s disclosure also recasts the apparent coincidence of the detective story. Anthony had been involved in the household and investigation while occupying the very position—Michael’s next heir—that could make him look culpable. His concealed identity explains why the succession question follows him through the inquiry, while his candid account of the false death report resolves the apparent contradiction between a missing prince and the man negotiating in his name.