The Top 10: Governments in Exile

After Carles Puigdemont, the president of Catalonia, fled to Brussels in October, we compiled a list of the most interesting would-be rulers in retreat

Charles II, a king in exile, painted in France by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1653

Graham Kirby suggested this list and nominated the Palatinate Electoral, asking, “Where would we be without it?” I had no idea, but it turns out Frederick V was a Calvinist who was chucked out of his patchwork Rhineland territories by the Catholic Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, and who fled to the Netherlands. But his son Charles I Louis was restored by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, and his daughter Princess Sophia was mother of George I of Great Britain.

1. James I of Scotland. Sent to France for safety at the age of 11 in 1406, he was captured by pirates, handed over by them to Henry IV and held by the English for 18 years before being ransomed. “He wrote the beautiful ‘Kingis Quair’ whilst a prisoner,” said John Nicolson.

2. The Pisan papacy of John XXIII, the anti-anti-Pope, 1410-15. The Avignon popes were already a kind of papacy in exile (nominated by Matthew Young), but Baldassarre Cossa complicated matters further. Suggested by Adam Bruce.

3. Portuguese court of Queen Maria I. The Braganza royal family fled Lisbon for Rio de Janeiro in Brazil with 15,000 people to escape Napoleonic forces in 1807. They remained there until the Liberal revolution of 1820 allowed the return of John VI the following year. Nominated by Robert Boston and Jon Patience.

4. Charles II’s court in exile, 1649-60. “While Puritans were banning Christmas, Charles had a mandate to have as much fun as possible to show the attractiveness of monarchical government,” said ZenoDeadCentre.

5. Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Provisional parliament that lasted 14 months from 1917 to 1919. When Belarus became independent on the break-up of the USSR in 1990, the Rada refused to recognise the pre-1990 parliament, or the autocratic Alexander Lukashenko, who took power in 1994. Now claims to be the oldest existing government in exile, in various parts of the Belarusian diaspora, including in Britain and the US. Nominated by Catscatscatz.

6. Polish government in exile, in France from 1939 and in London from 1940. Wound itself up in 1990 after the collapse of Soviet domination. From Robert Kaye and Geoffrey Peter.

7. Vichy France. After the liberation of France and the return of the Free French government in exile (nominated by Andrew Lilico and Geoffrey Peter), Vichy in turn became a government in exile in 1944, in the Sigmaringen enclave in Germany. Nominated by Mr Memory.

8. Chiang Kai-shek. Retreated to Taiwan in 1948 and claimed to be legitimate president of China until his death in 1975. Nominated by Broken Columns, who prompted a learned debate about whether Taiwan is “exile”. Matthew Evans and Andrew Lilico agreed it is a one-off, a kind of internal exile, a way of being “differently at home”.

9. Sealand Rebel Government, since 1978. “The strangest I have heard of,” said Matthew Randall. Sealand is a disused anti-aircraft gun platform seven miles off the coast of Suffolk, built during the Second World War, that was seized in 1967 by Paddy Roy Bates and his associates who proclaimed an independent state in 1975. Alexander Achenbach tried to take over with German and Dutch mercenaries three years later, but was taken prisoner by Bates’s son and then released, setting up a government in exile in Germany.

10. Libya’s parliament took refuge in 2014 in a Greek car ferry off the coast of Tobruk. Thanks to Adam Greves‏.

Honourable mentions for The Yorkist‏, who proposed the Osborne Ministry (2016-); Matt Downey, who suggested the current UK government, with real power wielded by Jeremy Corbyn; Robin Lewis, who nominated Labour’s backbench departmental committees; German Film Quote, who on similar lines suggested David Miliband, prince of New York; and Dave Gordon, who nominated Kim Il-sung’s position as Eternal Leader of North Korea, “despite being dead”.

Next week: Foreign Words That Sound Like Their Opposite in English, such as puxa (pronounced pusha), which means pull in Portuguese

Coming soon: Detectives’ Hobbies, such as Hercule Poirot’s stamp collecting

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk