The Curious Case of the False Dmitrys
Many people have heard of the story of Russian women pretending to be the long-lost Princess Anastasia. But it turns out that there seems to be a Russian tradition of people impersonating royals for their own financial gain.
After Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich of Russia, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible died, it led to not just one- but three different men coming forward that they were the true Dmitry, and that they had miraculously escaped their assassination attempt at 8 years old. The first False Dmitry actually became the Tsar of Russia, and reigned from 1605-1606. All three of these imposters ended up getting killed. So it probably wasn’t a great idea to impersonate the Tsar in the first place.
