#Otto of Greece does absolutely sound like one of those not very bright but friendly

[thatscarletflycatcher]

#i did not know about this but it sounds like a fantastic plot for a historical novel of some sort!#history via @sunflowerjune

For example...

Leopold I of Belgium:

The youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Russian Army and fought against Napoleon after French troops overran Saxe-Coburg during the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon's defeat, Leopold moved to the United Kingdom, where in 1816 he married Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV). Leopold and Charlotte's marriage was happy, but it ended after a year and a half when Charlotte died after delivering a stillborn son. Leopold continued to enjoy considerable status in Britain. After the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830), Leopold was offered the throne of Greece under the 1830 London Protocol that created an independent Greek state, but turned it down, believing it to be too precarious. Instead, he accepted the throne of Belgium in 1831 following the country's independence in 1830.

Otto of Greece:

At the end of Greek War of Independence, the three Great Powers formulated the London Protocol of 1829, which recognized an autonomous Greek state. Article 3 of the protocol stated that Greece would be a monarchy, under the rule of a prince who was not from the ruling families of one of the three Great Powers.[4] Numerous candidates were considered for the vacant throne, including Prince Frederick of the Netherlands and Otto's uncle, Prince Karl Theodor of Bavaria. Even an Irishman named Nicholas Macdonald Sarsfield Cod'd put himself forward, claiming descent from the Byzantine Palaiologos dynasty.[5] Ultimately, they settled on Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the amended London Protocol of 1830 recognized him as the de jure sovereign of Greece. Although initially enthusiastic, Leopold was discouraged by the limited borders established by the protocol and Britain's refusal to grant financial support to the vulnerable new state. Due to this, as well as personal reasons, he formally rejected the crown three months later.[6] Kapodistrias' assassination in 1831 destabilized Greece, and caused British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston to convene the London conference. Here, the crown was offered to the 17-year-old Prince Otto, which he happily accepted. The Bavarian House of Wittelsbach had no connections to the ruling dynasties of any of the Great Powers, and so was a neutral choice with which they were all satisfied. The Greeks were not consulted, but Greece was in chaos and no group or individual could claim to represent it anyway.[7] The London Protocol of 1832 therefore finally recognized Greece as a fully independent state, with Otto as its king.

Maximillian of Mexico:

Two years before his dismissal, he briefly met with French emperor Napoleon III in Paris, where he was approached by conservative Mexican monarchists seeking a European royal to rule Mexico.[2] Initially Maximilian was not interested, but following his dismissal as viceroy, the Mexican monarchists' plan was far more appealing to him. Since Maximilian was a descendant of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain when the Spaniards conquered the Aztecs (1519–21) and first brought Mexico into the Spanish Empire, a status it held until the Mexican independence in 1821, Maximilian seemed a perfect candidate for the conservatives' plans for monarchy in Mexico.[3] Maximilian was interested in assuming the throne, but only with guarantees of French support. Mexican conservatives did not take sufficient account of Maximilian's embrace of liberalism, and Maximilian failed to understand he would be viewed as a foreign outsider.[4] When Maximilian was first mentioned as a possible emperor of Mexico, the idea seemed farfetched, but circumstances changed and made it viable. His tenure as emperor was just three years, ending with his execution by firing squad by forces of the Restored Republic on 19 June 1867.

The Argentinian thing was less defined -for a time Alvear tried to negotiate a protectorate with the British crown, and at some other point Carlota Joaquina of Spain (wife of the first emperor of Brazil) was interested in some sort of Río de la Plata kingdom, but it never came anywhere near to becoming a reality.

There are few things as wodehousian as that weird period in the 1800s where several nations were looking to hire royals to become their princes/kings/emperors.