In July 1934, a man with a fake noble title walked into the government offices of a small European nation and made an outrageous offer. He promised to transform their quiet mountain valleys into an international tax haven for the global elite. In exchange, he asked for just one thing: the crown.
This is the bizarre, entirely true history of Boris Skossyreff, a wanted international swindler who manipulated his way into becoming the absolute monarch of Andorra, only to lose his makeshift kingdom days later.
The Making of an International Swindler
Born in Lithuania to Belarusian parents in 1896, Skossyreff built his life on elaborate fabrications. After enlisting in the British Army during World War I, he began a long career of check fraud. Moving across Europe in the 1920s, he acquired a Dutch passport and falsely styled himself as a baron and a Count of Orange.
By 1924, Dutch intelligence officially listed him as a prominent foreign revolutionary and a known con artist. Unfazed by his growing criminal record, he set his sights on the Pyrenees.
Pitching a Tax Haven to Andorra
In the early 1930s, Skossyreff arrived in Andorra, a tiny co-principality wedged between Spain and France. Backed financially by his partner, American millionaire Florence Marmon, he began courting local politicians and peasants. On May 17, 1934, he presented a self-published constitution to the General Council of the Valleys.
He proposed radical modernization, sweeping freedoms, and foreign investment by turning the country into a corporate tax haven. His price was the throne. Initially ridiculed and expelled to a nearby Spanish hotel, he continued to campaign as an exiled monarch.
The Short Reign of King Boris I
His persistence paid off. Swayed by the promise of immense wealth and business development, the General Council held a formal vote. Twenty-three out of twenty-four council members voted in his favor. On July 11, 1934, the government officially instituted the monarchy and proclaimed him King Boris I of Andorra. He immediately began issuing decrees and famously printed ten thousand copies of his new constitution to mail to European celebrities.
A Swift Arrest and Siberian Exile
The new king’s reign was cut drastically short by his own arrogance. Andorra was traditionally co-ruled by the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell in Spain. Upon taking the throne, Skossyreff officially declared war on the Bishop of Urgell. The Bishop retaliated instantly, deploying four officers of the Spanish Civil Guard on July 20.
They walked into Andorra, arrested the self-proclaimed king without a fight, and put him on a train to a Madrid prison. Following his brief royal stint, Skossyreff bounced between European prisons, fought in the German military during World War II, and was eventually captured by the Soviets and sent to a Siberian camp. He survived, ultimately dying in West Germany in 1989.