A False Justification to Usurp

[Jess A]

The King could even be a changeling. Swapped by faeries or by peasants. The real King was given to peasants (and died later) and the peasant child was passed off as King.

Or the faerie thing.

Or, following on from Dark Huntress' idea that the child has no royal blood, maybe the King and Queen at the time couldn't have children, so they took a child in secret and raised him to be King. But then she fell pregnant to the prince by some miracle, but nobody ever found out the truth until later.

 

[Devor]

Loosely following the thread, seems the reasons can be summed up as:

The king:

• Is Plagued by Scandal (affairs, heresy, use of witchcraft, other inappropriate behavior)

• Has been Deemed Unfit to rule by the populace (madness, disease, abuse of power, gross neglect of duty)

• Has been accused of having an Illegitimate claim to royalty (he's a bastard; long lost prince returns, etc.)

Now I personally am absolutely evil. If I was trying to usurp a throne, I'd try to create accusations for all three of these claims. Send in a seductress, and when the affair is over, I'd reveal to everyone that she's a witch. I'd lace a few needles with LSD and place them in the upholstery of his seat at a big banquet so he gets drugged up before important guests, and lace his drinks with sleeping powder so that he misses other important events. I'd bribe officials into sending out false memos with his seal ordering that respectable people are arrested, that opera houses are closed down for corrupting our morals, and that sporting events be obviously rigged to favor the king's choice.

Only then would I come along with an old steward from the castle claiming to have slept with the king's mother, and offer myself, the lost grandson of a once-better ruler, as the proper choice for king.

 

[Jess A]

Fell pregnant WITH the prince. WITH.

Reading my above post, it sounds as though the Queen fell pregnant with her own son's child. Eek.

 

[Wiggles2021]

It just depends on two things. One, the brothers motivation for wanting the throne, and two would be your laws of royal succession. once you nail those down, some scenario where the brother frames the rightful king of some crime, and takes his throne away from him would be probably the best bet, if a little plain. maybe you could spice up the crime...Like getting a mistress pregnant? that also gives you a nine month window before he can be proved innocent...