Charles Ottley Groom

Aside from claiming a royal lineage, he attempted to rise in social standing by awarding a so-called "Mantua Medal" to noted artists, writers, and scientists of his time.

Still later he claimed to have traced his lineage back to King David of Israel and styled himself as the Prince of Mantua and Montferrat and gave himself and his mother the surname of Gonzaga.

He threw a banquet for 7000 guests in 1879 with illuminated vellum leaves of his pedigree decorating the venue.

To promote himself further he established or claimed to revive a medal instituted in the 14th century and claimed that his ancestor had awarded numerous famous artists, writers, and scientists including Raphael, Dante, Shakespeare, and Galileo.

Ruskin, Tennyson, and Sir Richard Owen were duped into receiving the medal while Gladstone and Huxley refused to accept it.