Jacques Lebaudy (1868 – January 11, 1919) was a Frenchman from an extremely wealthy family of sugar refiners, known for his eccentricity and his attempt to establish a new nation, the Empire of the Sahara.

[4][5] In June 1903, Lebaudy sailed with his yacht Frasquita and two other boats to an area near Cape Juby on the Moroccan coast and proclaimed the "Empire of the Sahara".

Backed by as many as 400 hired soldiers and sixteen Hotchkiss guns,[6] Lebaudy established a camp and set up a throne for himself in a large tent, and stated he was now to be known as "Jacques I, Najin-al-Den, Emperor of the Sahara, Commander of the Faithful, King of Tarfaia, Duke of Arleuf and Prince of Chal-Huin".

[1] By October 1903 Lebaudy had taken up residence at the Savoy Hotel in London, setting up an imperial court complete with throne and installing his government there, appointing American adventurer George Edward Gouraud as his "Governor-General".

[1] He also found himself an Empress, former actress Marguerite Augustine Doliere and they produced a daughter, known as "the Princess Jaqueline" [10] After announcing "the throne will remain in the Sahara, with nobody on it; but his Imperial Majesty wishes it to be known that usurpers will be severely dealt with" he left Europe.

[1] About 1908, Lebaudy moved to the United States with his wife Augustine and daughter Jacqueline, residing mostly in expensive New York City hotels, and his behavior became more erratic.

[22] Another work on Lebaudy was English artist John Copley's 1909 collection of lithographs "The Fall and Rise of His Imperial Majesty Jacques Démodé".