Theodorious Paleologus

Through Ferdinand, Theodore, born in Barbados, might have been the last living male member of the Palaiologos dynasty, rulers of the Byzantine Empire from 1259 to its fall in 1453.

[4][5] As the son of Ferdinand Paleologus, Theodore might have been one of the last living descendants of the Palaiologos dynasty,[6] rulers of the Byzantine Empire from 1259 to 1453.

[7] The family's lineage can be verified as true with the exception of an ancestor called John, purported to be the son of Thomas Palaiologos but absent in contemporary sources, making their descent from the emperors plausible, but somewhat uncertain.

[10] She continued to be active in economic and political matters in Barbados for the rest of her life, together with her new husband, who seems to have taken over much of Ferdinand's role in the local church, becoming a churchwarden in 1677.

[14] He died at sea that same year,[18] off the coast of Spain,[17] and was buried in the nearby A Coruña shortly thereafter under the name Theodorus Palaeologey.

In The Pretender (2002), he is called Lieutenant Theodore Paleologue, son of "Sir Ferdinando", living in Restoration England.

His parents are depicted as particularly lenient slave owners and Theodore marries a native Kalina woman, not the historical Martha Bradbury.

[22] In Stevenson's Empress of the Last Days (2003), set in the present,[22] the hero of the book falls in love with a young black-skinned Barbadian girl by the name Melita Paleologue and they trace her lineage to the marriage between a daughter of King James VI & I, Elizabeth Stuart (called "the Winter Queen"), and a dark-skinned physician (Elizabeth Stuart was actually married to Frederick V of the Palatinate).

In the novel, Theodore dies a hero in battle at A Coruña, rather than as a privateer, and his daughter Godscall marries a son of the Winter Queen.