Bruce Conde (akas: Bruce Alfonso de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, Alfonso Yorba, and Hajji Abdurrahman; born December 5, 1913 – died July 19, 1992) was a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

officer, stamp collector, royal

imposter An impostor (also spelled imposter) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise. Their objective is usually to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but also often for purposes ...

, and a general for

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

forces during the

North Yemen Civil War The North Yemen Civil War ( ar, ثورة 26 سبتمبر, Thawra 26 Sabtambar, 26 September Revolution) was fought in North Yemen from 1962 to 1970 between partisans of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom and supporters of the Yemen Arab Republic. The ...

Early years

Born Bruce Chalmers in San Juan Capistrano, California, Chalmers was

orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

ed and put up for adoption. As a young boy, he was an avid stamp collector, and wrote to the

King of Yemen The Imams of Yemen, later also titled the Kings of Yemen, were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and temporal-political rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their i ...

, asking for local

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s for his collection. His reply came from the Imam's young son, Muhammad al-Badr, which started a lifelong friendship between the two.

Military service

After studying

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, he joined the

, serving in the 82nd Airborne in North Africa during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. He was later posted to Japan where he studied

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, but his true passion remained the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

. Following his discharge from the army, he moved to Beirut to study

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

with the assistance of the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. He changed his name to Conde, his grandmother's family name, and claimed to be descended from the French royal family, even though the

House of Bourbon-Condé A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

became extinct in 1830.

Yemen

As his correspondence with Muhammad al-Badr continued, he received an invitation to visit the country. After relocating to Sana'a,

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

, Conde renounced American citizenship and converted to Islam in 1958. He was granted Yemeni citizenship and a passport. Conde convinced the Imam that Yemen could make money selling postage stamps to collectors and was placed in charge of the country's philatelic office, which eventually caused some friction between Conde and the Minister of Communications. Conde was accused of espionage and expelled from the country and his passport revoked. Without travel documents, he spent three weeks in the

Cairo Airport Cairo International Airport (; ''Maṭār El Qāhira El Dawly'') is the principal international airport of Cairo and the largest and busiest airport in Egypt. It serves as the primary hub for Egyptair and Nile Air as well as several other a ...

before moving to

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon where he became a correspondent for ''

Linn's Stamp News ''Linn's Stamp News'' is an American weekly magazine for stamp collectors. It is published by Amos Media Co., which also publishes the Scott ''Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue'', the Scott ''Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Cove ...

''.

Sharjah

Conde eventually found himself invited to the tiny emirate of

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...

, where he established a post office and again taught the country how to generate revenue from the sale of postage stamps to collectors. In gratitude, the government of Sharjah reportedly issued him a passport.

North Yemen Civil War

Following the overthrow of the Imam of Yemen in 1962, Conde returned to Yemen and enlisted with Royalist forces in the

. He eventually rose to the rank of General, while in the meantime overseeing the production of Royalist Yemen postage stamps, which helped to raise funds for the cause. He now called himself H.S.H. Abdurraham B.A. de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, claiming his royal lineage had been recognized and "reinstated" by the Yemeni Royal Family. Despite serving bravely in the war, the Imam's forces collapsed in 1970, and Conde moved to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and then to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

in 1980.

Post-war years

During the 1980s, he ceased writing for ''Linn's Stamp News'', and wrote instead for ''Stamp Collector'' newspaper, owned by Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. In 1984 Conde married Beatrice Dolgorouky, who claimed to have been descended from the Russian/Ukrainian royal families. He adopted her son, Alexis Brimeyer, who spent a lifetime attempting to prove his alleged connection to European royalty. Having given up his US citizenship many years before, Conde eventually found himself once again stateless, without a passport, and unable to leave Morocco. He died there on July 20, 1992.

Sources

* Schmidt, Dana Adams ''Yemen: The Unknown War'' (London: Bodley Head, 1968), 316 pages.

External links

Obituary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conde, Bruce 1913 births 1992 deaths Yemeni politicians History of Yemen Yemeni Zaydis American Shia Muslims American emigrants to Yemen Yemeni military personnel United States Army officers Former United States citizens American mercenaries Converts to Shia Islam Stateless people