Could Barbary pirates capture European royalties?

Fenestella

Banned
Between 1500 and 1800, members of European nobility weren't immune from seizure and immiseration by Barbary pirates. Did Barbary pirates ever come close to capturing members of major European ruling houses?
How would/did European powers react if/when Barbary pirates did capture some European royalties?
 
I'm not aware of any examples of this happening but if it did one imagines the ransom payment would be high!

One interesting scenario might be if a Spanish ruler after 1492 was taken. The union of Aragon and Castile might be disrupted. Who knows what the effect?

An earlier divergence might have more impact, especially if it results in al Andalus surviving or a change in Sicily.
 
I don't think this ever happened IRL, but as I recall, it's pretty much the backstory of that old woman in Candide. If it did happen in the real world, I think that'd provoke a stronger reaction from European navies, and the blowback would be more than the pirates could handle.
 
I don't think this ever happened IRL, but as I recall, it's pretty much the backstory of that old woman in Candide. If it did happen in the real world, I think that'd provoke a stronger reaction from European navies, and the blowback would be more than the pirates could handle.

That might be a bit of an understatement. The Barbary states might see themselves ground into the dust fairly quickly.
 
I'm not aware of any examples but anyone worth their salt in protecting royalty would certainly consider the possibility and make attempts to minimise the risk.
 

Fenestella

Banned
I think that'd provoke a stronger reaction from European navies, and the blowback would be more than the pirates could handle.
That might be a bit of an understatement. The Barbary states might see themselves ground into the dust fairly quickly.
What if the royalties were captured between 1500 and 1700 and the captors were as powerful as Hayreddin Barbarossa?
 
I think the best examples of piracy hitting too-valuable targets are actually Christian. Maltese Order knights captured an embassy flotilla sent from the Ottomans to France in the 1550s, which led to some serious hurt dignity and the Siege of Malta; and then once again Maltese privateers managed to raid the British consul in Crete, which led to nothing much in terms of retaliation.

But I can't think of a single royal person taken that way.
 
Oh, right, and also: insert joke about how we thought the thread title involved some sort of copyright infringement, joke.
 
That might be a bit of an understatement. The Barbary states might see themselves ground into the dust fairly quickly.

Oh, I imagine that not every European state would be that much in grief if a Spanish monarch would have been captured as hostage. Think of France, England, the Netherlands, Portugal...
 
Actually, before Prince Maurice of the Palatinate death in shipwreck near the Puerto Rico southern coast was confirmed, there was a rumor that his ship actually did survive the hurricane, but on the return trip to Europe was captured by Barbarian pirates. I believe that for PoD to be satisfied, the rumor should have turned true.
Though the fact that it's 1654 and Interregnum in England sorta blurs the objective, a nephew of King of England may count.
 
Oh, I imagine that not every European state would be that much in grief if a Spanish monarch would have been captured as hostage. Think of France, England, the Netherlands, Portugal...

Fair enough. In the mid to late 1700s, though, Spain, England, and even the Netherlands could muster quite a fleet.
 
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