From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpretenderpre‧tend‧er /prɪˈtendə $ -ər/ noun [countable] PGOsomeone who claims to have a right to be king, leader etc, when this is not accepted by many peoplepretender to the pretender to the English throne
Examples from the Corpus
pretender• Captain John Smith struck his foes as a pretender.• Rumours that the will return to former glories to support Camden pretenders Flowered Up on their forthcoming tour remain unconfirmed.• He can be forgiven that lapse and should recover losses at the expense of the Gold Cup pretender.• Ken Bradshaw and Mark Foo, two of the main pretenders to the crown, are a study in contrasts.• The other gods are mere pretenders to divinity.• Was I not going forth as the worst kind of pretender?• Second, your so-called bride, the pretender Andromeda, will be sold off-island into prostitution. 