Political decoy
A political decoy is a person employed to impersonate a politician, to draw attention away from the real person or to take risks on that person's behalf. This can also apply to military figures, or civilians impersonated for political or espionage purposes.
The political decoy is an individual who has been selected because of a strong physical resemblance to the person being impersonated. This resemblance can be strengthened by plastic surgery. Often, such decoys are trained to speak and behave like the "target".
Other alleged decoys[edit]
Queen Elizabeth I and the Bisley Boy[edit]
For many years, the story of the Bisley Boy tempted people into believing that Queen Elizabeth I of England was really a man. According to the legend, Elizabeth (then a princess) had died aged 10 while staying at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire. Her minders, terrified of the retribution of her father, Henry VIII, made a substitution. They tried to find a lookalike girl of sufficient education, but could not find one, so a lookalike boy from the nearby village of Bisley was put in her place and sworn to secrecy. This legend "explained" why Elizabeth never married, why she went bald in middle age, and why she said she had the heart and stomach of a king in the Tilbury speech. Proponents of the "Bisley Boy" story included Bram Stoker in his 1910 nonfiction book Famous Impostors. According to Laurie Lee, his mother always referred to Elizabeth as "the Bisley boy".[21][22]
It is possible that the tale was invented as a joke by a local clergyman in the 19th century.[23]
Resurrected Jesus[edit]
Some theories postulate that the resurrection of Jesus can be explained as a deliberate act of an impersonation.[24]
Japan[edit]
In Japan, during the Sengoku period, military commanders prepared substitutes called kagemusha, meaning "shadow samurai". This was a closely guarded secret however, and few historical records remain.[25]