lotor has twice turned down royal/noble titles during his time as champion of preuzien. the first time he turned it down was when he became champion. the champion of prussia is also the king/queen of prussia, but he refused to wear the prussian crown or be known as king of prussia on a matter of principle: because, in his words, both title and crown were “soaked in the blood of my people.” in this timeline it was a hohenzollern, a member of prussia’s ruling family, that started world war ii and murdered his mother’s people in the holocaust--and prussia’s draconids were possessed by zygarde cells and thereby enslaved to fight for a cause they despised; his paternal grandparents were among them. so lotor’s first act as champion was to not only abolish the title of king but also to reject the hohenzollerns’ crown, because of what it symbolized to him and to so many other people across the nation and across the world.
the second time was when he turned 25. he receives the opportunity to become a duke of unova. the sinclines are a ducal family there and each of their members have the chance to take on the title of duke or duchess when they get old enough. but he knew that having the title would come with a whole host of political and other responsibilities that he just can’t do while also being champion of preuzien, and he knew that as champion of prussia he would have decades more responsibility to fulfill……so he turned down the title so that he could focus all of his attention on helping his new country rebuild. this was a very popular move to the prussians, as it proved that he put his people first and their needs mattered infinitely more to him than the glitz and glam of being a titled noble.
