The Byzantine aristocracy were less than eager of sending one of Andronikos II's sons to claim Montferrat. That a Byzantine prince, born in the purple, would be sent to live among, and rule over, Latin barbarians, was bad enough but there were also fears that he and his descendants might become 'Latinized' and that the Italians, as a result of the Montferrat inheritance, could launch an invasion in the future in hopes of placing a Catholic Palaiologos on the Byzantine throne. In the end, Andronikos II's fourth son (in order to not jeopardize the line of succession), Theodore, was chosen to travel to Montferrat, arriving there in 1306. Byzantine fears of Latinization became true; Theodore converted to Catholicism and on his visits to Constantinople, Theodore schocked the Byzantines with his shaven face and Western customs.