Once crowned as Queen, Carlotta removed her stepbrother James, called the bastard, who was a son of John II and his mistress, Lady Maria Patras, from the office of the archbishop to which his father had transferred to him at the age of sixteen. He for his part now raised claims to the throne and between 1460 and 1464 with the help of the Sultan of Egypt he conquered the whole island, including Genoese Famagusta. Carlotta was forced to live in exile until her death in 1487.

As James II (1464-1473) he married Caterina Cornaro in 1472, the 'daughter of Venice' who had already been engaged to him since 1468. Her family owned large sugar cane plantations on the island in Venetian times. This engagement would prove disastrous for the Frankish dynasty. The Venetians filled the power vacuum left behind by the Genoese and the sudden death of James (1473) was ascribed to the use of poison by Venetian agents. His son, James III, who was born on August 28, 1473 and crowned immediately as King also died a year later, leaving the young Queen Caterina (1474-1489) to become a puppet of the Venetian power politics.