Felix of Bourbon-Parma
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Prince Felix of Luxembourg, born (Prince Felix Marie Vincent of Bourbon-Parma) (October 28, 1893-April 8, 1970) was the consort of Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and the father of her six children, including Grand Duke Jean.
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[edit] Early Life
Felix was one of the twenty-four children of the deposed Robert I, Duke of Parma, being Robert's sixth child and third son by his second wife, Maria Antonia of Portugal. He was also the younger brother (by sixteen months) of Empress Zita of Austria. Of the twelve children of Duke Robert's first marriage to Maria-Pia of the Two Sicilies, three died as infants, six were mentally retarded, and only three married. Despite loss of his throne, Robert and his family enjoyed considerable wealth, traveling in a private train of more than a dozen cars among his castles at Schwarzau am Steinfeld near Vienna, Villa Pianore in northwest Italy, and the magnificent château de Chambord in France.
| Styles of Prince Félix of Luxembourg |
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| Reference style | His Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Sir |
Less than four months after Duke Robert's death in 1907 the Grand Marshal of the Austrian Court declared six of the children of his first marriage legally incompetent, at the behest of Duchess Maria Antonia. Nonetheless, Robert's primary heir was Elias, Duke of Parma, (1880-1959), the youngest son of the first marriage and the only one to father children of his own. Elias also became the legal guardian of his six elder siblings. Although Felix's elder brothers, Sixte and Xavier, eventually sued their half-brother Elias to obtain a greater share of the ducal fortune, they lost in the French courts, leaving Felix with modest prospects.
[edit] Prince of Luxembourg and Consort to Grand Duchess Charlotte
On November 6th, 1919 he married Grand Duchess Charlotte, having become Prince of Luxembourg by grand ducal decree the day before. Unlike some European consorts, Felix neither adopted his wife's dynastic surname (of Nassau), nor relinquished his own princely title and name. His traditional style as a Bourbon prince of the Parmesan branch is the reason that cadet members of the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg enjoy the style of Royal Highness (but that style belongs to the Luxembourg monarch and heir apparent by right, as the historical prerogative of grand ducal dynasties).
Felix served in the Austrian Dragoons as lieutenant and captain, but resigned his commission in November 1918. He was President of the Luxembourg Red Cross between 1923 and 1932 and again between 1947 and 1969. He was also Colonel of the Luxembourg Volunteers Company since 1920 and Inspector-General of the Luxembourg Army between 1945 and 1967.
He also famously lost the 'Grünewald' (a great forest area in Luxembourg) while playing at a casino. The State of Luxembourg then had to buy it back for a tremendous price and afterwards returned it to the prince as a 'gift'. In July 2006 his grandson, Grand Duke Henri, is looking to sell the whole forest, much to the dismay of the local population which consider the 'Grünewald' a national heritage.
[edit] Marriage and children
On November 6, 1919, she married Felix of Bourbon, Prince of Parma, and they had six children:
- Grand Duke Jean.
- Princess Elizabeth (born 1922), who married HSH Duke Franz of Hohenberg (1927–1977). Has issue.
- Princess Marie-Adélaide (born 1924), who married Karl, Count Henckel of Donnersmarck (born 1928).
- Princess Marie Gabriele (born 1925), who married Knud, Count of Holstein-Ledreborg (1919–2001). Has issue.
- Prince Charles (1927–1977), who married commoner Joan Dillon. Had issue.
- Princess Alix (born 1929), who married Antoine Maria Joachim Lamoral, 14th Prince de Ligne (1925–2005)
[edit] Royal Relatives
Felix's royal relatives included not only Austria's last empress, Zita, but his half-siblings Duke Elias of Parma and Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, first consort of King Ferdinand I of the Bulgarians; his brothers Sixte (French legitimist scholar) and Xavier (Carlist pretender), who jointly attempted to negotiate a separate peace for Austria as World War I drew to a close; and Louis (1899-1967), who finally healed the Bourbon-Parmas' feud with the usurping Savoy dynasty in 1939 by marrying Princess Maria, (1914-2001), daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Felix's niece, Anne of Bourbon-Parma is the consort of ex-King Michael I of Romania; and his nephew Michel of Bourbon-Parma (born 1926) also married, in 2003, the daughter of an Italian king (Umberto II), Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (born 1934). Another of his nephews, Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma, Duke of Parma, inherited both the headship of the ducal dynasty and the Carlist claim to the Spanish crown, marrying in 1964 Princess Irene of Orange-Nassau, a younger daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. For Felix's own descendants, see Charlotte of Luxembourg.
