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The Bourbons of Bhopal in India claim to be legitimate descendants of the House of Bourbon, descended from one Jean-Philippe de Bourbon-Navarre (John Philip of Bourbon-Navarre). As of 2007, first place in the lineage is claimed by Balthazar Napoleon de Bourbon, a Bhopal lawyer by profession, born on 29 July 1958 and who has three children: Frederick, Michelle, and Adrian. He is the son of Salvadore de Bourbon (1917–1978), who claimed the lineage in his memoirs Les Bourbons de l'Inde (de Bourbon 2003) which was edited by Lucien Jailloux and published posthumously with a preface written by historian of India and member of L'École Française d'Extrème-Orient Jean Deloche.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Salvadore de Bourbon's work is based upon 19th century articles by people such as Claude Sosthène Grasset d'Orcet writing in La Revue britannique (d'Orcet 1892), Gabriel Ferrand writing in La Revue de Paris (Ferrand 1905), and Colonel William Kincaid's Historical sketch of the Indian Bourbon family (Kincaid 1883).[7] The story goes that Jean-Philippe de Bourbon-Navarre (simply "Jean de Bourbon" in some accounts[8]), the secret son of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (the so-called "Constable of Bourbon"), arrived in the court of Mughal emperor Akbar in 1560, relating a tale of his journey there that included pirates, kidnapping, and an attempt to sell him in a slave market in Cairo. Prince Michael of Greece has incorporated this into a historical novel, Le Rajah Bourbon (Michel de Grèce 2007), whose publication spurred a renewed interest in this claim to the French throne.[2][4][5]
Traveller and photographer Louis Rousselet proposed a similar lineage in in Le Fils du Connétable (Rousselet 1882).[3][9] He had visited Elizabeth de Bourbon, the so-called Bourbon Sirdar, in India and got struck by her "European type" .[3][10] There are different accounts of Jean de Bourbon's posited lineage. One has the Constable survive the sack of Rome and eventually marry a Mughal princess named Alaïque, Jean Philippe’s mother. Another possible candidate is a member of the Bourbon-Busset branch, reported lost at sea in 1580.[11][12]
Kincaid's account of Jean de Bourbon's exile and settlement in India is as follows:
In the latter half of the sixteenth century, about the year 1560, John Philip Bourbon of Navarre, who was a member of the younger brance of the family of Henry VI, sailed for India, having, tradition relates, been obliged to leave France because he killed a relative of high position in a duel. He landed at Madras, a priest and two friends accompanying him. The two latter died on the voyage, and the priest remained at Madras, but John Philip Bourbon, sailing on to Bengal went thence to Delhi and sought an interview with the Emperor Akbar. On hearing of the high rank of the exile, the Emperor sent for him, and being interested in his story, treated hom with much favour and distinction, eventually appointing him to a post at his Court. Not long afterwards the Emperor being much please at his courtly bearing and conduct, and desiring to retain his services, offered him in marriage to the Lady Juliana, sister of the Emperor's Christian wife, who on account of her skill and her knowledge of the European system of medicine, had charge of the health of the imperial ladies. This marriage was duly somenised, whereupon the Emperor conferred upon his brother-in-law the title of Nawab and placed the imperial seraglio under his care and the Lady Juliana was included in the select band of the imperial sisters. The honourable office conferred on Bourbon remained in the possession of the family until the sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah in the year 1737.
—Colonel William Kincaid, Kincaid 1887[13]
More detailed accounts can be found in Malcolm 1824, pp. 341,[14] Kincaid 1908[14] and Kincaid 1946 (both written by Charles Augustus, William Kincaid's son[15]), and Diver & Diver 1942, pp. 170 et seq..
Jean Philippe de Bourbon's supposed descendants moved to Bhopal in 1775[16] and entered the service of the royal family, becoming the second most important family in Bhopal.[17] Two of the most prominent members are Salvador III de Bourbon (~1830), chief general of Bhopal, and Balthazar de Bourbon († 1879), minister and regent.[citation needed] After Indian independence, the new Indian state abolished the old jagirs (land entitlements) in 1948, and royal and noble status in 1971. Deprived of any privileges, the family joined the ranks of the working bourgeoisie.[3][4]
However, as Patrick van Kerrebrouck points out, there is a problem with this story, as noted by Jean Deloche in the preface to Salvadore de Bourbon's book. There's simply no primary historical documentation, Indian or European, supporting the existence of Jean de Bourbon. There's nothing in India's official records nor anything in the records of the Jesuits.[7] No such person as Jean de Bourbon (or Jean-Philippe de Bourbon-Navarre) is acknowledged in the official Bourbon family tree.