Carlos, Duke of Madrid

Infante Carlos María de los Dolores Juan Isidro José Francisco Quirin Antonio Miguel Gabriel Rafael de Borbón y Austria-Este, Duke of Madrid (March 30, 1848 - July 18, 1909) was the senior member of the House of Bourbon from 1887 until his death. He was the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain under the name Carlos VII from 1868 (his father's Spanish abdication), and the Legitimist claimant to the throne of France under the name Charles XI after the death of his father in 1887.

Life

Carlos was born in Ljubljana, the capital of Carniola in what is now Slovenia, the elder son of Juan, Count of Montizón and of his wife Archduchess Maria Beatrix of Austria-Este. As an infant he lived with his family briefly in London where his younger brother Alfonso was born. After their father, considered too liberal for Carlist tastes, left their mother, the boys lived with her in Modena. Her brother Duke Francis V of Modena was largely responsible for the education of the boys and was the chief influence in their early lives. Carlos was known for his traditionalist views, much different from those of his father.

On February 4, 1867, at Frohsdorf in Austria, Carlos married Princess Margherita of Bourbon-Parma, daughter of Duke Charles III of Parma and of his wife, Louise Marie Thérèse of France. The couple had five children:

• Infanta Blanca of Spain (1868–1949) m in 1889 at Frohsdorf Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria, Prince of Tuscany and had issue.
• Jaime, Duke of Madrid (1870–1931)
• Infanta Elvira of Spain (1871–1929) died unmarried but with issue.
• Infanta Beatriz of Spain (1874–1961) married in Venice in 1892 Fabrizio Massimo, Principe di Roviano (his mother was Donna Francesca di Paola Lucchesi-Palli, daughter of Princess Caroline of Naples and Sicily and her second husband)
• Infanta Alicia of Spain (1876–1975) married (1) in 1897 Friedrich, Prince von Schönburg-Waldenburg at Venice and had issue, divorced 1903; (2) in 1906 at Viareggio, Lino del Prete and had issue.

Carlos organized and lead the Third Carlist War. Between 1872 and 1876 he effectively ruled much of peninsular Spain.

In January 1893 Carlos' wife, Margarita, died. The following year he decided to remarry. He consulted his mother who suggested two ladies: Princess Theresia of Liechtenstein (daughter of Prince Alfred of Liechtenstein) and Berthe de Rohan (daughter of Arthur de Rohan).

Having met both ladies, Carlos decided on the latter and asked for her hand in marriage.^[1]

On April 28, 1894, Carlos and Berthe were married by Cardinal Schönborn in his private chapel in Prague. Berthe had a dominant personality, making the marriage very unpopular among Carlists. "All writers agree that this second marriage was disastrous, not only for the family of Don Carlos and for [Carlos] himself, but also for the [Carlist] party."^[2]

Carlos died in Varese in 1909. He is buried in the Cathedral of San Giusto in Trieste. He was succeeded in his Spanish and French claims by his son Jaime.

Ancestry

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Del Burgo, Jaime. Carlos VII y su tiempo: Leyenda y realidad. Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra, 1994.
• "The Curé Santa Cruz and the Carlist War." Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1873).
• "The Spanish Pretender: Who he is and What he has Been." New York Times (May 31, 1874).
• Don Carlos VII at the Classic Encyclopedia, based on the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica