Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou

Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou^[1][2] (French: Louis Alphonse Gonzalve Victor Emmanuel Marc de Bourbon; but "Louis" (Luis) was not originally among his given names Spanish: Alfonso Jaime Marcelino Manuel Víctor Maria de Borbón y Martínez-Bordiú;^[3][4][5] born 25 April 1974, Madrid) is the Head of the House of Bourbon^[6], and one of the current pretenders to the defunct crown of France. As the senior male heir of Hugh Capet^[7], being the senior descendant of King Louis XIV of France (ruled 1643–1715) through his grandson King Philip V of Spain, he is recognized as the rightful claimant to the French crown by those French royalists who adhere to the continued validity of the French rights of inheritance of Philip V ("Legitimists"). Louis Alphonse is a great-grandson of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and first cousin once removed of King Juan Carlos I of Spain. Through his mother, he is also a great-grandson of Spain's former dictator Francisco Franco.^[3]

The title "Duke of Anjou" was the last French title held by Philippe de France before he became Philip V of Spain. It had long merged with the French crown, last granted by Louis XV to his grandson Louis Stanislas. Legitimist pretenders use this style as a courtesy title.^[8][9] According to Legitimist usage, dynasts who are French nationals are accorded the style Prince of the Blood (prince du sang).

Life

Louis Alphonse was born in Madrid, the second son of Alfonso de Bourbon, Duke of Cádiz, and of his wife Doña María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco, El Caudillo Franco's granddaughter. Alfonso was at that time the dauphin (using "Duke of Anjou" as title of pretence) according to those who supported the claim of his father, Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia to the French throne. On 20 March 1975, the Infante Jaime ("Jacques-Henri VI", according to Legitimist reckoning) died (having recognised the claim of his nephew Juan Carlos de Bourbon, Prince of Spain to the Spanish crown, while adhering to his own claim as heir to the French crown). Alfonso then asserted his claim to be both head of the House of Bourbon and Legitimist claimant to the throne of France, being the senior male descendant of Louis XIV through the branch of Francis, Duke of Cádiz, 1822-1902 (sometime King Consort of Spain). As such, he took the title Duke of Anjou,^[9] and on 19 September 1981 gave Louis Alphonse the title Duke of Touraine.

Louis Alphonse's parents divorced in 1982. The religious marriage was annulled in 1986. His mother has since remarried civilly twice; he had two half-sisters Mathilda (deceased) and Marella, and a half-brother Frederick, all born before her mother's marriage to Jean-Marie Rossi and a half-sister, Cynthia Rossi, born afterwards. On 7 February 1984, Louis Alphonse's older brother Francisco died as the result of a car crash in which Louis Alphonse was also injured, although less so than their father, who was driving the automobile.^[10] From that date Louis Alphonse was recognised as the heir apparent to his father by Legitimists. As such, he was given the additional title Duke of Bourbon on September 27 of that year by his father.^[10] In 1987, the Spanish government declared that titles traditionally attached to the dynasty (such as the Dukedom of Cádiz) would henceforth be borne by its members on an ad personam basis, forestalling Louis Alphonse from inheriting it.^[10]

On 30 January 1989, his father died in a skiing accident near Vail, Colorado (in 1994 Louis Alphonse would receive 150 million pesetas following a lawsuit against Vail Associated, which owned the ski resort where the accident occurred).^[10] Louis Alphonse was recognised by some members of the Capetian dynasty as Chef de la Maison de Bourbon (Head of the French Royal House of Bourbon)^[11][10] and took the title Duke of Anjou, but not his father's Spanish dukedom. He is considered the rightful pretender to the French throne by adherents of the Legitimist movement.^[10]

Louis Alphonse possesses French, as well as Spanish citizenship, in right of his paternal grandmother, Emmanuelle de Dampierre, also a French citizen.^[10] He attended the Lycėe Français de Madrid, obtaining his COU in June 1992.^[10] He studied economics. He worked several years for BNP Paribas, a French bank in Madrid. Although he regularly visited France, where his mother lived for several years, he continued to live in Spain.

His engagement to marry Venezuelan heiress María Margarita Vargas Santaella was announced in November 2003. They were married civilly in Caracas on 5 November 2004 and religiously on 6 November 2004 in La Romana, Dominican Republic. None of the members of the Spanish Royal Family attended the wedding. Though no official reason was given, it is not a secret that the King of Spain does not approve his cousin's claim to the French throne and the fact that Louis Alphonse issued the wedding invitations as "Duke of Anjou" did not sit well with the king.^[12] The couple lived in Venezuela beginning 2005, where he worked at Banco Occidental de Descuento, before moving to the United States. They currently reside in New York.

In June 2006, Louis Alphonse refused to attend his mother's third wedding, because he does not agree with her way of life as a celebrity, and her separation from her previous husband, a man whom he greatly respects.^[13]

Louis Alphonse and Maria Margarita had their first child, a daughter, named Eugénie on 5 March 2007 at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami, Florida. She was baptised at the papal nunciature in Paris in June 2007. Legitimists recognise her as Princess Eugénie (in Spain her name is Doña Eugenia de Borbón y Vargas). The couple had twin sons, Louis and Alphonse on 28 May 2010.^[14] Louis has been given the title of Duke of Burgundy (duc de Bourgogne), and Alphonse the title of Duke of Berry (duc de Berry). Prince Louis, as Legitimist Dauphin of France, will succeed his father as head of the French Royal House in Legitimist reckoning (in Spain, the twins are Don Luis and Don Alfonso de Borbón y Vargas).

Legitimist pretender

Louis Alphonse is championed as the pretender to the throne of France by the Legitimist faction (légitimistes), one of three monarchist parties supporting different claimants to a restored throne of France. The term was originally applied to those who supported Charles X of France (and, later, his descendants) after his deposition as King of France by his cousin, Louis-Philippe on 9 August 1830. Louis-Philippe had been Duke of Orléans so his supporters were called Orléanists.

When Charles X's grandson, Henry, Count of Chambord, died on 24 August 1883, some Legitimists joined the Orleanists in recognising Louis-Philippe's grandson, Philippe, Comte de Paris, as the rightful heir. Others transferred their loyalty to members of the Spanish Royal Family who were descended from Philip V of Spain, a grandson of Louis XIV of France. Philip V had renounced his claim to the French throne as a condition stipulated in the Treaty of Utrecht for the Great Powers to cease waging war against France and to recognize him and his descendants as kings of Spain. Legitimists regard the renunciation clauses of the treaty as invalid because, under the ancien regime's fundamental law of the French monarchy, neither a king nor his heirs may alter succession to the French throne, by renunciation or any other known means. Louis Alphonse is the current claimant, in the view of this group.^[3][5]

Louis Alphonse de Bourbon has been in a dispute with a rival pretender, Henri d'Orléans, count of Paris, the current heir to the Orléans line. In 1988 and 1989, French courts dismissed lawsuits brought by Henri and other Bourbons to prohibit use of the title "Duke of Anjou" and of the undifferenced arms of France by Louis Alphonse's father, Alphonse de Bourbon, on the grounds that Orléans failed to establish his own right to bear the Anjou ducal title and undifferenced arms. Thus he lacked the standing to challenge another's use thereof. The courts also noted that this ruling reflected their disinclination, on behalf of the French Republic, to implicitly adjudicate the dynastic rivalry.^[9]

Titles, styles and honours

Styles

• In Spain:
  • His Excellency Don Luis Alfonso de Borbón y Martínez-Bordiú (1974–present)
• Internationally, in pretence:
  • His Royal Highness Prince Louis Alphonse de Bourbon (1974–1984)
  • His Royal Highness The Duke of Touraine (1981–1984)
  • His Royal Highness The Duke of Bourbon (1984–1989)
  • His Royal Highness The Duke of Anjou (1989–present)

Titles

Louis Alphonse is currently the Head of the House of Bourbon,^[15] and claims the following titles:

• Titular Duke of Anjou^[3][5]
• Titular Duke of Touraine^[16]
• Titular Duke of Bourbon^[16]
• Titular King of France^[15]
• Titular King of Navarre

Honours

Louis Alphonse is Grand Master of the following dynastic orders:^[17]

• Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Spirit
• Grand Master of the Order of Saint Michael
• Grand Master of the Order of Saint Louis

The Grand Mastership of the first three orders are disputed between Prince Louis Alphonse as Legitimist pretender and Prince Henri, Count of Paris, Duke of France, the Orleanist pretender.

The Legitimist pretenders to the French throne have continued to nominate members of the Order of the Holy Spirit, long after the abolition of the French monarchy itself.

He is furthermore Knight of the following Order:

• Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Order of Malta^[18]

Ancestors

See also; Descendants of Louis XIV of France.

Patrilineal descent

Notes

Bibliography

• Thierry Ardisson. Louis XX. Contre-enquête sur la monarchie., Olivier Orban, 1986, ISBN 2-85565-334-7
• Apezarena, José. Luis Alfonso de Borbón: Un príncipe a la espera. Forthcoming.
• Cassani Pironti, Fabio. "Bref crayon généalogique de S.A.R. la Princesse Marie-Marguerite, Duchesse d'Anjou, née Vargas Santaella", Le Lien Légitimiste, n. 16, 2007.
• Opfell, Olga S. 'H.R.H. Louis-Alphonse, Prince of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou: Royal House of France (House of Bourbon)", Royalty Who Wait: The 21 Heads of Formerly Regnant Houses of Europe. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2001. 11-32.

External links

• Institut de la Maison de Bourbon of which he is Président d'honneur under the appellation: Mgr le Prince Louis, duc d'Anjou[1]
• Institut Duc d'Anjou