Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou is a member of the Royal House of
Bourbon, and one of the current pretenders to the defunct French throne
as Louis XX. He is recognized as the "Head of the
House of Bourbon" and rightful claimant to the French crown by the Legitimist
faction of French royalists, who also considered him as the senior male heir
of Hugh Capet, being the senior descendant of King Louis XIV of France
through his grandson King Philip V of Spain.
Louis Alphonse is a great-grandson of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and second
cousin of King Philip VI of Spain. Through his mother, he is also a
great-grandson of Spain's former dictator Francisco Franco.
Life Louis Alphonse was born in Madrid, the
second son of Alfonso de Borbón, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz, and of his wife Doña
María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco, granddaughter of Francisco
Franco. Alfonso was at that time the dauphin 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 died. Alfonso then asserted his claim to be
both Head of the House of Bourbon and Legitimist claimant to the throne of
France. As such, he took the title Duke of Anjou, 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
stepsisters Mathilda and Marella, and a stepbrother Frederick, all born before
his 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. From that
date Louis Alphonse was recognised as the heir apparent to his father by the
Legitimists. As such, he was given the additional title Duke of Bourbon on 27
September 1984 by his father. In 1987, the Spanish government declared that
titles traditionally attached to the dynasty would henceforth be borne by its
members on an ad personam basis, forestalling Louis Alphonse from
inheriting it. On 30 January 1989, his father died in a
skiing accident near Vail, Colorado. Louis Alphonse was recognised by some
members of the Capetian dynasty as Chef de la Maison de Bourbon 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. Louis’ father was elected by the French
Society of the Cincinnati to be the representative of Louis XVI. On 16 June
1994, Louis Alphonse was elected to succeed his father as the Representative
of Louis XVI, whose military aid was instrumental to the independence of the
United States of America. In accordance to the statutes of this Society, he
represents the French king as the eldest male of the senior collateral line.
As well as Spanish citizenship, Louis Alphonse acquired French nationality
through his paternal grandmother, Emmanuelle de Dampierre, also a French
citizen. He attended the Lycėe Français de Madrid, obtaining his COU in June
1992. 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.
Louis Alphonse's engagement to marry Venezuelan María Margarita Vargas
Santaella, the daughter of Victor Vargas, 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. Although no official reason was
given, it was no secret that the then King of Spain did 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. As from
2005, the couple resided in Venezuela, where he worked at Banco Occidental de
Descuento, before moving to the United States. They currently live in Madrid.
In June 2006, Louis Alphonse refused to attend his mother's third wedding,
because he disagrees with her way of life as a celebrity, and with her
separation from her previous husband, a man whom he greatly respects.
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. Her godparents are
Prince Charles-Emmanuel of Bourbon-Parma and his wife Constance. Legitimists
recognise her as Princess Eugénie. The couple had twin sons, Louis and
Alphonse, on 28 May 2010. Louis has been given the title of Duke of Burgundy, and
Alphonse the title of Duke of Berry. Prince Louis, as Legitimist Dauphin of
France, is expected to succeed his father as Head of the French Royal House
in Legitimist reckoning. Prince Louis and Prince Alphonse were baptized on 5
September 2010 at St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. The godparents of Louis
were Arancha Martínez-Bordíu and Francisco D'Agostino. The godparents of
Alphonse were Amparo Corell de Trenor baroness de Alacuas and Lorenzo Perales.
Titles, styles and honours Titles and Styles
Titles and styles in pretence: His Royal Highness Prince Louis Alphonse
de Bourbon His Royal Highness The Duke of Touraine
His Royal Highness The Duke of Bourbon His Royal Highness The Duke of Anjou
The title "Duke of Anjou" was the last French title held by Philip V of Spain
prior to his accession. 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. According to Legitimist usage, dynasts
who are French nationals are accorded the style Prince of the Blood.
He is expected to succeed to the Dukedom of Franco, held by his grandmother
Carmen Franco and through his mother. Honours
Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order
of Malta Louis Alphonse furthermore claims to be
Grand Master of the following dynastic orders:
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 these 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.
Ancestors See also Descendants of Louis XIV of
France. = Patrilineal descent=
Louis is a member of the House of Bourbon, the senior-surviving cadet
branch of the Capetian dynasty, itself a branch of the Robertians.
Louis' patriline is the line from which he is descended father to son. It
follows the Kings of Spain, then of France, the Dukes and Counts of Vendôme,
the Counts of La Marche, the first Duke of Bourbon, a Count of Clermont, and
before them, again the Kings of France. The line can be traced back more than
1,200 years and is one of the oldest in Europe.
Notes Bibliography
Thierry Ardisson. Louis XX. Contre-enquête sur la monarchie.,
Olivier Orban, 1986, ISBN 2-85565-334-7 Jean Foyer, Titre et armes du prince
Louis de Bourbon, Diffusion-Université-Culture, 1990.
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, 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