Alfons Jaime de Borbon

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Alfons Jaime de Borbón (1963)
Family coat of arms of the Spanish royal family Borbón
Coat of arms of the Duke of Anjou and Cádiz (1936–1989)

Don Alfons de Borbón y de Dampierre , full name Alfonso Jaime Marcelino Manuel Victor Maria de Borbón y Dampierre (born April 20, 1936 in Rome , Italy , † January 30, 1989 in Beaver Creek , Colorado , United States ) was Duke of Anjou and Cádiz and was considered a possible heir to the Spanish throne in the 1950s and 60s.

Life

Alfons Jaime was the eldest son of Jaime de Borbón (1908–1975), Duke of Anjou and Segovia, and his first wife, Victoire Jeanne Joséphine Emmanuelle de Dampierre (1913–2012), daughter of Roger de Dampierre , 2nd Duke de San Lorenzo, and Princess Vittoria Ruspoli . His paternal grandparents were the Spanish King Alfonso XIII. and Princess Victoria Eugénie von Battenberg .

He was baptized in Rome by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII ) in Palazzo Ruspoli , which belonged to his maternal grandparents . His deaf-mute father had already renounced the entitlement to the throne for himself and his future descendants in 1933 and was therefore able to marry a French princess from a non-governing family in 1935, which, according to the pragmatic sanction of 1776 , would not have ruled out a succession to the throne as equal . In December 1949, however, the father revoked his resignation as forced and declared himself and his sons, Alfons and his younger brother Gonzalo , to be legitimate aspirants to the throne.

In 1941, the family moved to Switzerland to Lausanne , Alfonso and his brother visited the Collège Saint-Jean in Freiburg . On December 8, 1946, he received his first communion from Pedro Segura y Sáenz , Archbishop of Seville. A year later, his parents divorced in Budapest and in 1949 they both remarried. In 1947, after the overthrow of the monarchies in Italy and Eastern Europe, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco declared Spain a monarchy again by means of a law confirmed by referendum, but reserved the occupation of the throne (by a prince from the royal family) and the time for it.

On November 25, 1950, Alfons received the title of Duke of Bourbon from his father. In 1952 Franco asked Alfonso's father to send him to Spain for training under his supervision, as did his cousins Juan Carlos and Carlos . Alfonso and his brother were picked up from the Swiss boarding school Institut Montana Zugerberg against their mother's wishes and brought to Spain. In 1954 Alfonso graduated from high school and then joined the army. During this time he discovered his sporting streak and practiced several sports such as skiing and sailing. His training was completed with a degree at the University of Madrid .

Finally, in July 1969, after the birth of Juan Carlos 'son Felipe , Franco stipulated by law that Alfons' cousin Juan Carlos should take over the office of head of state as king after his death. However, he kept the cousins ​​as reserve candidates in case Juan Carlos should show himself insubordinate. Alfons supported this decision and participated in the installation of Juan Carlos as Prince of Spain as a witness, and persuaded his father not to express a public protest. In March 1972 Franco married him to one of his granddaughters. In June 1972, when Franco sent him to Sweden as ambassador , Alfons told Foreign Minister Laureano López Rodó that he would only accept a future accession to the throne by Juan Carlos on condition that he remained loyal to the Franco regime, and proposed a change in the law which Juan Carlos' replacement by himself, if necessary, could take place without problems. With the death of Franco on November 20, 1975 the way was free for the accession to the throne by Juan Carlos, who then immediately introduced democracy.

His father Jaime de Borbón died on March 20, 1975 in St. Gallen ; the French legitimists proclaimed Don Alfonso the rightful heir to the throne of France and head of the French line of the House of Bourbon. In August 1975 he accepted the courtesy title of duc d'Anjou .

In February 1984 Don Alfons drove back home with his sons from a ski weekend in the Pyrenees . His car collided with a truck, his eldest son Francisco was killed in the accident and the younger one was seriously injured. He himself was operated on six times. A judge found him negligent complicity.

In 1987, Henri Philippe sued Pierre Marie d'Orléans , eldest son of the head of the Orléans family , Henri d'Orléans, comte de Paris , Don Alfons for wearing the title of duc d'Anjou and for using the French fleur-de-lys in the Coat of arms. Duke Ferdinand von Castro of the House of Bourbon-Sicily and Prince Sixtus Henri of Bourbon-Parma joined the lawsuit. On December 21, 1988, the Tribunal de grand instance of Paris ruled the trial inadmissible. The Spanish Bourbons do not hurt anyone if they wear or show the title and the design of the coat of arms.

On January 30, 1989, Don Alfons died in a skiing accident in Beaver Creek, Colorado. He unfortunately crashed on the course of the Alpine World Ski Championships in 1989 .

The grave of Alfonso Jaime de Borbón and his son Francisco in the church of the Monasterio De Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid.

Marriage and offspring

On March 8, 1972, Don Alfons married in the Palacio Real El Pardo in Madrid Doña María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco (born February 26, 1951 in Madrid), daughter of Cristobal Martinez, Marquis de Villaverde, and his wife Carmen Franco y Polo , 1st Duquesa de Franco. His mother and the bride's grandfather, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, acted as witnesses. The marriage arranged by him was divorced in 1982 and annulled in 1986. The marriage had two sons:

Titles, orders and honors

title

  • 1936–1989 Alfons de Borbon y de Dampierre
  • 1936–1989 Infant of Spain
  • 1950–1989 Duke de Bourbon
  • 1969–1973 ambassador to Sweden
  • 1972–1989 Duke of Cadiz; with the salutation His Royal Highness
  • 1975–1989 Duke of Anjou

Honorary positions

  • 1977–1984 President of the Spanish Ski Association
  • 1984–1987 President of the Spanish Olympic Committee

medal

See also

literature

  • Marc Dem: Le duc d'Anjou m'a dit: la vie de l'aîné des Bourbons. Perrin, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-262-00725-X .
  • Jean and Silve de Ventavon: La légitimité des lys et le duc d'Anjou. Editions F. Lanore, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-85157-060-9 .
  • José M. Zavala: Dos infantes y un destino. Plaza & Janés, Barcelona 1998, ISBN 84-01-55006-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Powell, Charles (1996), Juan Carlos of Spain . Oxford, MacMillan Press, St. Antony's Series. Pp. 1-5, 9, 13-14, 27-28, 50-51, 221-222. ISBN 0-333-54726-8 .

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Jaime de Borbon Blason France modern.svg
Head of the House of Bourbon,
legitimist pretender to the throne of France
1975–1989 		Louis Alphonse de Bourbon
personal data
SURNAME Borbón, Alfons Jaime de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Borbón y Dampierre, Alfonso Jaime Marcelino Manuel Victor Maria de (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish nobleman, Infante of Spain, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 1989
Place of death Beaver Creek , Colorado , United States