Franz Xavier of Bourbon-Parma

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Prince Franz Xaver, 1970
Family coat of arms

Prince Franz Xaver von Bourbon-Parma (full name: Franz Xaver Karl Maria Anna Ludwig de Bourbon-Parma y Braganza ) (born May 25, 1889 in the Villa Pianore, Lucca ; † May 7, 1977 in Zizers near Chur , Switzerland ) from 1974 titular Duke of Parma , Piacenza and Guastalla and head of the House of Bourbon-Parma , Spanish Carlist pretender to the throne from 1952 to 1975 as Francisco Javier I and from 1964 Duke of Molina.

Life

Franz Xaver was the second son of the last reigning Duke Robert I of Bourbon-Parma (1848-1907) by his second wife Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal (1862-1959), daughter of the Portuguese King Michael I and his wife Princess Adelheid von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg .

Together with his twenty siblings - including the last Austrian Empress , Zita von Bourbon-Parma - he grew up in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and England. Despite his father's loss of the throne, the family had considerable wealth, including real estate near Schwarzau am Steinfeld (Austria), the Villa Pianore (Italy) and the Château de Chambord (France). After the death of his father, he and his brother Sixtus sued his older half-brother Elias von Bourbon-Parma , from their first marriage, in order to receive a larger share of the ducal property. But a French court in Paris ruled against the younger Bourbon princes.

Francis Xavier of Bourbon-Parma was governor-general of the Knightly Order of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem with its seat in Rome until his death .

Marriage and offspring

On November 12, 1927 he married in Castle Lignières Princess Marie Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset (1898-1984), daughter of Count Georges de Lignières (1860-1932) and his wife Jeanne de Kerret (1866-1958). The marriage had six children:

Political life, Second Carlist dynasty

The organization of Karlism

During the First World War, disagreements arose within Charlesism about Spain's position in relation to the belligerent powers. Ultimately, neutrality was propagated, even if the sympathies of most of the Carlist leaders were on the side of Austria-Hungary and Germany. The dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1930), in the view of Karlism, meant the declaration of bankruptcy of the liberal monarchy of the Alfonsine direction. Although Karlism rejected the dictatorship and only regarded it as the "lesser evil" in the opinion of the Spanish state philosopher Juan Donoso Cortés , it believed it could implement its program better. However, the clout of Karlism suffered great impairment, as the Basque provinces had their own Basque national movement, which was joined by a number of former supporters of Karlism because they desperate to realize the Carlist idea of ​​converting Spain into a federally organized monarchy do.

The proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931 and the end of the Alfonsine monarchy called the Carlist pretender to the throne. He solemnly protested against the proclamation of the republic and against the change of the Spanish national colors. The expulsion of King Alfonso XIII. also seemed to bring about a reconciliation of the two conflicting lines of the Spanish royal family. Don Jaime , who was then in Paris, received the visit of the overthrown king on September 22, 1931. The Carlist branch of the Spanish Bourbon house died out in direct line when the Carlist heir to the throne Don Alfonso Carlos of Bourbon and Austria fell victim to a traffic accident in Vienna on July 2, 1936.

With the death of Prince Alfonso Carlos (I) of Bourbon (1849–1936), Duke of San Jaime, the last undisputed heir of the Carlist dynasty, the first Carlist dynasty died out. Prince Alfonso Carlos had appointed his nephew Prince Franz Xaver of Bourbon-Parma as his successor and regent in 1936, because he shared the Carlist ideals. On May 30, 1952, however, Franz Xavier laid claim to the Spanish throne and thus founded the second Carlist dynasty: as Francisco Javier I.

The Carlist in the time of Franquism (1936–1975)

Franz Xaver's prisoner register card in the Nazi concentration camp Dachau

Prince Alfonso Carlos (I.) de Bourbon y Austria-Este (1849–1936), the last pretender of the Carlist branch of the Bourbons, had even determined his nephew Prince Franz Xavier of Bourbon-Parma as regent shortly before his death was the closest related bourbon who upheld the Carlist ideals. Franz Xaver, a brother of the last Austrian Empress Zita , returned to Belgium during the Second World War , in whose army he had served during the First World War . There he was demobilized, whereupon he joined the French resistance. Captured by the National Socialists , he was interned in Natzweiler and Dachau . On April 30, 1945, he was freed in South Tyrol together with over 130 other prominent prisoners after the SS guards had run away.

After the re-establishment of the monarchy in 1947, Franz Xaver publicly proclaimed his claim to the Spanish throne as "Francisco Javier" in 1952 , thus establishing the second Carlist dynasty of the Bourbon-Parma. This rank was contested with him and his son Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma by Count Juan of Barcelona (1913-1993), father of the former king of Spain, Juan Carlos I (* 1938), because Franz Xavier had married improperly and like his son was not a Spanish citizen. Francisco Franco (1892–1975) himself did not comment on the claims of Franz Xaver and Carlos Hugo, because this was in line with his efforts to create disagreement among the Spanish monarchists. Franco was particularly keen that the Spanish monarchists did not unite behind the Count of Barcelona, ​​who had expressly spoken out in favor of the creation of a parliamentary democracy, while Franco expected a future king to fully identify with the Movimiento Nacional .

Although the fact that they did not have Spanish citizenship was by no means undisputed (the never-dissolved Treaty of Aranjuez of 1801 guaranteed all the princes of Bourbon Spanish citizenship), Franz Xaver and Carlos Hugo applied for naturalization. Franco did his best to keep postponing a decision on this application (in the case of Carlos Hugo, naturalization was therefore not granted until January 5, 1979). Apart from that, he never missed an opportunity to pit the various heir to the throne against one another. For example, when Juan Carlos went to Athens in 1962 to marry Princess Sophia of Greece , Franco invited Carlos Hugo, who now lived in Madrid , to a meeting, after which he let the Count of Barcelona know that he was now considering another candidate have. However, during these years, Carlos Hugo began to move away from Franco and attacked Juan Carlos as his alleged puppet . He described Juan, the Count of Barcelona, ​​as a liberal, a centralist and a favorite of capitalism and the establishment. Carlos Hugo's followers therefore felt compelled to throw rotten vegetables at Juan Carlos at public appearances.

In 1964 Carlos Hugo married Princess Irene von Orange-Nassau . On her honeymoon, Irene was photographed in a bikini , a piece of clothing that was considered obscene in Spain at the time. Franco used the public outrage to belittle Carlos Hugo by ditching the invitation to an audience with Princess Irene of the Netherlands and her husband . As a result, Carlos Hugo broke with both Franco and his traditionalist father and began to pursue a left-wing course. In the referendum of 1966, which was aimed at a constitutional reform (Ley Orgánica del Estado), Franz Xaver called on his supporters to vote with "Yes" . Carlos Hugo then exposed his father by publicly denying him “legitimacy through deeds”. This sealed the break within the Carlist movement. Franz Xavier did another thing and expressed his support for Basque and Catalan separatism. Franco, for whom that was too much, then had all the princes of Bourbon-Parma expelled from Spain. Carlos Hugo and with him his followers pursued the idea of ​​a particularist socialism after his break with Franco in 1967. Ultimately, the hopes of the Carlist were dashed again when Franco among the many possible pretenders for the grandson Alfonso XIII. , Juan Carlos, decided.

On April 8, 1975 before Franco's death, renounced Franz Xaver favor of his son Carlos Hugo on his throne of Spain claims.

literature

  • Beate Hammond, Maria Theresia, Elisabeth, Zita - Youth Years of Great Empresses , Ueberreuter Verlag 2004
  • José Navarro Cabenes: Apuntes bibliográficos de la prensa Carlista. Valencia, 1917.
  • Constancio: El Tradicionalismo Español, San Sebastián 1934.
  • Elias Franciscode Tejada: EI monarquia tradicional, Madrid.
  • Herrero Galindo: Breve historia del Tradicionalismo Español, Madrid 1956.
  • Evaristo Casarlego: La verdad des Tradiclonalismo, Madrid

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Koblank: The Liberation of Special Prisoners and Kinship Prisoners in South Tyrol , online edition Mythos Elser 2006
predecessor Office successor
Robert II Titular Duke of Parma
1974–1977 		Carlos Hugo
personal data
SURNAME Bourbon-Parma, Franz Xaver von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Francisco Javier I of Spain; Franz Xaver Karl Maria Anna Ludwig de Bourbon-Parma y Braganza (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Titular Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucca
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 1977
Place of death Zizers