GOTHA is an independent directory of royal and noble families. It is not affiliated with, and does not represent, the Almanach de Gotha or its publishers.

Branches of the House of Bourbon

The House of Bourbon is a branch of the Capetian dynasty. It has given monarchs to France, Navarre, Spain, the Two Sicilies, Parma and Luxembourg [1]. It divided into several branches, and two of them still reign: in Spain and in Luxembourg [1]. This page sets out those branches using only the sources listed at the end. For the general history, see our House of Bourbon page. For the French headship question, see our head-of-house page.

Origins: Robert of Clermont

The royal Bourbons begin in 1272, when Robert, Count of Clermont, youngest son of Louis IX (Saint Louis), married the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon [1]. The site of the Royal House of the Two Sicilies records the same marriage: Beatrice of Bourbon married Robert of Clermont, son of Louis IX, and so began the princely branch of the Bourbons [4]. The name comes from Bourbon-l'Archambault [1].

The Bourbons of France

The senior line died out in the male line in 1527, which made the cadet Bourbon-Vendôme branch the senior one [1]. In 1589, when Henry III died, the House of Valois became extinct in the male line. Under Salic law, the head of the House of Bourbon then became King of France as Henry IV [1]. The Bourbons reigned until the Revolution and again during the Restoration. The last king of the senior line was Charles X (1824–1830) [1].

The Orléans branch

The House of Orléans descends from Philippe of France (1640–1701), Duke of Orléans and brother of Louis XIV, who was known as "Monsieur" [8]. His son Philippe d'Orléans (1674–1723) was regent of the kingdom from 1715 to 1723, while Louis XV was a minor [8]. After the July Revolution of 1830, Louis-Philippe (1773–1850) became King of the French and reigned until 1848 [1][8]. When the July Monarchy fell, the family went into exile. The exile law was repealed in 1871 and reinstated fifteen years later, and the family only returned to France for good in 1950 [8].

The Bourbons of Spain

Charles II of Spain died childless in 1700. His will named the Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, who became Philip V [1]. To keep the French and Spanish thrones permanently apart, Philip renounced the French throne for himself and his descendants [1]. The present king, Felipe VI, was named after the first Bourbon to reign in Spain [2]. Succession to the Spanish throne is governed by Article 57 of the 1978 Constitution [3].

Bourbon-Two Sicilies

The Bourbon-Two Sicilies house is a branch of the Spanish Bourbons. It ruled southern Italy and Sicily, and its last king was Francis II, deposed in 1861 [5]. Since 1960 its headship has been disputed between two lines [5]:

• the senior Calabria line, now represented by Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria (born 1968);
• the junior Castro line, represented by Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro (born 1963).

A reconciliation was attempted in 2014. In 2016 the Duke of Castro replaced male-preference succession with absolute primogeniture, which made his elder daughter his heir and reopened the dispute [5].

The site of the Castro line describes Prince Carlo as head of the royal house. He was born in Saint-Raphaël on 24 February 1963 and married Princess Camilla on 31 October 1998 [6]. They have two daughters [6]:

• Maria Carolina, Duchess of Calabria and Palermo, born 23 June 2003;
• Maria Chiara, Duchess of Noto and Capri, born 1 January 2005.

GOTHA presents both lines without taking a side.

Bourbon-Parma and Luxembourg

The House of Bourbon-Parma was founded in 1748 and ruled Parma until the duchy was annexed in 1859. Its current head is Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma [7]. The link to Luxembourg runs through Grand Duchess Charlotte: her descendants by her marriage to Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma form the grand-ducal house [7]. In 1964, Duke Robert Hugo incorporated the descendants of Charlotte and Felix into the Bourbon-Parma family [7]. The grand-ducal family therefore belongs to the House of Bourbon in the male line [1].

Summary

Licence: contains material adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). This article is released under the same licence. Primary and institutional sources are summarised or briefly quoted.