Infante Carlos
Duke of Madrid, King of France
Don Carlos de Borbón y Austria-Este (Spanish: Carlos María de los Dolores Juan Isidro José Francisco Quirico Antonio Miguel Gabriel Rafael; French: Charles Marie des Douleurs Jean Isidore Joseph François Cyr Antoine Michel Gabriel Raphaël; 30 March 1848 – 18 July 1909) was the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain from 1868 (his father's Spanish renunciation), and the Legitimist claimant to the throne of France after the death of his father in 1887. On the death of his father on November 18, 1887, Charles de Bourbon became the eldest of the descendants of Hugues Capet, Saint Louis, Henri IV and Louis XIV. The French legitimists then recognize him as king of France and Navarre under the name of Charles XI. Legitimists believe that the traditional rules of succession, based on the Salic law, determine the rightful King of France. The last ruling king whom legitimists acknowledge as legitimate was Charles X, and when the line of his heirs became extinct in 1883 with the death of his grandson Henri, Count of Chambord, the most senior heir to the throne under these traditional rules was Infante Juan, Count of Montizón, a descendant of Louis XIV through his grandson Philip V of Spain. The fact that all French Legitimist claimants since 1883 have been members of the Spanish royal dynasty, the allegation that their patrilineal descent from Louis XIV has been in question since 1936, and the belief that Philip V renounced claims to the French throne for himself and his heirs-male in the Treaty of Utrecht, are all irrelevant to
Legitimism; however, these facts have prompted other French monarchists to pivot to support of the Orléans line, who would be next in the traditional line of succession if Philip's heirs were excluded, or support to the Bonaparte family. Carlos was born in Ljubljana, the capital of Carniola in what is now Slovenia, the elder son of Infante Juan, Count of Montizón and of his wife Maria Beatrix of Austria-Este. His name in full was Carlos María de los Dolores Juan Isidro José Francisco Quirico Antonio Miguel Gabriel Rafael. As an infant he lived with his family briefly in London where his younger brother Alfonso was born. After their father, considered too liberal for Carlist tastes, left their mother, the boys lived with her in Modena. Her brother Francis V, Duke of Modena was largely responsible for the education of the boys and was the chief influence in their early lives. Carlos was known for his Traditionalist views, much different from those of his father. Carlos organized and led the Third Carlist War. Between 1872 and 1876 he effectively controlled much of peninsular Spain, having as much legitimacy as the Presidents of the First Republic.
The French Royal Army (French: Armée Royale Française) was the principal land force of the Kingdom of France. It served the Bourbon dynasty from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century to that of Charles X in the 19th, with an interlude from 1792 to 1814 and another during the Hundred Days in 1815. It was permanently dissolved following the July Revolution in 1830. The French Royal Army became a model for the new regimental system that was to be imitated throughout Europe from the mid-17th century onward. It was regarded as Europe's greatest military force and the most powerful armies in the world for much of its existence. Napoleon was defeated by a combined Allied army in 1815 at Waterloo, and Louis XVIII was returned to the throne. Realizing that the remains of the existing army had no loyalty to the restored monarchy, the government of Louis XVIII undertook a wholesale disbandment of what had been Napoleon's regiments. In their place a system of Departmental Legions was created with no historic connections to empire, republic or even the pre-1792 monarchy. His government appointed many aristocratic officers to the new army. In 1829/30, red trousers and breeches were adopted for most infantry and cavalry regiments. These pantalon rouge were to remain as an iconic symbol of the French Army until the early months of World War I, and survive in a limited number of modern ceremonial uniforms. The French army was among the first in the world to
be issued with Minié rifles, just in time for the Crimean War against Russia, allied with Britain. This invention gave line infantry a weapon with a much longer range and greater accuracy and would lead to new flexible tactics. The French army was more experienced at mass manoeuvre and war fighting than the British and the reputation of the French army was greatly enhanced. A series of colonial expeditions followed and in 1856 France joined the Second Opium War on the British side against China; obtaining concessions. French troops were deployed into Italy against the Austrians, the first use of railways for mass movement. The French army was now considered to be an example to others and military missions to Japan and the emulation of French Zouaves in other militaries added to this prestige. However, an expedition to Mexico failed to create a stable puppet régime. France was humiliated following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, and while the Army had far superior infantry weapons in the form of the Chassepot and Mitrailleuse, its tactics and artillery were inferior, and by allowing the Prussian Army to take the initiative, the French Army was rapidly bottled up into its fortress towns and defeated. The loss of prestige within the army lead to a great emphasis on aggression and close quarter tactics. The French Armed Forces numbered some 1,300,000 soldiers, and in total the French Army would call up 8,817,000 men, including 900,000 colonial troops.
The Bourbons (French: Bourbon, Spanish: Borbón) are a European dynasty, the younger branch of the royal House of Capeting, descended from Robert (1256-1317), Count de Clermont, the youngest son of Louis IX of Sainte. He married Beatrice of Burgundy, dame de Bourbon, heiress to the possessions of the First House of Bourbon, through which his son Louis I de Bourbon inherited the lordship of Bourbon, receiving the ducal title in 1327. One of his descendants, Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre, succeeded to the French throne as Henry IV in 1589, after the suppression of another branch of the Capetings, the Valois dynasty. The Spanish Bourbons (Spanish: Casa de Borbón en España) are a branch of the French Bourbon family, the ruling royal dynasty in Spain, on the throne since 1700 and established in 1713 after winning the War of Spanish Succession. Through the marriage of Louis XIII with the daughter of the Spanish King Philip III (1598-1621) Anne of Austria and the marriage of Louis XIV with the daughter of his successor Philip IV (1621-1665) Maria Theresa of Austria, the Bourbon-Vendômes became related to the Spanish Habsburgs, which allowed them after the death of the
childless King Charles II (1665-1700) to lay claim to the throne of Spain; On 1 November 1700 it was taken by Louis XIV's grandson Duke Philip of Anjou (b. 1683) under the name Philip V. of Anjou. 1683) as Philip V, who became the founder of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty. Philip V managed to regain the crown against a coalition of European powers, but under the terms of the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 he had to renounce for himself and his offspring the rights to the crown of France. On 19 March 1830, Ferdinand VII changed the law on succession to give women the right to the throne as well. As a result, after Ferdinand VII's death, the crown passed not to his brother Don Carlos the Elder (1788-1855), but to his daughter Isabella II (1833-1868). Don Carlos, together with his supporters, (the Carlists), launched a rebellion, which was suppressed only seven years later. The Carlist branch is a branch of the Spanish Bourbons, descended from the second son of Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma, Infanta Don Carlos the Elder. The Carlist movement did not cease after 1840. In 1845, Carlos the Elder transferred his rights to his eldest son Count Carlos de Montemolin (1818-1861), who, however, relinquished them when he was captured in 1860 while attempting to land in Spain. The Carlist rights passed to his brother Juan Carlos, Count de Montison, who similarly renounced them and passed them on to his son Carlos Maria, the first Duke of Madrid. Juan Carlos, Count de Montison, in 1883, on the death of the Count de Chambord, became the de facto head of the House of Bourbon and a claimant to the French throne. In 1872 Carlos the Elder's grandson Carlos the Younger, Duke of Madrid (1848-1909), launched the Second Carlist War, but was also defeated (1876). In 1883 his father Juan Carlos, Count de Montison (1822-1887), the senior member of the Carlist branch, declared himself a claimant to the French throne due to the termination of the Bourbon-Vendôme line. After the death of Carlos the Younger in 1909, his son Jaime, second Duke of Madrid, and then his brother Alfonso, Duke de San Jaime (1849-1936), succeeded to the French and Spanish crowns, with whom the Carlist branch was discontinued.
The prince is dressed in the French style uniform of general. He wears the collar and sash of the Order of the Holy Spirit, as well as the collar of the Order of Saint Michael. On the infant’s chest there are stars of the highest French Royal orders: the Order of the Holy Spirit, Order of Saint Louis, Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem united and also sign of the Spanish Order of Santiago.
