Prince Carlos
of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Don Carlos, Prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infante of Spain (Full Italian name: Carlo Maria Francesco d'Assisi Pasquale Ferdinando Antonio di Padova Francesco de Paola Alfonso Andrea Avelino Tancredi, Principe di Borbone delle Due Sicilie, Infante di Spagna; 10 November 1870 – 11 November 1949) was the son of Prince Alfonso of the Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta and his wife Princess Maria Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and nephew of the last King of the Two Sicilies, Francis II. On 14 February 1901 in Madrid, Carlos married Mercedes, Princess of Asturias, elder daughter of the late King Alfonso XII of Spain and of his wife Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria.[citation needed] Mercedes was the elder sister and heir presumptive to King Alfonso XIII of Spain, an unmarried teenager. A week before the wedding, on 7 February, Carlos was given the title of Infante of Spain. Carlos served in the Spanish Army in the Spanish–American War and received the Military Order of Maria Cristina. Eventually he rose to the rank of Inspector General. In 1894, Carlos's father Alfonso became the head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. On marrying his first wife, Carlos renounced on 14 December 1900 his future rights of succession to the non-existent Crown of Two Sicilies in an official document, known as the Act of Cannes, subject
to a requirement in the Treaty of Naples of 1759 and the Pragmatic Decree of 6 October 1759 that the Crown of Spain should not be combined with the "Italian Sovereignty".
The Infantry Regiment "Inmemorial del Rey" No. 1 (Spanish: Regimiento de Infantería Inmemorial del Rey no. 1) is the senior regiment of the Spanish Army, and is considered the oldest still active military unit in the world. King Ferdinand III of Castille, in 1248, during the conquest of Seville, with some of his men-at-arms, assaulted and took a tower. Seemingly, with such boldness and bravery they gained the admiration of the King. The campaign finished and with the consequent disbandment of troops, King Ferdinand decided to permanently keep that force on the rolls, making one of the first standing armies in Europe since the Roman Empire. On 28 August 1632, on the initiative of Philip IV, a special corps of troops was ordered to be formed with veteran soldiers, reenlistments and knights of noble ancestry - men so skilled that they only took arms when the monarch assumed command in person, designating it "King's Guard Colonelship." Its organization commenced in Almansa in 1634, its force fixed as a three battalion force organized as fifteen companies with 90 harquebusiers, 40 musketeers, and 60 corslets and pikemen in the company, plus officers assigned. The battalions were fixed into 5 companies each with headquarters elements smaller than the regiment's. Later, in 1638, 5 more companies were added, increasing the total to 20 and gaining a 4th battalion in the process. Its first colonel, Count Duke of Olivares, Don Gaspar de Guzmán, whose post was the recently created
"King's Guard Colonelship," was in command of very distinguished soldiers of great renown. In 1640, Philip IV elevated it to the category of King's Guard Regiment and in 1664 to Castile Tercio. From 1701 to 1710 it was dedicated to its ancient mission, guarding the Monarch, and it was in 1707 when it received the designation Castile, and in 1710 that of Castile Immemorial Infantry Regiment. It gained glory in the Spanish War of Succession and the Italian Campaigns (1718-1749), eventually it received the name King's Infantry Regiment on 7 January 1766. That same year, King Charles III, persuaded by the antiquity of the regiment, declared it the King's Immemorial Regiment on account of its loyalty to the Crown. Traditionally, as the regiment is linked to the Spanish royal family and to the sovereign in his/her duty as Captain General and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, all the Princes of Asturias since 1862 are enrolled as Honorary soldiers in the 1st Company.
The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon that ruled Southern Italy and Sicily for more than a century in the 18th and 19th centuries. It descends from the Capetian dynasty in legitimate male line through Philip, Duke of Anjou (later Philip V of Spain), a younger grandson of Louis XIV of France (1638–1715) who established the Bourbon dynasty in Spain in 1700 as Philip V (1683–1746). In 1759, King Philip's younger grandson was appanaged with the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, becoming Ferdinand IV and III (1751–1825), respectively, of those realms. His descendants occupied the joint throne, merged as the "Kingdom of the Two Sicilies" in 1816, until 1861, claimed it thereafter from exile, and constitute the extant Bourbon-Two Sicilies family. The name "Bourbon-Two Sicilies" (sometimes shortened to "Bourbon-Sicily") combines the patriline (Bourbon) with their former territorial designation (Two Sicilies). The name of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies came from the unification of the Kingdom of Sicily with the Kingdom of Naples (called the kingdom of peninsular Sicily), by King Alfonso V of Aragon in 1442. The two had been separated since
the Sicilian Vespers of 1282. At the death of King Alfonso in 1458, the kingdoms became divided between his brother John II of Aragon, who kept Sicily, and his bastard son Ferdinand, who became King of Naples. The crowns of Naples and Sicily remained functionally separate, albeit often ruled by the same monarch, until their formal union in 1816.
The Royal Standard of Spain (Estandarte Real or Estandarte del Rey) is the official flag of the King of Spain. It comprises a crimson square, traditional colour of both Castilian and Spanish monarchs, with the coat of arms of the King in the center. It is raised over the official royal residence in Madrid, the Palacio de la Zarzuela and other Spanish royal sites, when the monarch is in residence and displayed on his official car as small flag. In 1838 the colour of the Royal Standard was modified (crimson to Purpure).
Awards: Insignia of the Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro), Sash and star of the Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III (Real y Muy Distinguida Orden de Carlos III), Stars of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (Real Orden de Isabel la Católica), the Order of Alcántara (Orden de Alcántara) and the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Granada (Royal Cavalry Armory of Granada).
