Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou Biography
Rachel Ellis Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou Biography
(Member of the Royal House of Bourbon)Birthday: April 25, 1974 (Taurus)
Born In: Madrid, Spain
Advanced SearchLouis Alphonse of Bourbon-Segovia, Duke of Anjou is a member of the Royal House of Bourbon in Spain and one of the pretenders to the defunct French throne as Louis XX. As the eldest male heir of Juan, Count of Montizón of the Spanish line of the House of Bourbon, he is recognized as the head of the house by traditional male-line primogeniture. He is also considered the rightful pretender to the French throne by the supporters of the Legitimist movement, as he is the senior agnatic descendant of King Louis XIV of France, whose grandson was King Philip V of Spain. Despite the fact that he is the eldest great-grandson of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, he lost the Spanish crown to his second cousin, King Felipe VI, due to the fact that his descent is through a morganatic marriage. Through his father, he is a great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and through his mother, he is a great-grandson of Spain's former leader, General Francisco Franco. Professionally, he is banker and lives with his family in Madrid.
Quick FactsSpanish Celebrities Born In April
Also Known As: Louis Alphonse de Bourbon, Luis Alfonso de Borbón y de Martinez, Louis XX
Age: 49 Years, 49 Year Old Males
Family:Spouse/Ex-: Duchess of Anjou (m. 2004), Marie Marguerite
father: Alfonso de Borbón-Segovia, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz
mother: María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco
siblings: Duke of Bourbon, Francisco de Asís
children: Duke of Berry, Duke of Burgundy, Prince Alphonse, Prince Louis, Princess Eugénie
Born Country: Spain
City: Madrid, Spain
More Factsawards: Knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit
Knight in the order of Saint-Michel
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Spanish PeopleSpanish MonarchsSpanish Historical PersonalitiesTaurus Men Childhood & Early LifeLouis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou was born on April 25, 1974 in Madrid, Spain into the Royal House of Bourbon. He is the second son of Alfonso de Borbón, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz, and his wife Doña María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco, the granddaughter of Francisco Franco.He had an elder brother, François de Bourbon, who died in a car accident on February 7, 1984 in Pamplona while returning from a ski trip in the Pyrenees. His father, who was driving the car, had to go through six operations, while he himself was in the hospital for a month to recover from injuries.His parents, Alfonso and Carmen, separated in 1979, received a civil divorce 1982, and their Catholic marriage was finally annulled in 1986. His father obtained custody of his two sons, but after the car accident, a Spanish court had granted Carmen temporary custody of him, but restored custody to his father six months later.His mother lived with Jean-Marie Rossi, a Frenchman of Italian descent 20 years her senior, and married him civilly on December 11, 1984. From this marriage, he had a stepsister named Cynthia Rossi, as well as three step siblings ¬— Mathilda, Marella and Frederick — from Jean-Marie Rossi’s previous marriage.He attended the Lycée Français de Madrid, and in June 1992, got his COU, an academic level in Spain that was equivalent to 12th grade in the United States. He completed his graduate level study in economics from the IESE Business School.Continue Reading BelowSuccessionAt the time of his birth, Louis Alphonse’s father Alfonso de Borbón was the ‘Dauphin of France’ due to his father’s claim to the French throne, and used ‘Duke of Bourbon’ as title of pretence. Alfonso’s father, Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia, later renounced the throne and died in St. Gall Cantonal Hospital in Switzerland on 20 March 1975.After the death of his father, Alfonso asserted his claim to be both the ‘Head of the House of Bourbon’ and the Legitimist claimant to the throne of France. He subsequently took the title of ‘Duke of Anjou’ and conferred upon Louis Alphonse the title ‘Duke of Touraine’ on September 19, 1981.When Louis Alphonse’s elder brother François died in the car accident, Louis Alphonse was recognized by the Legitimists as the heir apparent to his father. On September 27, 1984 his father gave him the additional title of ‘Duke of Bourbon’.In 1987, the Spanish government declared that titles that are traditionally attached to the dynasty will be borne by the title holders on a lifetime basis and would not be transferred. As a result, Louis Alphonse did not inherit the Dukedom of Cádiz after the death of his father.After his father, Alfonso de Borbón, died in a skiing accident near Vail, Colorado on January 30, 1989, he succeeded him as the Legitimist pretender to the French throne as Louis XX. A lawsuit was filed against Vail Associated, the company that owned the ski resort where the accident happened, for which he was awarded 150 million pesetas in 1994.He also took the title ‘Duke of Anjou’, but did not take his father's Spanish dukedom, and was recognized by some members of the Capetian dynasty as the Head of the House of Bourbon. The French Society of the Cincinnati, which had earlier elected his father to be the representative of Louis XVI, subsequently elected him as his successor in 1994.Titles & HonorsHe has previously held the titles 'Prince Louis Alphonse de Bourbon', the 'Duke of Touraine' and the 'Duke of Bourbon', and currently holds the Legitimist style courtesy title, the 'Duke of Anjou'. He received the honors 'Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Order of the Holy Spirit' from House of Bourbon-France and 'Bailiff Knights Grand Cross in Obedience' from Sovereign Military Order of Malta.Personal Life & LegacyLouis Alphonse is a banker by profession, and worked at the Venezuelan bank Banco Occidental de Descuento in 2005. He has also worked for several years at BNP Paribas, a French bank in Madrid.In November 2003, his engagement to Venezuelan María Margarita Vargas Santaella, the daughter of Victor Vargas, was announced officially. The next year, they married civilly in Caracas on November 5, 2004 and had the religious ceremony in La Romana, Dominican Republic the following day. He regularly visited his mother in France and had also acquired French citizenship through his paternal grandmother, Emmanuelle de Dampierre, a French national. He lived in Venezuela for some before shifting to the United States, but later settled in Madrid.His mother, who had separated from Rossi in 1994, got married for a third time to José Campos García, a Spaniard 13 years her junior, on June 18, 2006 in Cazalla de la Sierra, Seville. However, Alphonse did not attend the wedding as he greatly respected his stepfather Rossi and did not approve of her separation from him, as well as her ‘celebrity’ lifestyle.His wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Eugénie, on 5 March 2007, at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami, Florida. She was baptized at the papal nunciature in Paris in June 2007 and is recognized by Legitimists as Princess Eugénie.On May 28, 2010, the couple welcomed twin sons, Louis and Alphonse, who were baptized on September 5, 2010 at St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Louis and Alphonse were subsequently named Duke of Burgundy and Duke of Berry, respectively, by their father.Prince Louis, who is recognized as the Legitimist Dauphin of France, is expected to succeed his father as the head of the French royal house. He will also be the head of the senior Bourbon line as King Philipe VI of Spain has no sons.TriviaLouis Alphonse's marriage to María Margarita Vargas Santaella was not attended by any member of the Spanish royal family. While no official statement was provided, it was known that the then king, Juan Carlos I, did not approve his father's claim to the French throne. Issuing wedding invitations as 'Duke of Anjou' might also have affected the decision.
