Prince Carlos, Duke of Madrid
Don Carlos de Borbón y Austria-Este was the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain as Carlos VII from 1868, and holder of the Legitimist claim to the throne of France under the name Charles XI after the death of his father in 1887.
Life
Carlos was born in Ljubljana, the capital of Carniola in what is now Slovenia, the elder son of Juan de Borbón y Braganza 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.Family
On 4 February 1867, at Schloss Frohsdorf in Austria, Carlos married Princess Margherita of Parma, daughter of Carlos III, Duke of Parma and of his wife, Princess Louise Marie Thérèse of France. The couple had five children:- Princess Blanca of Bourbon m in 1889 at Frohsdorf Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria, Prince of Tuscany and had issue.
- Prince Jaime, Duke of Anjou and Madrid
- Princess Elvira of Bourbon died unmarried.
- Princess Beatrice of Bourbon married in Venice in 1892 Prince Fabrizio Massimo di Roviano
- Princess Alice of Bourbon married in 1897 Prince Victor Friedrich Ernst von Schönburg-Waldenburg at Venice and had issue, divorced 1903; in 1906 at Viareggio, Lino del Prete and had issue.
''De facto'' king
Later life
In January 1893 Carlos' wife, Margherita, died. The following year he decided to remarry. He consulted his mother who suggested two ladies: Princess Theresia of Liechtenstein and Princess Marie-Berthe de Rohan.Having met both ladies, Carlos decided on the latter and asked for her hand in marriage.
On 28 April 1894 Carlos and Berthe were married by Berthe's distant cousin, Cardinal Schönborn in his private chapel in Prague. Berthe had a dominant personality, making the marriage very unpopular among Carlists. "All writers agree that this second marriage was disastrous, not only for the family of Don Carlos and for himself, but also for the party."
Carlos died in Varese in 1909. He is buried in the Cathedral of San Giusto in Trieste. His son Jaime followed in his father's footsteps of claiming the French and Spanish thrones.