| THE
HEAD OF THE ROYAL HOUSE
His Royal Highness Don Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
and Bourbon-Parma
Infante of Spain, Duke of Calabria
 |
| HRH Infante Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria |
His Royal Highness the Infante Don
Carlos, Duke of Calabria, was born in Lausanne, Switzerland
on 16 January 1938, where his parents the Infante Don
Alfonso and Infanta Doña Alicia (born a Princess
of Parma) were living in exile. They returned to Spain
in 1941 where the young Prince went to school at las
Jarillas as the companion of his first cousin, Don Juan
Carlos de Borbon (Prince of the Asturias and later Prince,
then King of Spain) and then to the Institute San Isidro,
in Madrid. He subsequently trained as a lawyer working
briefly in New York with the Chase Manhattan Bank.
He is the doyen of the Knights of the
Golden Fleece, Dean President of the Council of the
four Military Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara
and Montesa, Grand Commander of Alcántara, Grand
Cross of Military Merit con distintivo blanco, Grand
Cross of Naval Merit, Grand Cross of Agricultural Merit,
Maestrante of Sevilla, Zaragoza, Granada, Valencia and
Ronda, Protector of the Real Cuerpo de la Nobleza de
Madrid, Member of the Real Cuerpo de la Nobleza de Cataluña,
Member of the Cofradía del Santo Cáliz
de Valencia, Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
of Jerusalem, Banda (Grand Cross) of the Mexican Order
of the Aztec Eagle, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of
the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa, Grand
Cross of the Royal Order of the Star of Karageorge of
Yugoslavia, President of the Asociación de Hidalgos
a Fuero de España, Patron-President of the Foundation
of the Military Orders Hospital of Santiago de Cuenca,
President of the Patrons of the Royal Naval Museum,
President of the Iberoamericana Confederation of Foundations,
of the Spanish Foundation Committee of the United World
College and the Spanish Foundation for the Defence of
Nature (WWF), Patron of the Foundation San Benito de
Alcántara, Patron of the Banesto Foundation.
The last King, Francis II, stated that he wished his successors
to use the title of Duke of Castro, an inheritance that had come from the
Farnese and was independent from the Two Sicilies, with the title of Duke of
Calabria for the heir apparent and duke of Noto for the eldest son of the
latter. The Count of Caserta, however, decided to retain the title he had
used for decades and his heir continued to use the title Duke of Calabria after his succession. The latter title, therefore has now become the
customary title of the Head of the House and has been used as such since
1934. |
|
Don Carlos became Duke of Noto in 1960
when Infante Don Alfonso succeeded his uncle, Ferdinando
Pio, Duke of Calabria, as Head of the Royal House of
the Two Sicilies and Grand Master of the Constantinian
Order. In 1964 his father died and he succeeded him
in turn, becoming Duke of Calabria.
In 1994 he was appointed an Infante
of Spain, by Royal
Decree of HM King Juan Carlos I.
The following year he married Princess
Anne of Orléans, daughter of the late Count and
late Countess of Paris; they live in Madrid and have
five children, a son, four daughters and nine grandchildren. |
