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The Bourbons of India (French : Bourbons des Indes) are an Indian family who claim to be legitimate heirs of the House of Bourbon, descended from Jean Philippe de Bourbon, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, an exiled French noble who served in Mughal emperor Akbar's court. The family is also known as the House of Bourbon-Bhopal, a name derived from the city of Bhopal in central India where their last few generations resided and worked in the pre-independent Indian Bhopal State royal court.
Traveller and photographer Louis Rousselet wrote in Le Fils du Connétable( Rousselet 1882 ) [1] [2] when he had visited Isabella de Bourbon, known in the Court as Bourbon Sirdar, and got struck by her "European type". [1] [3] This is his account of his surprise to find a Bourbon Princess in Bhopal:
When everyone was seated, the priest said to me, "On hearing of your arrival I should have hastened to come and see you for it is long since I had the pleasure of meeting fellow countryman, but I was compelled to delay my visit for a reason you will easily understand. I reside here in the capacity of chaplain in Madame Isabelle de Bourbon, a Christian princess who holds the first place of the kingdom after the Begum. This lady greatly hoped that you would have gone to see her soon after your arrival, and she waited for you impatiently. Being only her servant, I was myself obliged until she herself, authorize me to seek you. Today I am sent by her to tell you that she will expect you tomorrow at her palace, at whatever hour you may choose to appoint."
I listened to the priest while he spoke, but without being able to believe my ears. My wanderings had doubtless been fruitful of many unexpected events, but to arrive at Bhopal and find a French priest, chaplain to a Christian princess, and to hear that this princess was the most important personage in the kingdom, and bore the name of Bourbon, this seemed to me to verge on the fabulous and I looked on the worthy ecclesiastic, asking myself whether there were not some mystifications under it all. However, at last I agreed to accept the invitation of the mysterious princess, and he left us to carry the news to her.
When he was gone, I questioned the Bhopal's nobles who were present, and they confirmed the words of the priest. The princess now some sixty-six summers; she was called Bourbon Sirdar, or Princess Bourbon. It was also true she was very rich, possessed important fiefs, and held high rank among the vassals of the crown. My curiosity was greatly excited, and the next morning I mounted the elephant, accompanied by Schaumburg, and proceeded to the residence of the princess.
Kincaid's account of Jean de Bourbon's exile and settlement in India reads:
In the latter half of the sixteenth century, about the year 1560, Jean Philippe de Bourbon, who was a member of a branch of the Bourbons sailed for India, having, tradition relates, been obliged to leave France because he killed a relative of high position in a duel. He landed at Madras, a priest and two friends accompanying him. The two latter died on the voyage, and the priest remained at Madras, but John Philip Bourbon, sailing on to Bengal went thence to Delhi and sought an interview with the Emperor Akbar. On hearing of the high rank of the exile, the Emperor sent for him, and being interested in his story, treated him with much favour and distinction, eventually appointing him to a post at his Court. Not long afterwards the Emperor being much pleased at his courtly bearing and conduct, and desiring to retain his services, offered him in marriage to the Lady Juliana, sister of the Emperor's Christian wife, who on account of her skill and her knowledge of the European system of medicine, had charge of the health of the imperial ladies. This marriage was duly solemnised, whereupon the Emperor conferred upon his brother-in-law the title of Raja of Shergar and placed the imperial seraglio under his care and the Lady Juliana was included in the select band of the imperial sisters. The honourable office conferred on the Bourbons remained in the possession of the family until the sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah in the year 1737.
More detailed accounts can be found in Malcolm 1824 , pp. 341, [5] Kincaid 1908 [5] and Kincaid 1946 (both written by Charles Augustus, William Kincaid's son [6] ), and Diver & Diver 1942 , pp. 170 et seq. The family held the position of Governor of the Imperial Seraglio until the fall of Delhi after the invasion of Nader Shah in 1739 [7] when Francis II (1718-1778) moved to their principality of Shergar to be the last Raja of Shergar. He was attacked by the troops of the Raja of Narwar in 1778 (General Sir John Malcolm 1823) and died alongside most of the family . His surviving son Salvadore II and his two sons moved to Gwalior and finally to Bhopal.
All the members of the Bourbons of Bhopal were known at the Bhopal Court by Muslim names. They were the most influential and wealthiest family in Bhopal, second only to the royal family themselves. The most prominent members of the family were Balthazar of Bourbon- Shazad Masih (1772-1829), son of Salvadore II. He became prime minister in 1820 until he was poisoned by Afghan nobles in 1829. [8] Masih married an English lady, Isabella Johnston, the princess that French traveler Rousellet met. Their son, Sebastian of Bourbon-Mehrban Masih (1830-1878) was appointed prime minister (1857) to the Begums and built one of the most beautiful palaces in Bhopal, the Shaukat Mahal, [9] and the Catholic Church of Bhopal, on land bequeathed by his mother Princess Isabella (died 1852). [10] Eventually, the family fell out of favour during the last two reigns.
After Indian independence, the new Indian state abolished the old jagirs (land entitlements) in 1948, and royal and noble status in 1971. Deprived of any privileges, the family joined the ranks of the working bourgeoisie. [1] [11] The Bourbons of Bhopal are certain that their direct ancestor Jean Phillipe was the secret son of the Constable of France and his wife Duchess Suzanne, according to family oral traditions. Though there are no records of Jean Phillipe of Bourbon in official family genealogy of the House of Bourbon, Prince Michael of Greece, in his book Le Rajah Bourbon (Michel de Grece 2007) gives a very plausible explanation to this and he does believe this branch of the Bourbons to be the oldest branch of the family. There are other different accounts of Jean de Bourbon's possible lineage. One has the constable survive the sack of Rome and eventually marry a Mughal princess named Alaïque, Jean Philippe's mother. Another possible candidate is a member of the Bourbon-Busset branch, reported lost at sea in 1580, [12] though the dates do not match.
Balthazar Napoleon IV de Bourbon, the current head of the family of Bourbons in India, is the son of Salvadore de Bourbon (1917–1978), who claimed the lineage in his memoir Les Bourbons de l'Inde, ( de Bourbon 2003 ) which was edited by Lucien Jailloux and published posthumously with a preface written by historian of India and member of L'École Française d'Extrème-Orient Jean Deloche. [1] [11] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Salvadore de Bourbon's work is based upon nineteenth-century articles by people such as Claude Sosthène Grasset d'Orcet writing in La Revue britannique ( d'Orcet 1892 ), Gabriel Ferrand writing in La Revue de Paris( Ferrand 1905 ), and Colonel William Kincaid's Historical sketch of the Indian Bourbon family( Kincaid 1883 ). [17] The story goes that Jean Phillippe (simply "Jean de Bourbon" in some accounts [18] ), the secret son of Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, the so-called "Constable of Bourbon", arrived in the court of Mughal emperor Akbar in 1560, relating a tale of his journey there that included pirates, kidnapping, and an attempt to sell him in a slave market in Cairo. Prince Michael of Greece has incorporated this into a historical novel, Le Rajah Bourbon( Michel de Grèce 2007 ), whose publication spurred a renewed interest in this claim to the French throne. [11] [14] [15]
The current head of the Bourbon-Bhopal family is Balthazar Napoleon IV de Bourbon, a lawyer by profession. [19] De Bourbon's claim of link to the Bourbons of France was endorsed by Prince Michael of Greece in his historical novel, Le Rajah Bourbon( Michel de Grèce 2007 ). The novel, described by the Los Angeles Times as "an amalgam of conjecture and research", offers a speculative biography of De Bourbon's purported ancestor Jean Philippe de Bourbon. [20] According to the novel, Jean Philippe was a nephew of King Henry IV, which would technically make Balthazar Napoleon the eldest in line to the French Throne. [21] [22] The author states that he completely believes in his theory, although he does not have absolute proof of it. [23]
In 2008, Prince Michael favoured a DNA test, "perhaps from a surviving lock of Bourbon hair", to verify De Bourbon's claim of kinship. [24] De Bourbon stated that he was ready to undergo the DNA test, but that he wanted to know "if the original samples will be available for matching since there were frequent inter-marriages among European royal families." [25]
The House of Bourbon is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. A branch descended from the French Bourbons came to rule Spain in the 18th century and is the current Spanish royal family. Further branches, descended from the Spanish Bourbons, held thrones in Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Today, Spain and Luxembourg have monarchs of the House of Bourbon. The royal Bourbons originated in 1272, when Robert, the youngest son of King Louis IX of France, married the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. The house continued for three centuries as a cadet branch, serving as nobles under the direct Capetian and Valois kings.
Louis Philippe I, nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. He abdicated from his throne during the French Revolution of 1848, which led to the foundation of the French Second Republic. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the French Revolutionary Wars and was promoted to lieutenant general by the age of nineteen, but he broke with the Republic over its decision to execute King Louis XVI. He fled to Switzerland in 1793 after being connected with a plot to restore France's monarchy. His father Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, fell under suspicion and was executed during the Reign of Terror.
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to in French as le Régent. He was the son of Monsieur Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, and Madame Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orléans. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth by the title of Duke of Chartres.
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, known as le Gros, was a French royal of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. The First Prince of the Blood after 1752, he was the most senior male at the French court after the immediate royal family. He was the father of Philippe Égalité. He greatly augmented the already huge wealth of the House of Orléans.
Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kings of Saxony to the German Emperor. In earlier times the title was ratified and bestowed by the reigning Mughal emperor to semi-autonomous Muslim rulers of subdivisions or princely states in the Indian subcontinent loyal to the Mughal Empire, for example the Nawabs of Bengal.
Charles III, Duke of Bourbon was a French military leader and noble. He was the count of Montpensier, Clermont-en-Auvergne, and dauphin of Auvergne from 1501 to 1525, and then duke of Bourbon and Auvergne, count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, Forez and La Marche, and lord of Beaujeu from 1505 to 1521. He was also the constable of France from 1515 to 1521. Also known as the Constable of Bourbon, he was the last of the great feudal lords to openly oppose the king of France. Bourbon and Francis I of France finally fell out over disputes concerning inheritance. Bourbon commanded the troops of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in what became known as the Sack of Rome in 1527, where he was killed.
French India, formally the Établissements français dans l'Inde, was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were de facto incorporated into the Republic of India in 1950 and 1954. The enclaves were Pondichéry, Karikal, Yanam on the Coromandel Coast, Mahé on the Malabar Coast and Chandernagor in Bengal. The French also possessed several loges inside other towns, but after 1816, the British denied all French claims to these, which were not reoccupied.
Prince Félix of Bourbon-Parma was the husband of Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and the father of her six children, including her successor Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. By birth to his father Robert I, Duke of Parma, he was a member of the House of Bourbon-Parma and one descendant of King Philip V of Spain. Prince Félix was the longest-serving consort of Luxembourg.
Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, was a Greek historian, author, and member of the Greek royal family. He wrote several historical books and biographies of Greek and other European figures, in addition to working as a contributing writer to Architectural Digest.
The 4th House of Orléans, sometimes called the House of Bourbon-Orléans to distinguish it, is the fourth holder of a surname previously used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. The house was founded by Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger son of Louis XIII and younger brother of Louis XIV, the "Sun King".
Philip was Duke of Parma from 18 October 1748 until his death in 1765. A Spanish infante by birth, he was born in Madrid as the second son of King Philip V and Queen Elisabeth. He became Duke of Parma as a result of the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The duchy had earlier been ruled by Philip's elder brother, the future Charles III of Spain, and by their maternal ancestors. Philip founded the House of Bourbon-Parma, a cadet line of the House of Bourbon. He was a first cousin and son-in-law of the French king Louis XV.
Bhopal State was founded by Maharaja of Parmar Rajputs. In the beginning of 18th-century, Bhopal State was converted into an Islamic principality, in the invasion of the Afghan Mughal noble Dost Muhammad Khan. It was a tributary state within the Maratha Confederacy during 18th century (1737–1818), a princely salute state with 19-gun salute in a subsidiary alliance with British India from 1818 to 1947, and an independent state from 1947 to 1949. Islamnagar was founded and served as the State's first capital, which was later shifted to the city of Bhopal.
Louise Henriette de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Conti at birth, was a French princess, who, by marriage, became Duchess of Chartres (1743–1752), then Duchess of Orléans (1752–1759) upon the death of her father-in-law. On 4 February 1752, her husband became the head of the House of Orléans, and the First Prince of the Blood, the most important personage after the immediate members of the royal family.
Princess Anne of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Dowager Duchess of Calabria, born Princess Anne of Orléans, is the widow of Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria. She is the third daughter and fifth child of Henri, Count of Paris, Orléanist claimant to the defunct French throne, and his wife Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza.
Louis-Théophile Marie Rousselet (1845–1929) was a French traveller, writer, photographer and pioneer of the darkroom. His photographic work now commands high prices. Many of his drawings and photographs were made into engravings by others.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bhopal is an archdiocese located in the city of Bhopal in India.
Prince Charles of Luxembourg, Prince of Bourbon-Parma and Nassau, was a younger son of Grand Duchess Charlotte and Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma.
The Royal Chapel of Dreux situated in Dreux, France, is the traditional burial place of members of the House of Orléans. It is an important early building in the French adoption of Gothic Revival architecture, despite being topped by a dome. Starting in 1828, Alexandre Brogniart, director of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory, produced fired-enamel paintings on large panes of plate glass for King Louis-Philippe I, an important early French commission in Gothic Revival taste, preceded mainly by some Gothic features in a few jardins paysagers.
Balthazar Napoleon IV de Bourbon claims to be the senior descendant of the House of Bourbon and thus the pretender to the throne of the defunct Kingdom of France.
Lady Juliana was a woman who lived at the court of Mughal emperor Akbar. She is said to have been the physician in charge of Akbar's royal harem, and to have married the legendary Bourbon prince Jean-Philippe de Bourbon-Navarre, and to have been the sister of one of Akbar's wives. She is credited with building the first church in Agra.
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