Madeleine de Bourbon (1898-1984)
daughter of Georges Louis Marie de Bourbon, Vicomte de Busset
and Jeanne de Kerret de Quillien
Born 23 March 1898 Paris
Died 1 September 1984 Paris
Married 12 November 1927 Chateau de Lignieres
Xavier, Duke of Parma
Born 25 May 1889 Camaiore
Died 7 May 1977 Zizers, Switzerland
She belonged to the senior legitimate line of the House of Bourbon,
even though this line always has been ineligible to claim the French crown.
However, as she belonged to a very rich family she
inherited the Chateau of Lignieres and the Chateau Boszt.
On 12 November 1927, at the Chateau of Lignieres, she married Prince
Xavier de Bourbon-Parma and they became the parents of six children. In
1936 her husband was declared regent of, and later
pretender for, the Spanish Carlist party and this would change their
lives forever.
In World War II her husband was imprisoned by the Germans in Concentration
Camp Dachau which he survived. On his return they lived quietly in France
until, in 1964, their eldest son married Princess Irene of The Netherlands.
Suddenly the Carlist party was discovered by Europe's press and they descended
upon their family.
In 1974 her husband, aged eighty-five, became Duke of Parma and head
of the family. In May 1976 a feud developed between their two sons and
she chose the side of the younger son, Sixte Henri. She went even so far
as to put Sixte Henri in charge of her possessions, even though they should
be inherited by the elder, Charles Hugues, since 1977 Duke of Parma and
head of the family.
When she died on 1 September 1984, in her will she bequeathed the Chateau
of Lignieres to Sixte Henri, Chateau Boszt to her daughter Princess Francoise
de Lobkowicz, while the rest was divided between Charles Hugues and the
three remaining unmarried daughters.
Source: Leo van de Pas
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