Breaking News: Infanta Alicia, Dowager Duchess of Calabria & Aunt Of King Juan Carlos, Dies At 99



 

Infanta Alicia of Spain (née Princess of Bourbon-Parma) died today at 1.30pm at the age of 99 in Madrid. The Infanta was born on 13 November 1917 as the daughter of Elias, Duke of Parma and Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria. Her father was the youngest son of the deposed Duke Robert I of Parma and Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies while her mother was a member of the Teschen branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

 

She married Infante Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, her second cousin, on 16 April 1936 in Vienna, Austria. Infante Alfonso's mother was Mercedes, Princess of Asturias, the sister of Alfonso XIII of Spain. He was heir-presumptive to the Spanish throne until the birth of his cousin, Alfonso, in 1907. His cousin never became King of Spain. Instead, the current Spanish Royal family descends from Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, who was his cousin Alfonso's younger brother.

 



 

Alicia and Alfonso had three children together; Princess Teresa María of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 6 February 1937) Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria ( born 16 January 1938 – died 5 October 2015) and Princess Inés María of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 18 February 1940).

She sometimes attended events organised by the Spanish Royal Family,  such as a Mass commemorating the centenary of the birth of Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona (King Felipe's grandfather).

 

She is also considered to be the heir general of the Kings of Navarre as well as Edward the Confessor and David I of Scotland. For some, she is considered to be the Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England, Scotland, France and Ireland. The subject under debate is the question of the legality of the marriage of Maria Beatrice of Savoy to her uncle. If it was illegal, Alicia was the heir of Maria Beatrice's sister.

 

No funeral arrangements have been announced at this time, but as an Infanta of Spain, she is entitled to be buried at El Escorial in the Pantheon of the Princes, where her husband and son are also buried.