Alphonse of Orleans (1886-1975)

Alphonse Marie François Antoine Diego of Orleans was born with Madrid the December 12th 1886 and is deceased with Sanlúcar de Barrameda, in the Province of Cadiz, the August 6th 1975. It is a Infant of Spain, the fifth duke of Galliera and a military aviator Spanish.

Family

Alphonse of Orleans is the oldest son of the prince Antoine of Orleans (1866-1930), duke of Galliera and infant of Spain, and his wife and German cousin the princess Eulalie de Bourbon (1864-1958), infante of Spain.

By his father, it descends from the prince Antoine of Orleans (1824-1890), duke of Montpensier, and the king of the French Louis-Philippe Ier (1773-1850) while, by his mother, he is the grandson of the queen Isabelle II of Spain (1830-1904) and of its husband infant it François d' Assise Bourbon (1822-1902).

July 15th 1909, Alphonse of Orleans marries in Cobourg, in Germany, the princess Béatrice of Edinburgh and Saxony-Cobourg and Gotha (1884-1966), girl of the duke Alfred of Edinburgh and Saxony-Cobourg-Gotha, itself wire of the queen Victoria Ire of the United Kingdom.

From this union are born three children:

Alvar of Orleans (1910-1997), infant of Spain and sixth duke of Galliera, which marries morganatiquement Italian Carla Parodi di Delfino (1909) in 1937. From where four children;
Alphonse of Orleans (1912-1936), infant of Spain, which dies without alliance lasting the Guerre of Spain;
Ataulf of Orleans (1913-1974), infant of Spain, which dies without alliance.

Biography

The prince shares his childhood between Spain, France and England, where it receives a neat education given by a multitude of particular professors. He studies philosophy at the University of Heidelberg,

From 1906, prince Alphonse of Orleans receives a military formation with the Military academy of Tolède then is formed, in 1910, as pilot of plane with Mourmelon, in France. Of return in Spain, it becomes one of the first pilots of the Spanish Air force.

In 1909, the prince must however leave Spain because the king Alphonse XIII (1886-1941) sees of an evil eye his marriage with Béatrice of Edinburgh and Saxony-Cobourg and Gotha, princess Lutheran who refuses to convert with Catholicism. The princely couple is however authorized to return to Spain as from 1912 and Béatrice is not long in becoming very close to the king. At this point in time is born the rumor according to which the duchess of Galliera nourishes a connection with the Spanish sovereign. Truth or not, the scandal is propagated in Madrid and arrives at the ears of the queen dowager Marie-Christine of Spain (1858-1929). Offusquée, this last meeting the princess Beatrice in Saint-Sebastien and asks him to leave Spain. The duchess of Galliera refuses, but the dowager obliges the king her son to return it in exile with her husband and their children (1916). Alphonse of Orleans is then named with the Spanish legation of Bern and must live during six years in Switzerland. In spite of the humiliation which for him this setting with the variation represents, the prince benefits from his years of exile to improve as a pilot in Switzerland and England.

Prince Alphonse and his family receive finally the authorization to return to Spain in 1924 and settle in their residence of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Until the fall of Spanish monarchy in 1931, the prince fills various stations in the military aviation, and carries out, for example, the air operations of the Débarquement of Al Hoceima (1925), at the time of the Guerre of Morocco.

At the time of the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, the April 14th 1931, infant it Alphonse leaves once again in exile to London. It is only in 1937 that it regains its country in order to join aviation nationalist troops, at the time of the civil war. After the conflict, the prince is promoted major general and manages the Second Spanish air Area starting from 1940. Three years later it is named brigadier general by the pro-Franco government.

In 1945, Alphonse of Orleans gives up this station however to support the Manifeste of Estoril, in which Jean de Bourbon (1913-1993), count de Barcelone and claiming with the throne of Spain, claims the restoration of monarchy. This decision puts an end to the military career of the duke of Galliera, but it continues however to control.

Alphonse of Orleans dies in 1975, little time before the accession with the throne of his distant cousin the king Juan Carlos Ier of Spain.

Today, a foundation dedicated to the conservation of the historical planes, bears the name of the prince: it is the Fundación Infante de Orleáns.

External bonds

Biography for Fundación Infante de Orleáns.
Biography for Asociación Surface.
Fundación Infante de Orleáns.

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