Princess Irene is currently one of the stake holders in the trust but on her death her children do not automatically inherit her share. It could very well be divided up between the remaining sisters and the monarch. This trust has some really strange rules and as it's a private one the rules are not entirely public.
These were not Parma jewels; they either came from the French or Spanish royal families but happened to be inherited by Duke Roberto I of Parma from his mother, the daughter of the Duke of Berry and granddaughter of Charles X who ultimately inherited whatever of the French royal jewels had not been sold off in the revolution. The only Parma jewel was the Farnese diamond, given to Isabel Farnese when she was Queen of Spain and bequeathed by her to her son Felipe (Filippo), Duke of Parma.
Bearing in mind the disgraceful way Francisco Saverio (Francois Xavier) behaved, his family can have no claim on anything.
Duke Roberto I had intended that the bulk of his inheritance should pass to the line descended from his first marriage, but he insured that all the children of his 2nd marriage were well looked after. His two older sons who were mentally incompetent, were in the care of their brother Elias - as they were Austrian citizens when WWI broke out, the French government confiscated all their property in France (just as Austria and Germany confiscated the property of all French citizens in those countries). This is a normal act in war. However, Francois Xavier and his brother Sixte (but led by the former) tried to claim that they were French citizens and therefore under French law that they should inherit the chateau and estate of Chambord, which had passed by inheritance from the Comte de Chambord to his nephew the Duke of Parma, Roberto I. So these two brothers instituted a law case against their older half-brothers to try and get possession of Chambord. They eventually lost the case as the French courts decided they were actually not French but Spanish. But this cost a great deal of money and destroyed the family relationship. Then, when the Austrian-French treaty was signed which settled property issues, the French government, which had been watching this case, demanded a clause be inserted that gave the government the right to pre-emptively acquire any Austrian owned property - this was of course aimed at Chambord, which Prince (and future Duke) Elias was forced to hand over to the French government for a fraction of its value.
Years later when Archduke Otto came to Madrid to receive the Order of San Gennaro from Infante Don Carlos on the occasion of his 90th birthday, this unhappy episode was discussed and Otto apologised as his mother had assigned her claim (which was in any case rejected) to her brothers, but had never participated in the court case.
F-X in 1931 acknowledged Alfonso XIII as future head of the dynasty and the Royal House of France at the funeral in Paris of the Duke of Madrid. But he then found it advantageous to sign up to Carlism and the last Carlist claimant, the elderly Duke of San Jaime, appointed him "regent of the Carlist tradition," whatever that meant. When the latter died, in 1936, he ordered that the collars of the Saint Esprit which had been bequeathed to the Duke of Madrid, his older brother, by the Count of Chambord (as Chambord, titular Henri V, considered the Duke of Madrid his eventual heir as head of the royal house of France), be given to King Alfonso XIII - which the previous head of the dynasty, Jaime, Duke of Madrid, had indicated he wished in 1931 when he had bestowed the Saint Esprit on the King (the diploma described him as "Prince Alfonso"). The Duke of San Jaime had given this responsibility to his secretary but the latter was a Carlist, and strong opponent of the constitutional monarchy and therefore of Alfonso XIII. So instead of giving them to the King, he handed them over to F-X de BP who had no claim on these collars whatsoever. Nonetheless he kept them, at Lignieres, and they are now in the possession of his son Sixte-Henri, who likewise has no ownership rights at all. That has not stopped him selling two, pawning another (which was then sold by the pawnbroker at auction) and recently trying to sell another along with his mother's tiara, at Sotheby's Geneva. Another family member intervened and the sale of these was stopped at the last minute.
The collars belong to the person who is head of the royal house of France as heir of the kings of France (a position that is disputed today). The last undisputed claimant, Henri Count of Chambord considered that person to be the Duke of Madrid, which is why they were bequeathed to him. The descendants of F-X have no right to any of this.
Let's hope that the current titular Duke of Parma and his brother the count of Bardi use some of their inheritance to buy a few of these pieces back for the Parma-line. It would makes things easier for their children. I doubt Irene's grandchildren will get to loan from the Orange-Nassau family collection to the extent the current generation get to.
Princesses Elisabeth (Isabel) died 1983, Maria died in 1994, and Maria Cristina in 2009; Duke Roberto II died in 1974. Their entire inheritance passed to the heirs of Infanta Alicia. The division following the death of Infante Don Alfonso took place many years earlier.
That diamond comes from the Parma family, not from the BTS family. As I wrote, I was only referring to the BTS jewels.
Minor jewels.... funny way to describe some very important pieces among others the famous diamond recently auctioned off.
Jewels belonging to the BTS family, I mean to Infante Alfonso, were divided after his death, including Infanta Alicia's wedding gifts, at her request. The ruby set went to Princess Teresa and the sapphire set was inherited by Princess Ines. Prince Carlos inherited minor jewels.
https://awp.lu/data/filtrala/castellana/1/14.pdf
See page 16
The present generation does not live the kind of lifestyle where such jewels would be worn very often, yet they have to be kept in a vault and insured. Indeed the last time the Farnese diamond was worn was when Duke Roberto I of Parma's grandfather (deposed in 1849 and died in 1883) wore it as a tie pin. Some of the other jewels were worn in the last 50 years but the vastly different values means that it would be impossible to divide them between descendants on an equitable basis, and not all the descendants might want them.
Yes, that's what I recall.
If these jewels are originate from Infanta Alicia, she must have had a collection to rival many reigning Queen's!
Such a shame however they were hardly ever worn from what I can tell, not at public events anyway, maybe they were worn at private events?
I wonder if there are still many other great and historical collections which are as unknown as these?
the diamond that was recently sold was reported in the Dutch media as being put up for sale by her grandson Don Pedro. I would not be surprised if these pieces were also part of her inheritance and have been put up by heirs of the late Infanta.
For some reason Sotheby's is no longer listing the sale.
Here is a link to the Sotheby's press release from another website .
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