Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre (; 16 January 1882 – 6 December 1952) was a Spanish

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

(

Captaincy General The Captaincy General was a division of a viceroyalty in Spanish or Portuguese colonial administration. Captaincies general were established districts that were under threat from foreign invasion or attack from indigenous peoples. Their gove ...

) and member of parliament in Spain. He was a cousin of King

Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII ( Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also ...

and was styled as

Duke of Seville Duke of Seville () is a title of Spanish nobility that was granted in 1823 by King Ferdinand VII of Spain to his nephew, Infante Enrique of Spain. The Dukes of Seville are members of the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon, and they are al ...

(''

jure uxoris ''Jure uxoris'' (a Latin phrase meaning "by right of (his) wife"), citing . describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title '' suo jure'' ("in her own right"). Similarly, the husband of an heiress could beco ...

'') by virtue of his marriage in 1907 to the 4th Duchess of Seville. In 1935, he was authorised by King Alfonso XIII to accept the appointment as Grand Master of the

Order of Saint Lazarus The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order founded by Crusaders during the 1130s at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose car ...

Military career

Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre graduated from the Spanish Infantry Academy in 1896 and served as an officer in

Spanish Morocco The Spanish protectorate in Morocco was established on 27 November 1912 by a treaty between France and Spain that converted the Spanish sphere of influence in Morocco into a formal protectorate. The Spanish protectorate consisted of a norther ...

. Despite swearing loyalty to the new

Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissol ...

, he was removed from the military in June 1931. He took part in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

on the Nationalist side, loyal to

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

. After the rising of July 18, 1936, he entered the Nationalist Army as an Infantry Colonel, commanding the 7th "Pavia" Infantry Regiment. On May 14, 1938, he was promoted to Brigadier General. He ended the war as commander of the Army Corps of Cordoba. He was subsequently promoted to Division General in 1941 and Lieutenant General in February 1946.

Order of Saint Lazarus

Coat of arms of Francisco de Paula of Bourbon and Escasany

Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre was appointed

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

of the

in 1930. Subsequently, on 12 December 1935, he was authorised by his cousin King Alfonso XIII to accept the appointment as 44th Grand Master of the Order of Saint Lazarus, hence resurrecting the office that had been vacant since 1814 after the 43rd Grand Master, Louis Stanislas Xavier of France, became King

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

after the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * Ab ...

. The symbolic value of this appointment was limited, however, by the fact that the

itself dissolved the royal orders in 1933. The Order of Saint Lazarus in Spain was subsequently officially accepted by the Spanish Republican Government by decree dated 9 May 1940.

Personal life

He was the elder son of Francisco de Paula de Borbón y Castellví (1853–1942) and his

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

wife, María Luisa de la Torre y Bassave (1856–1887). On 21 August 1907, he married his cousin

Enriqueta de Borbón y Parade, 4th Duchess of Seville Enriqueta is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Ana Enriqueta Terán (1918–2017), Venezuelan poet *Enriqueta Augustina Rylands (1843–1908), the founder of the John Rylands Library, Manchester * Enriqueta Basilio (1948–2019) ...

(1885–1967), the youngest daughter of

Enrique de Borbón y Castellví, 2nd Duke of Seville Enrique de Borbón y Castellví, 2nd Duke of Seville (; 3 October 184812 July 1894), was a Spanish nobleman and military officer who became the second Duke of Seville. He was the eldest son of the controversial Infante Enrique of Spain, who wa ...

(1848–1894) and Joséphine Parade y Sibié (1840–1939). From this marriage, three children were born: * Isabel Francisca de Borbón y Borbón (1908–1974), married Rinaldo Barucci (1900–1956), with issue * Enrique de Borbón y Borbón (1909–1915) * Francisco de Paula de Borbón y Borbón (1912–1995), married firstly Enriqueta Escasany y Miquel (1925–1962), then secondly María de Lóbez y Salvador (1928–2002), with issue from both marriages Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre died in Madrid on 6 December 1952.

Orders, decorations and medals

Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegild-Grand Cross

Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegild (30 July 1940) * Emblem of the Spanish Army

Grand Cross of the Military Order of Merit (

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) (29 September 1943)Nr. 274 (1. Oktober 1943)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borbon y de la Torre, Francisco de 1882 births 1941 deaths Nobility from Madrid

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de A ...

Recipients of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegild Grand Crosses of Military Merit Recipients of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910) Grand masters of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910)