Princess Inés of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess of Syracuse, GE (born 18 February 1940) is a Spanish princess, the youngest child of Infante Alfonso, heir to the throne of the

Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and land are ...

, and Infanta Alicia. In 1978, she became the first member of the

Spanish royal family The Spanish royal family constitutes the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon (), also known as the House of Bourbon-Anjou (). The royal family is headed by King Felipe VI and currently consists of the King; Queen Letizia; their children, Leono ...

to go through legal divorce, after gaining permission from her cousin King

Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...

and

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. Princess Inés was, at the time of her birth, 9th in line of

succession to the Spanish throne Succession to the Spanish throne follows male-preference cognatic primogeniture. A dynast who marries against the express prohibition of the monarch and the Cortes Generales, the legislative chamber of Spain, is excluded from the succession. Up ...

Early life

The last of three children and the second daughter of Infante Alfonso de Borbón-Dos Sicilias y de Borbón (1901–1964) and Princess Alicia of Bourbon-Parma (1917–2017), she was born during her parents' exile from

republican Spain 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 ...

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland.''Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser'' Band XV. "Spanien". C.A. Starke, Limburg an der Lahn, 1997, pp. 103-105. (German). . Her father was the nephew 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 ...

.Enache, Nicolas. ''La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg''. ICC, Paris, 1996. pp. 523-525, 527. (French).

Family

Inés lived in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

with her family, and also spent time at her parents'

finca ''Finca'' () is a Spanish term for estate. In English usage, it refers to a piece of rural or agricultural land, typically with a cottage, farmhouse or estate building present, and often adjacent to a woodland or plantation. Overview Especial ...

, "La Toledana", a major hunting

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representativ ...

Retuerta del Bullaque Retuerta del Bullaque is a municipality in Ciudad Real Province, Castile-La Mancha, 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 d ...

Marriage

Princess Inés intended to contract a forbidden marriage, according to her

house law House laws () are rules that govern a royal family or dynasty in matters of eligibility for succession to a throne, membership in a dynasty, exercise of a regency, or entitlement to dynastic rank, titles and styles. Prevalent in European mo ...

s, with Luis de Morales y Aguado (born 8 October 1933), a Spaniard who was a commoner. After the death of her father in 1964, and with persistence, she eventually married, in a ceremony that took place in San Jeronimo del Real, 30 January 1965. In the media, she was referred to as "the last great-grandchild of

Alfonso XII of Spain Alfonso XII (Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo de Borbón y Borbón; 28 November 185725 November 1885), also known as ''El Pacificador'' (Spanish: the Peacemaker), was King of Spain from 29 D ...

". Both her cousin Prince Juan Carlos and his wife Princess Sofía attended, as well as the most distinguished

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

of Europe.

Issue

The couple had five children : *Isabel de Morales y Borbón-Dos Sicilias (born 10 April 1966), married to Joaquín Galán y Otamendi, with two daughters: **Carlota Galán y Morales de Borbón-Dos Sicilias (born March 1998) **Inés Galán y Morales de Borbón-Dos Sicilias (born 3 January 2000) *Eugenia de Morales y Borbón-Dos Sicilias (born 14 December 1967), married to Iñigo Valdenebro y García de Polavieja, with three children *Sonia de Morales y Borbón-Dos Sicilias (9 December 1969 – 26 July 2022), married to Alejandro García-Atance y Leurquin (born 1974), with two children *Manuel de Morales y Borbón-Dos Sicilias (born 16 December 1971), married to Emma Ruiz de Azcárate y García de Lomas, with two children *Mencía de Morales y Borbón-Dos Sicilias (born 25 November 1975)

Honours

* : Dame Grand Cross of the

Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (; ), also historically referred to as the Imperial Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Order of the Constantinian Angelic Knights of Saint George, is a dynastic order of knighthood ...

La Orden Constantiniana hoy

Heraldry

File:Coat of arms of Princess Ines, Duchess of Syracuse (b. 1940).svg, Coat of Arms as Princess of the Two Sicilies (1940-present) File:Coat of arms of Princess Ines, Duchess of Syracuse, Grandee of Spain (b. 1940).svg, Coat of Arms as Grandee, Grandee of Spain (1940-present)

Ancestry

References

External links

THE HEAD OF THE ROYAL HOUSE
– official website of the Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (Spanish branch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ines, Princess, Bourbon-Two Sicilies 1940 births People from Lausanne Princesses of Bourbon-Two Sicilies Swiss Roman Catholics Spanish Roman Catholics 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics Living people