Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre


Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre was a Spanish aristocrat, military officer and member of parliament in Spain. He was a cousin of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and was styled as Duke of Seville by virtue of his marriage in 1907 to the 4th Duchess of Seville. In 1935, he was authorised by his cousin King Alfonso XIII to accept the appointment as Grand Master of the Order of Saint Lazarus.

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. Despite swearing loyalty to the new Spanish Republic, he was removed from the military in June 1931. He took part in the Spanish Civil War on the Nationalist side, loyal to Francisco Franco.
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.

Family

He was the elder son of Francisco de Paula de Borbón y Castellví and his morganatic wife, Maria Luisa de la Torre. On 21 August 1907, he married his cousin Enriqueta de Borbón y Parade, 4th Duchess of Seville, the youngest daughter of Enrique de Borbón y Castellví, 2nd Duke of Seville.
From this marriage, three children were born:
Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre was appointed Lieutenant-General of the Order of Saint Lazarus in 1930. Subsequently, on 12 December 1935, he was authorised by his cousin King Alfonso XIII to accept the appointment as 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 de France, became King Louis XVIII after the Bourbon Restoration.
The symbolic value of this appointment was limited, however, by the fact that the Spanish Republic 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.

Orders, decorations and medals