Robert I, Duke of Parma

Robert I as Duke of Parma with his mother Louise Marie Thérèse in 1854.

Born in Florence, Robert was the elder son of Charles III, Duke of Parma and Louise Marie Thérèse d'Artois, daughter of Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berry and granddaughter of King Charles X of France. He succeeded his father to the ducal throne in 1854 upon the latter's assassination, when he was only six, while his mother stood as regent.

When Robert was eleven years old, he was deposed, as Piedmontese troops annexed other Italian states, ultimately to form the Kingdom of Italy. Despite losing his throne, Robert and his family enjoyed considerable wealth, traveling in a private train of more than a dozen cars from his castles at Schwarzau am Steinfeld near Vienna, to Villa Pianore in northwest Italy, and the magnificent Château de Chambord in France.

On 5 April 1869, while in exile in Rome, he married Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1849–1882), daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies. She was his half first cousin once removed, as her father (Ferdinand II) and Robert's maternal grandmother (Princess Caroline Ferdinande of Bourbon-Two Sicilies) were half-siblings, both being children of Francis I of the Two Sicilies.

Maria Pia belonged to the deposed Royal Family of the Two Sicilies and was thus a Bourbon, like her husband. She gave birth to 12 children, many of whom had intellectual disabilities, before dying in childbirth:

	Name	Birth	Death	Notes
	Princess Marie Louise	17 January 1870	31 January 1899(1899-01-31) (aged 29)	Married Ferdinand I, Prince of Bulgaria (later Tsar) and had issue.
	Ferdinando, Prince of Piacenza	5 March 1871	14 April 1871(1871-04-14) (aged 0)	Heir of Parma 1871. Died in infancy.
	Princess Luisa Maria	24 March 1872	22 June 1943(1943-06-22) (aged 71)
	Henry, Duke of Parma	13 June 1873	16 November 1939(1939-11-16) (aged 66)	Titular pretender of Parma 1907-1939. From 1907 (his father's death), his brother Elias took up the role as head of the family, although Henry continued to be considered the nominal pretender to the ducal throne. He held the title till his death.
	Princess Maria Immacolata	21 July 1874	16 May 1914(1914-05-16) (aged 39)
	Joseph, Duke of Parma	30 June 1875	7 January 1950(1950-01-07) (aged 74)	Titular pretender of Parma 1939-1950. His brother Elias continued the role as head of the family as he had done with their brother Henry.
	Princess Maria Teresa	15 October 1876	25 January 1959(1959-01-25) (aged 82)
	Princess Maria Pia	9 October 1877	29 January 1915(1915-01-29) (aged 37)
	Princess Beatrice	9 January 1879	11 March 1946(1946-03-11) (aged 67)	Married Count Pietro Lucchesi-Palli (a grandson of Princess Caroline of Naples and Sicily and her second husband) and had issue.
	Elias, Duke of Parma	23 July 1880	27 June 1959(1959-06-27) (aged 78)	Titular pretender of Parma 1950–1959. Married Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria and had issue. Last surviving child of his father's first marriage.
	Princess Maria Anastasia	25 August 1881	7 September 1881(1881-09-07) (aged 0)	Died in infancy.
	Prince Augusto	22 September 1882	22 September 1882(1882-09-22) (aged 0)	(stillborn). Maria Pia died giving birth to this child.[1][2]

After his first wife's death in childbirth, he remarried on 15 October 1884 to Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal, daughter of the deposed King Miguel I of Portugal and his wife, Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. Maria Antonia was his second cousin once removed, as her paternal grandmother (Charlotte of Spain) and Robert's paternal great-grandmother (Maria Luisa of Spain) were siblings, both being children of Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. She had another 12 children:

	Name	Birth	Death	Notes
	Princess Maria della Neve Adelaide	5 August 1885	6 February 1959(1959-02-06) (aged 73)	A Benedictine nun at St. Cecilia's Abbey, Solesmes.
	Prince Sixtus (Sisto, "Sixte")	1 August 1886	14 March 1934(1934-03-14) (aged 47)	Married Hedwige de La Rochefoucauld and had a daughter, Isabelle.
	Xavier, Duke of Parma	25 May 1889	7 May 1977(1977-05-07) (aged 87)	Titular pretender of Parma 1974–1977. Married Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset and had issue. Carlist pretender to the throne of Spain.
	Princess Francesca	22 April 1890	7 October 1978(1978-10-07) (aged 88)	A Benedictine nun at St. Cecilia's Abbey, Solesmes.
	Princess Zita	9 May 1892	14 March 1989(1989-03-14) (aged 96)	Married the Emperor Charles I of Austria. Last surviving child of her father's two marriages.
	Prince Felix	28 October 1893	8 April 1970(1970-04-08) (aged 76)	Married Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, his first cousin (their mothers were sisters), and had issue, including Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
	Prince René	17 October 1894	30 July 1962(1962-07-30) (aged 67)	Married Princess Margrethe of Denmark and had issue, including queen Anne of Romania.
	Princess Maria Antonia	7 November 1895	19 October 1977(1977-10-19) (aged 81)	A Benedictine nun at St. Cecilia's Abbey, Solesmes.
	Princess Isabella	14 June 1898	28 July 1984(1984-07-28) (aged 86)	Died unmarried.
	Prince Luigi	5 December 1899	4 December 1967(1967-12-04) (aged 67)	Married Princess Maria Francesca of Savoy and had issue.
	Princess Henrietta	8 March 1903	13 June 1987(1987-06-13) (aged 84)	Died unmarried, was deaf.
	Prince Gaetano	11 June 1905	9 March 1958(1958-03-09) (aged 52)	Married Princess Margarete of Thurn and Taxis, daughter of Alessandro, 1st Duke of Castel Duino. They had a daughter, Diana (who married Prince Franz Joseph, son of Frederick, Prince of Hohenzollern) and later divorced.

Less than four months after Robert's death in November 1907, the Grand Marshal of the Austrian court declared six of the children of his first marriage legally incompetent (they had severe intellectual disabilities), at the behest of his widow, Maria Antonia. Nonetheless, Robert's primary heir was his son Elias, the youngest son of his first marriage and the only one of his sons by that marriage to beget children of his own. Elias also became the legal guardian of his six elder siblings. While Elias had eight children, seven of whom lived to advanced age, only one of them ever married; she had three children.

The two eldest sons of Robert's second marriage, Sixte and Xavier, eventually sued their older half-brother Elias for trying to obtain a greater share of the ducal fortune. They lost in the French courts, leaving the children of Robert's second marriage with very modest wealth, and the need to earn a living; some of his younger sons served in the Austrian armed forces. Nevertheless, two of the children born of the second marriage made extraordinary marriages: Felix married the grand-duchess of Luxembourg shortly after her accession and is the grandfather of the present duke. Zita married the last Emperor of Austria; the present claimant is her grandson.

•  Duchy of Parma: Grand Prefect of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George[3]
•  Spain: Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 19 January 1854[4]
• Duchy of Modena and Reggio: Grand Cross of the Order of the Eagle of Este, 1856[5]
•  Kingdom of Bavaria: Knight of the Order of St. Hubert, 1897[6]
•  Grand Duchy of Hesse: Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 9 November 1899[7]

• Duchy of Parma
• List of Dukes of Parma