Order of Prohibited Legitimacy

The Order of Prohibited Legitimacy was created on 16 April 1923 by Prince Jaime, Duke of Madrid. From exile in Paris, he sent a letter to his political secretary José Selva Mergelina, 5th Marquis de Villores, explaining his creation of the order stating that it served to recognize "all those who by their sufferings or services become worthy of it."[1][2] The Marquis de Villores was decorated with the Order soon after.[3] By a Royal Decree on 8 December 1923, he granted it to Carlist loyalist youths and Julio de Urquijo e Ibarra, Count of Urquijo in Madrid.

Since the death of Prince Jaime, Duke of Madrid, the claimants to the Carlist dynastic legitimacy have acted as Grand Masters of the Order. Prince Jaime was succeeded as Grand Master of the Order by Infante Alfonso Carlos, Duke of San Jaime in 1931. Infante Alfonso died in 1936 without any male heir. His wife, Infanta Maria das Neves of Portugal, designated her nephew, Prince Xavier, Duke of Parma, as his successor. Prince Xavier was succeeded by his son Prince Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma in 1977.

Prince Carlos Hugo, along with his sister Princess María Teresa, embraced Titoist socialism in the 1970s and sought to reform the Carlist Party. In 1979 he renounced his Carlist claims. In response, his traditionalist brother Prince Sixtus Henry of Bourbon-Parma, established himself as the Grand Master of the Order and Head of the House of Bourbon-Parma, adopting the title of Duke of Aranjuez.[4] In 2003, while in France, Prince Carlos Hugo re-asserted his Carlist claims and assumed the title Count of Montemolin, also bestowing the Carlist titles Duke of Madrid, Duke of San Jaime, and Duchess of Guernica upon his children. He reestablished himself as the Grand Master of the Order of Prohibited Legitimacy. His brother, Prince Sixtus Henry, and the supporters of his brother did not recognize the claim made by Carlos Hugo. Therefore, the order maintains two branches, one headed by Prince Sixtus Henry and the other by Prince Carlos Henry's successor, Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma.[5]

The insignia of the Order of Prohibited Legitimacy consists of a Covadonga Cross hanging on a ribbon with vertical black and green bars. The ribbon is in a simpler form for gentlemen, and is decorated with a small rosette for officers and a large rosette for commanders.