Heir to France's Bourbon rulers loves India

BHOPAL: An Indian national of French origin who claims to be a heir to the French monarchy says he would love to claim his royal titles but never give up his Indian citizenship.

Balthazar Napoleon Bourbon has been told as a child that he is of royal lineage. Now 48, he says it is India that is his home and will always remain so.

Leading a commoner's life, Balthazar has been practising law for 22 years.

"I have been told about my royal heritage since I was six or seven years of age. In November 2005, a distant relative from a European branch of our family, Prince Michael of Greece, came and told me the same. He believes I would be the eldest in line (to the Bourbon throne)," Balthazar said in an interview. 

Prince Michael, who lives in Paris, published last week a historical novel 'Le Rajah de Bourbon', tracing Balthazar's first royal ancestor in India as Jean Philippe, the son of a duke cousin of King Henry IV who fled France in 1560 after killing a nobleman. Philippe landed in Goa from where he reached the court of Mughal emperor Akbar.

Balthazar is said to be the lost descendent of France's 16th century Bourbon kings who ruled France from 1589 until the 1789 French Revolution.

"My ancestors served Indian rulers, including the Mughals, as administrators and military strategists. My father was the first Bourbon to serve the government."

"My ancestry gives me a sense of pride. I may be from a royal family but life has been very tough for me. When I was just 18, my father died and I had to start working to look after my mother and three sisters," he said.

Balthazar says he is ready to undergo a DNA test to prove his lineage but wants to know if the original samples will be available for matching since there were frequent inter-marriages among European royal families.

"But I will not give up Indian citizenship. I was born here and am proud to be known as an Indian. I will accept any fortunes (in France) only if I am provided dual citizenship.

"However, all this is very hypothetical because my family has been facing such publicity for the past 40 years. Every time something is written in the media, journalists start dropping in. Nothing has happened to us as yet. So how can I believe that something will change now?"

Balthazar's spacious house is located in a densely populated colony adjacent to the Bourbon Higher Secondary School run by his wife Elisha since 1983. He has two sons, Fedrick and Edrien, and a daughter Michelle.

The family is Catholic and keeps Bourbon relics, including a sword, in their home. The doorway has a brass sign that reads 'House of Bourbon' as well as the crest of the fleur-de-lis, which has been associated with the French monarchy for centuries. In the adjoining church lie the graves of his grandmother, Isabella Bourbon, and her family.

Speaking about Jean Philippe, his first ancestor in India, Balthazar said emporer Akbar was impressed with his high birth and appointed him head of the Imperial Guard with the designation of 'Mansabdar'.

Later Akbar got him married to Juliana Mascarenhas, sister of one of his Christian wives, gave him the title of 'Nawab' and awarded him extensive territory in Narwar near Gwalior.

"In the 18th century descendants of the family moved to the princely state of Bhopal. By the l9th century they were appointed captains of the city of Bhopal and acted as advisors to the Nawabs of Bhopal," Balthazar went on.

"They were the ones who backed the move to make Begum Qudsia, the Nawab of Bhopal. Soon they had a lot of foes in the state. The Begums were influenced by the Bourbons and their husbands did not like it. By the l930s, the family fell out of favour with the Nawab."

After the abolition of royal titles and privileges in 1971, the family lost their property.

"The jagirs (lands) which we had were confiscated (by the government). Then we took up jobs that before my father nobody else had done," said Balthazar, ruefully.