The life of Infant Gabriel Bourbon

The life of Infant Gabriel Bourbon

RAFAELA DA SILVA MELO

The life of Infant Gabriel Bourbon

Rafaela da Silva Melo

Introduction This book tells the most remarkable facts of the life of the brilliant Spanish Infant Gabriel de Bourbon, son of Carlos III, married to Mariana Vitória de Portugal, leaving three children as heirs.

Infant Gabriel of Bourbon died prematurely and his legacy keep through memories, paintings and his casita, open for visitation in Spain.

Gabriel de Bourbon, borned as Gabriel Antônio Francisco Xavier João Nepomuceno José Serafim Pascoal Salvador.

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He was borned in Portici, a small town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy, in may 12, 1752.

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He was a Spanish Infant, a title of nobility given to the legitimate heirs of the King or Queen of Portuguese and Spanish monarchies, who are not heirs to the crown or are not well positioned in the line of royal succession.

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Curiously, Infants, when sovereign, cannot grant titles of nobility; if the monarchy is hereditary its heir will not be noble, but a Prince or a Royal Princess, being treated like High Royal Highness (HRH), Sua Alteza Real (SAR) or Alteza Real (SAR).

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A model of an infant's crown.

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Coat of arms of Infante Gabriel of Spain.

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Gabriel of Bourbon was the son of Carlos III, King of Spain from 1759 until his death, and also King of Naples with Charles VII and of Sicily as Charles V from his conquests in 1734 until his abdication in 1759.

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He was a child with high abilities, very intelligent and one of the most dedicated children of Carlos III, a man considered to be of a vast culture.

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He was a translator for Salustio, one of the great writers and poets of Latin literature for describing Júlio Cesar's speech in great detail.

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He was considered a true enlightenment, people who, since ancient times, have encouraged and sponsored artists, educated and literate, and more broadly, a variety of artistic, scientific and cultural activities.

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He had as his music teacher, Rev. Antonio Soler, a Spanish composer whose works framed between the Baroque and the classical period.

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He produced more than 500 musical works, some of which are believed to have been written for his music student, Infant Gabriel of Bourbon.

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All Soler's sonatas were cataloged in the early twentieth century by Fr. Samuel Rubio and so all was awarded a number R.

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Soler composed lots of harpsichord cantatas, an instrument that is part of the group of key instruments and that of plucked strings, that is, they generate the sound by tapping or pinching a string instead of striking it as on the piano or clavichord.

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Soler and his student performed several duo concerts in the Basilica of El Escorial, in Spain, where the Escorial Monastery is located.

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In 1771, Gabriel entrusted Juan de Villánueva with the so-called Casita del infante, constructed as a private home for the Infante Gabriel of Spain, hence its name. The small residence was built during the late 18th century during the reign of his father Charles III of Spain.

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He joined Infanta Mariana Victoria of Portugal, she was the daughter of Maria I of Portugal and Peter III of Portugal, at first in a presentation ceremony to the public on April 12, 1785 and then at a first meeting in Aranjuez on May 23.

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Gabriel was third in line to the Spanish Throne during that period and Gabriel was second in line to his throne from 1759 to 1775.

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He was later made the Grand Prior of the Orden Hospitalaria de San Juan in Castilla y León.

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The couple had three children but only one survived infancy; their eldest child, Infante Peter Charles, was later made an Infante of Portugal by his grandmother who had him raised at her court at Royal Palace of Queluz.

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At the birth of his last child, Infante Charles, he and his wife were in residence at Gabriel's Casita del Infante at El Escorial. While there, Gabriel caught smallpox and died, aged only 36.

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His wife succumbed to the illness also and died, aged just 19, on 2 November, in the Casita del Infante, El Escorial, Spain.

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The three children were all buried at the El Escorial complex.

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Infant Pedro Carlos Antonio Rafael José Javier Francisco Juan Nepomuceno Tomás de Villanueva Marcos Marcelino Vicente Ferrer Raimundo of Spain (Royal Palace of Aranjuez, 18 June 1786 - Rio de Janeiro, 4 July 1812), was married Infante Teresa, Princess of Beira; had one child, Infante Sebastian of Portugal and Spain, born in Rio de Janeiro on 4 November 1811.

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Infanta María Carlota Josefa Joaquina Ana Rafaela Antonieta Francisca de Asís Agustina Magdalena Francisca de Paula Clotilde Lutgarda Te of Spain (Casita del Infante, 4 November - Casita del Infante, 11 November 1787).

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Infant Carlos José Antonio of Spain (Casita del Infante, 28 October - Casita del Infante 9 November 1788).

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Titles and styles 12 May 1752 - 6 October 1759: His Royal Highness Prince Gabriel of Naples and Sicily, Infante of Spain 6 October 1759 - 23 November 1788: His Royal Highness Don Gabriel, Infante of Spain, Prince of Naples, Prince of Sicily etc.

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Honours

12 May 1752 Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece

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Books: Juan Martínez Cuesta, El Infante Don Gabriel de Borbón y Sajonia, Real Maestranza de Ronda, Madrid, 1998.

Antonio Pau, Los retratos del Infante Don Gabriel, Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía, Madrid, 2006.

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Rafaela da Silva Melo, is a 33, living in a small city with your parents and dogs. She learned everything about kings, queens, brasses, travel and castles. She is academical and actually is working in royal biographies, painters studies, and she opened her own book company.