House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a cadet branch of the Spanish royal family that ruled parts of Southern Italy for more than a century in the 18th and 19th centuries. It descends from the Capetian dynasty in legitimate male line through Philippe de Bourbon, , a younger grandson of Louis XIV of France who established the Bourbon dynasty in Spain in 1700 as Philip V. In 1759 King Philip's younger grandson was appanaged with the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, becoming Ferdinand IV and III, respectively, of those realms. His descendants occupied the joint throne
Duke of Bourbon had denied him the Bourbon inheritance and the inheritance of his wife, the sister of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon. Charles's son, Antoine, would become King of Navarre, and his grandson, Henry, would become King of France. All of the present-day family members descend from him. As the new reigning dynasty, the House of Bourbon-Vendôme was simply called the House of Bourbon. The title was vacant from 1523 to 1544. In 1523, Louise of Savoy, mother of King Francis I of France, challenged the succession to the estate of Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon, who died childless. She claimed the succession