AHC: Indian Bourbons on a European Throne

[Cheer]

So, wild, probably nigh-impossible challenge: get an Indian Bourbon on the throne of some European kingdom, whether it be France or not, sometime after the fall of the Bourbons IOTL.

For those who don't know, the Indian Bourbons are a branch of the family (or at least claimed branch of the family) who trace their lineage back to an estranged small-time Bourbon noble who got stuck in the Mughal court; they're sometimes known as the house of Bourban-Bhopal due to the city they have resided in and become synonymous with in later generations.

Good luck and saubhaagy!

 

[Lampiao]

Wow, that's OTL? Perharps could Victoria call one of the Indian Bourbons to serve as her Munshi? Who knows...

 

[RyuDrago]

Well... Maybe Dupleix during his quests for a French domain in India got news of those Bourbon Indians. He arranged a meeting with them at Pondichery, maybe he saw a potential pawn for an alliance with the Moghuls, he send them to Versailles. Initial shock and exotic interest in the French court, Louis XV did some research and well they found a proven correlation. Then Plassey happened and those Indian Bourbons got struck in France. The King gave them a lesser noble title and a small fief, calling them "my Indian cousins", besides they weren't a menace or threat for the dynasty because, come on, is impossible they could become rulers of France... Naturally they officially converted to Catholicism. Maybe in the next generation, educated in French etiquette, one of them became eventually governor of Pondichery. Then the Revolution happens... Further thoughts?

 

[Kellan Sullivan]

Indian Bourbons are a branch of the family (or at least claimed branch of the family) who trace their lineage back to an estranged small-time Bourbon noble who got stuck in the Mughal court;

Depends what you call small time, since the dude they claim descent from is none other than the Constable de Bourbon, and AFAIK, he was enough of a worry for the king of France.

As to them ruling in France? Not happening. That would mean the entire Bourbon-Vendôme line's rule is de-legitimated(?) since the Constable was from a line of Bourbons senior to them AFAIK. That said, they're also ILLEGITIMATE, since the guy who started the family was a bastard son of the Constable.

This isn't like the Bourbon-Busset line where their illegitimacy is THERE (on their coat of arms too, if I'm not mistaken) but their founder's parents were (invalidly) married. The Bourbon-Bussets got the style of "cousin du Roi" in Louis XIV's reign but were never (that I'm aware of) inserted in the line of succession, i.e. Bourbon> Bourbon-Orléans > Bourbon-Condé > Bourbon-Conti > house of Lorraine*. Busset THEORETICALLY would come between Conti and Lorraine, but they didn't. Bourbon-Bhopal would come BEFORE the Bourbon line of Henri IV.

Really, the only way I could see them ending up on a European/French throne is if somehow the Constable's bastard son, Jean Philippe (d.1560) or his son, makes a successful bid for the throne when the Valois die out. And even then, it's gonna be iffy for a few generations if he doesn't get bopped off by someone.

 

[Cheer]

Depends what you call small time, since the dude they claim descent from is none other than the Constable de Bourbon, and AFAIK, he was enough of a worry for the king of France.

As to them ruling in France? Not happening. That would mean the entire Bourbon-Vendôme line's rule is de-legitimated(?) since the Constable was from a line of Bourbons senior to them AFAIK. That said, they're also ILLEGITIMATE, since the guy who started the family was a bastard son of the Constable.

This isn't like the Bourbon-Busset line where their illegitimacy is THERE (on their coat of arms too, if I'm not mistaken) but their founder's parents were (invalidly) married. The Bourbon-Bussets got the style of "cousin du Roi" in Louis XIV's reign but were never (that I'm aware of) inserted in the line of succession, i.e. Bourbon> Bourbon-Orléans > Bourbon-Condé > Bourbon-Conti > house of Lorraine*. Busset THEORETICALLY would come between Conti and Lorraine, but they didn't. Bourbon-Bhopal would come BEFORE the Bourbon line of Henri IV.

Really, the only way I could see them ending up on a European/French throne is if somehow the Constable's bastard son, Jean Philippe (d.1560) or his son, makes a successful bid for the throne when the Valois die out. And even then, it's gonna be iffy for a few generations if he doesn't get bopped off by someone.

So not even if an alt-Revolution lips the head off every Bourbon in France and abroad? Maybe an ultra-Terror from an ultra-Robespierre* in a timeline like @RyuDrago described where Louis XV does all of that? They wouldn't have to hold the title, necessarily, just be placed in it, even as a placeholder.

 

[Kellan Sullivan]

So not even if an alt-Revolution lips the head off every Bourbon in France and abroad? Maybe an ultra-Terror from an ultra-Robespierre* in a timeline like @RyuDrago described where Louis XV does all of that? They wouldn't have to hold the title, necessarily, just be placed in it, even as a placeholder.

18th century's too late (unless France removes Salic Law, and marries Madame Royal to her hillbilly (to Versailles anyway, who were rather snobbish about Marie Leszczynska) distant cousin and they succeed to the French throne). It's 16th century or bust, IMHO

 

[Indicus]

This is really hard. I can easily Balthazar I de Bourbon (or, to use his Indian name, Shahzad Masih) established as the ruler of Bhopal in the early nineteenth century, but this is really hard.

 

[Mike Stearns]

My gut reaction is that you might be able to arrange a marriage to a royal bastard, or somebody who’s really, really far down on the line of succession and therefore doesn’t matter, but a dynastic marriage to someone who actually has decent chance of sitting the throne? Yeah, no.