House of FitzJames

FitzJames
FitzJames
Jacobite noble family
	; Arms of the House of FitzJames
Parent house	House of Stuart
Country	Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, Kingdom of France, Kingdom of Spain, Kingdom of Sicily, Kingdom of Two Sicilies
Founded	1670
Founder	James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick
Current head	Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Gómez, 12th Duke of Berwick
Titles	List Duke of Berwick; Duke of Fitz-James (French); Duke of Galisteo (Spanish); Duke of Liria and Jérica (Spanish); Earl of Tinmouth; Viscount of FitzJames; Baron Bosworth; ;
Connected families	House of Alba; House of Silva

The House of FitzJames Stuart, or simply FitzJames, is a noble house founded by James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick. He was the illegitimate son of James II & VII, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, a monarch of the House of Stuart.^[1] After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the 1st Duke of Berwick followed his father into exile and much of the family's history since then has been in Spain and France, with several members of the family serving in a military capacity.

The house has two main branches. The senior branch, carrying the title of Duke of Berwick and residing in Spain, derived from the 1st Duke's first marriage to Honora Burke, Countess of Lucan. This branch has collected many titles throughout its history, including a few grandeeships of Spain, with some members acting as ambassadors or military officers.

The junior branch was associated with France and derived from the 1st Duke's second marriage to an Englishwoman, Anne Bulkeley. Perhaps the best-known member of this branch was Édouard de Fitz-James, 6th Duke of Fitz-James (1776–1838), an ultraroyalist who escaped to Italy after the French Revolution and returned to France around the time of the Bourbon Restoration, after which he became a prominent politician. This branch became extinct in the male line upon the death of the 10th Duke of Fitz-James in 1967.

Senior branch[edit]

Dukes of Berwick and of Liria[edit]

This branch gained the Spanish title of Duke of Alba after the death in 1802 of the childless María Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba. The branch's ancestral link to the dukedom of Alba was through the 4th Duke of Berwick, whose mother was the granddaughter of the 11th Duchess of Alba.

Upon the death of the 10th Duke of Berwick in 1953, his Spanish titles (including the dukedoms of Alba and of Liria) went to his daughter while the Jacobite dukedom of Berwick went to his nephew (who was already the 19th Duke of Peñaranda de Duero), due to differences between the Spanish and Jacobite succession laws (male-preference primogeniture and agnatic primogeniture respectively).

Junior branch[edit]

Dukes of FitzJames[edit]

Sources[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

^ Ruvigny, The Nobilities of Europe, 303.

References[edit]

Ruvigny, Melville H. (2000). The Nobilities of Europe. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 1-4021-8561-8.

External links[edit]

[1] Ruvigny, The Nobilities of Europe, 303.

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