Prince Louis visits St. Louis Saturday, exclusive interview with HEC-TV

    ST. LOUIS – When Prince Louis de Bourbon walks into a room with his wife, Maria Margarita Vargas Santaella, both immediately capture the attention of the audience.

    Their thick French-Spanish accents are accompanied by warm smiles and outstretched hands, ready for a handshake or a slap on the back.

    “Where is your crown? Where are your jewels?” one student from the French Immersion school in downtown St. Louis asked when Louis and his wife visited Saturday morning.

    Prince Louis Alphonse de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou, is not that kind of prince, but he may someday be.

    Let me explain.

    Prince Louis is a member of the Royal House of Bourbon and one of the current contenders to the defunct French throne as Louis XX. He is recognized as the “Head of the House of Bourbon” and rightful claimant to the French crown by the Legitimist faction of the French royalists, who also consider him as the senior male heir of Hugh Capet, being the senior descendant of King Louis XIV of France through his grandson King Philip V of Spain.

    Prince Louis is also the great-grandson of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and is second cousin of King Philip VI of Spain. Through his mother, he is also a great-grandson of Spain’s former dictator Francisco Franco and is expected to succeed to the Dukedom of Franco held by his grandmother, Carmen Franco.

    In conclusion, royalty runs in his blood and if France would ever revert back to a monarchy, he would become King of France.

    Prince Louis de Bourbon is also a descendant of Louis IX, King of France, whom Saint Louis is actually named after.

    “St. Louis feels like home to me. I have old friends here. I have new friends here. I always feel at home,” the Prince said in an exclusive interview with HEC-TV Saturday.

    Prince Louis went on to talk to HEC-TV’s executive director Dennis Riggs about education, the global economy and his personal life, including the death of his father and brother at a young age.

    Catch the full story on the next “Conversations With…”

    Christina Chastain
    Marketing and Strategic Partnerships Coordinator