House of Bourbon-Bhopal disputed. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. A branch descended from the French Bourbons came to rule Spain in the 18th century and is the current Spanish royal family.
Today, Spain and Luxembourg have monarchs of the House of Bourbon. Under the Salic law , the head of the House of Bourbon, as the senior representative of the senior-surviving branch of the Capetian dynasty first prince of the blood , became King of France as Henry IV. Restored briefly in , and definitively in after the fall of the First French Empire , the senior line of the Bourbons was finally overthrown in the July Revolution of Both houses, recognized as princes of the blood , were prominent French noble families, well known for their participation in French affairs, even during exile in the French Revolution , until their respective extinctions in and Consequently, since the extinction of the Capetian House of Courtenay in , the Bourbons are the only extant legitimate branch of the House of Capet.
Peter I of Portugal fathered an illegitimate son John I of Portugal , founder of the House of Aviz who in turn fathered an illegitimate son named Afonso , who in turn founded the extant House of Braganza. Bourbons ruled in Naples from to and in Sicily from to , and in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from to They also ruled in Parma from to , β and β, the Kingdom of Etruria β and Duchy of Lucca β Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg married Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma , and thus her successors, who have reigned in Luxembourg since her abdication in , have also been members of the House of Bourbon.
The pre-Capetian House of Bourbon was a noble family, dating at least from the beginning of the 13th century, when the estate of Bourbon was ruled by the Sire de Bourbon who was a vassal of the King of France. The term House of Bourbon "Maison de Bourbon" is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre , the second family to rule the seigneury. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon , was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in Because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, his title was discontinued after his death.
His son Antoine became King of Navarre , on the northern side of the Pyrenees , by marriage in He was baptized Catholic , but raised Calvinist. Many Huguenots gathered in Paris for the wedding on 24 August, but were ambushed and slaughtered by Catholics in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Henry saved his own life by converting to Catholicism. He repudiated his conversion in and resumed his leadership of the Huguenots. The period from to was relatively calm in France, with the Huguenots consolidating control of much of the south with only occasional interference from the royal government.
