Prince Gaetano of Bourbon-Parma was the youngest son of Robert I, the last reigning Duke of Parma and of his second wife Maria Antonia of Portugal. A prince of the House of Bourbon-Parma, he was educated in Austria, France, and Luxemburg. Prince Gaetan fought in the Spanish Civil War where he was wounded six times. In 1940, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, took part in the Normandy landings and made the campaign of France. He died at age 52 in a car accident near Cannes. He left a daughter from his marriage to Princess Margarete of Thurn und Taxis.
Early life
Prince Gaetan of Bourbon-Parma was the youngest child of the last Duke of Parma, Robert I and his second wife Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal, daughter of King Miguel of Portugal. Gaetan was the youngest of Duke Robert's twenty-four children. His father had married twice having twelve children in each marriage. Gaetan was born at the Villa Pianore near Lucca, Tuscany. He was baptized as Gaetano Maria Giuseppe Pio. His godfather was Pope Pius X. Gaetan was only two years old at the death of his father. He was sent to study at Stella Matutina, a Catholic school for boys run by Jesuits priest in Feldkirch, near the Swiss border. At the fall of the Hapsburg dynasty he moved with his brother, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma to Paris. He finished his education in France and Luxemburgo, where his brother Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma was the husband of the reigning Grand duchess. He accompanied his brother Sixtus in his expeditions to Africa.
Gaetan’s marriage was unhappy. He and his wife lived apart for most of their marriage life. They divorced on 24 January 1950 in Paris.
Carlism
During the 1930s Prince Gaetan was involved in the Carlist movement. His uncle Infante Alfonso Carlos, Duke of San Jaime died childless on 29 September 1936 and Gaetan’s brother, Prince Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma became the Regent of the traditionalist communion. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War on January 12, 1937, Gaetan joined the Requetés, the Third Battalion of Navarre], the Carlist militia, under the name of Gaetan of Lavardin with the approval of his brother Xavier. . On April 7 he was assigned to Third of Navarra dislodge the enemy from Mount Saibigain key to open the way to Bilbao point. The third was distinguished by its value in this successful operation and was given the collective military medal. After participating in this bout, D. Cayetano was promoted to the rank of ensign merits of war. On May 9, being in front of Bizcargui Gaetan was wounded in the neck by a Granada, and the severity of injuries was taken to hospital "Alfonso Carlos" of Pamplona, where he had to reveal his identity. At the hospital, he was visited by Colonel Rada, who rose to the rank of lieutenant, war merit again. Was also visited during his convalescence by her sister Zita of Bourbon-Parma, last Empress of Austria-Hungary by her marriage to Charles I of Austria and IV of Hungary, and her nephew Otto Habsburg-Lorraine, son of above.
Later life
He fled Europe in 1941 for the United States, where he was drafted into the United States Army two years later, During World War II, he participated on the side of the Allies, along with his brothers Javier and Felix, the last Grand Duke of Luxembourg by marriage to Charlotte of Luxembourg. In 1943 he tried to enlist in a battalion of Austrians who served in the U.S. Army but was rejected by its French origin. Later he taught at Camp Ritchie, in which a Jewish-German to conduct special operations in Germany formed young. death On the way to visit his brother Luigi prince of Bourbon-Parma, Prince Gaetan suffered a serious car accident in Mandelieu-la-Napoule, on the French Riviera on March 8, 1958. He was taken to a hospital in Cannes where he died the next day. As he had wished, he was buried wearing the red beret of the Requetés of Navarre on 10 March 1958.
