Background Blanca was the eldest child of
Prince Charles of Bourbon (
Don Carlos),
Carlist claimant to the
throne of Spain and
legitimist claimant of the throne of France, and
Princess Margherita of Bourbon-Parma. Blanca was a member of the
House of Bourbon and - according to the Carlists and to the Legitimists- an
Infanta of Spain and a Daughter of France by birth. In 1889, she married
Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria, Prince of Tuscany, with whom she had ten children. The family left Austria after the end of the monarchy and finally settled in
Barcelona. When the male line of Blanca's family died out at the death of her uncle,
Alfonso Carlos, Duke of Anjou and San Jaime, some of the Carlists recognized her as the legitimate heiress to the Spanish throne.
Early life (left) and
Marie Louise (right). Blanca was born in
Graz,
Styria,
Austria-Hungary, the eldest child of
Prince Charles of Bourbon (
Don Carlos), the
Carlist claimant to the throne of
Spain under the name
Carlos VII and Legitimist claimant to the throne of France under the name of
Charles XI, and of his wife
Princess Margherita of Bourbon-Parma. At the time of her birth, her parents were living in
Styria in order to be close to her maternal great-grandmother, the Duchess of Berry. Her father left the same day for
Paris where he learnt of the revolution that deposed Queen
Isabella II of Spain. Don Carlos was joined in Paris by his wife and daughter and from there they moved to
Switzerland. Blanca's childhood was marked by
the third Carlist War (1872–1876) in which her father tried, unsuccessfully, to gain the throne of Spain by force. To be near the Spanish border Margherita moved with her children to
Pau. For a time in 1875, Blanca lived in
Elizondo, Navarre at the court established by her father. After the war ended badly, crushing Don Carlos' hopes of taking the throne of Spain, the family lived mostly in the Parisian district of
Passy. In 1881 they were expelled from France due to Carlos's political activities. By then Blanca's parents had drifted apart. Her father went to live in his palace in
Venice, while her mother retired to Tenuata Reale, an estate in
Viareggio,
Italy inherited in 1879 from Blanca's great-grandmother, Duchess Maria Teresa of Parma. Blanca and her siblings divided their time between their parents. In 1881 Blanca and her sisters entered the
Sacre Coeur, a Catholic school run by nuns in
Florence. Blanca played the
mandolin and was very fond of horses. In 1883, upon finishing her schooling, she visited Spain incognito with her parents' permission. At her return she was officially introduced to the court in
Vienna. ==Marriage and issue==