The Dutch Telegraaf is reporting today that Prince Carlos Hugo, the Duke of Parma and the head of the House of Bourbon-Parma (a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon) died in the early hours of the day of his prostate cancer.

This comes somewhat surprising, as the news that he is suffering from prostate cancer only came a couple of days ago. Seems it wasn’t meant to be.

Prince Carlos Hugo was the husband of Princess Irene of the Netherlands, a younger sister of Queen Beatrix, until 1981 when they divorced. He was considered by some a Carlist claimant, I don’t know his personal stance in regard to that.

With the death of Hugo Carlos, things get a little tricky in the House of Bourbon-Parma. While general consensus seems to be that his son Carlos will succeed him to the headship, Carlos Hugo had judged his son’s marriage to be morganatic (meaning problems for this and potentially future generations). Could be interesting, the things to come there.

I’m foreclosing comments on this entry, as I’m not having dynastic discussions in here, as to the viability of those facts. No sense there.

[Edited for corrections]