Heir to French throne is commoner in Bhopal

Bhopal, Mar 5 (UNI) A probable heir to the French monarchy is leading a commoner's life in the central Indian city of Bhopal, the scene of the 1984 gas tragedy.

Balthazar Napoleon de Bourbon, who is the 15th generation of Bourbons in India, leads a plebian existence as a lawyer in a local court while his Dutch wife runs a school.

The Bourbons served Indian rulers, including the Mughals, in the capacity of administrators and military strategists.

Mr Bourbon is a part-time cultivator and visited several countries but avoided France, though a picture of the opulent Versailles Palace -- besides a Bourbon sword -- adorn his home in a lane of the state capital's congested Jehangirabad area.

''I certainly feel good about belonging to that royal lineage and will be delighted to serve as cultural ambassador between India and France,'' Mr Bourbon told UNI.

''I was born here and am proud to be known as an Indian as this country's denizens hold the French in high esteem,'' he said.

His name is certainly grand but at first sight the 48-year-old Catholic, clad in shirt and pants, looks every bit an Indian and reveals nothing of the majesty of his forefathers who held sway over one of the most powerful nations of the pre-modern era.

''I wish to step on the soil of my ancestors with respect. I possess documentary evidence that my forefathers reached India,'' claimed Mr Bourbon.

A touch of the royal and a sense of humour are observed when one notices a brass plaque above his front door saying 'House of Bourbon' and emblazoned with the fleur-de-lis crest of the French monarchy.

Recently, Mr Bourbon had a royal visitor --a relative of Spain's Prince Philip-- who revealed the advocate was the first in line to the French throne on account of being a ''distant relative'' of Louis XVI and the haughty Marie Antoinette, who were guillotined during the eighteenth-century French Revolution.

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