The Bourbon dynasty of Parma is an Italian branch of the Bourbons, ruling over the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza with some interruptions from 1748 to 1860.
The founder was the cadet son of Philip V of Spain and Elisabetta Farnese (last of the dynasty and heir of the Duchy of Parma), Don Filippo (1720-1765), first duke, succeeded by his son Ferdinando I. His nephew Ludovico I had to exchange in 1802 the Duchy of Parma with the Kingdom of Etruria for the imposition of Napoleon Bonaparte. Also ousted from this throne, the family of the Bourbon-Parma obtained at the Congress of Vienna the Duchy of Lucca, waiting to be able to regain, at the death of Maria Luisa of Habsburg-Lorraine, that of Parma, which occurred in 1847.
Charles II Louis after a period of troubled rule abdicated in 1849 and his successor Charles III was killed in 1854. His son became a duke at the age of five, under the regency of his mother Luisa Maria: Robert I was overthrown by the revolution of 1859 that led to Italian unification. Having gone into exile, he had twenty-four children from two wives, most of whom were however minors. Among the healthy, there were the last empress of Austria Zita di Borbone-Parma, the first queen of Bulgaria, Maria Luisa Pia di Borbone-Parma, Felice di Borbone-Parma prince consort of Luxembourg (whose descendance is today on that throne) and four ducal pretenders from Parma. The last of these, Saverio di Borbone-Parma, has become a Carlist pretender to the throne of Spain. At his death the rights passed to his son Carlo Ugo di Borbone-Parma, and died, to his son Carlo born from the marriage with Princess Irene of Holland, second-born of Queen Juliana. The heir of the current duke married in 2010 with Annemarie Gualthérie van Weezel is the brother of Duke Prince Jaime. The descendants of Duke Carlo Ugo and Princess Irene of the Netherlands were incorporated by Queen Beatrix into the nobility of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as princes and princesses with the title of royal heights. The various additional family titles granted by the "ad vitam" duke are courtesy titles.
The tombs of the dynasty can be found in the Basilica della Steccata in Parma, together with the Farnese family, but also in the chapel of Villa Borbone in Viareggio.