In this gritty Indian city, a crumbling palace and a few church graves whisper the curious history of Muslim queens who allied with scions of a French royal family.
It is a tale that Balthazar-Napoleon Bourbon, a portly lawyer and part-time farmer whose family traces its lineage back to the Bourbons who began ruling France in the 16th century, knows well.
"As soon as I could have consciousness -- when I was six or seven years of age -- it [my royal heritage] was instilled in me," says Bourbon at his house next to a church founded by his great-grandmother, Isabella.
PHOTO: AFP
The doorway to the house is emblazoned with a brass sign -- "House of Bourbon" -- and the fleur-de-lis, the heraldic crest bearing a lily that has been associated with the French monarchy for centuries. In the church, stones engraved with the Bourbon name mark the graves of Isabella and her children.
The Bourbon dynasty ruled France from 1589 until the bloody 1789 French Revolution.
"We regularly had guests coming from Europe, so time and again the [family] history used to be repeated," Bourbon says.
And what a history it is -- even if some details are murky.
According to family accounts, a man named Jean-Philippe de Bourbon Navarre arrived in 1560 at the court of Emperor Akbar, the third king of the Mughal dynasty, which ruled from the early 16th century until the mid 19th century.
"The young adventurer was tall, his bearing gallant," said the writer C.A. Kincaid, in a 1946 issue of The Illustrated Weekly of India.
The 16th-century was a time in India's history when "there were plenty of Europeans of all nationalities roaming about ... trying to make their fortunes in one way or another," notes English history lecturer Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, who has written about the Bourbons.
The family accounts say Jean-Philippe, the hot-blooded son of a duke who was a cousin of King Henry IV, had fled France after killing another French nobleman in a duel.
He ended up in Goa on India's southwestern coast after being kidnapped by pirates and escaping their clutches. From there, he made his way to the royal court where he ingratiated himself swiftly.
In the 18th century, descendants of the family moved to the princely realm of Bhopal, now capital of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Louis Rousselet, in India and its Native Princes, first published in French in 1875, describes a visit to the poisoned Balthazar's wife Elizabeth.
"I was at once struck by her type, which is evidently European," wrote Rousselet who was "received by a number of armed domestics, who, after having assisted us to dismount from our elephant, conducted us to a large salon."
With the abolition of royal titles and privileges in 1971 in India, the Bourbons lost their royal patrons -- but retain their memories of grander times.
"The jagirs [lands] which the Bourbons had were confiscated. Then the Bourbons took up jobs. Prior to my father nobody did," says Bourbon, who bears no resentment over their change in circumstances and often jokes that he and his family are "Bourbons on the rocks."
The descendants of the Begums, meanwhile, have become royalty in other walks of life in modern India and Pakistan.
The family counts former captain of the Indian cricket team, the Nawab of Pataudi Mansur Ali Khan, and his son, Bollywood superstar Saif Ali Khan, along with former Pakistani foreign secretary Shaharyar Khan among its luminaries.
For the Bourbons now, their name and Roman Catholic faith are the family's only legacies of their French past. Bourbon does not speak French, though his children are learning the language.
"I'm totally Indian, I have to live in this country, I was born here, I was bred here and I have to suit my place," says Bourbon. "I have to earn my bread, I can't rest on my fortunes, which anyway are gone."
In November, Bourbon finally met a relative from a European branch of the family, Prince Michael of Greece, who lives in France.
"Daddy was just delighted," says daughter Michelle, 16, recalling the visit. "It was the first time he met another Bourbon."
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
The Ministry of Education last month proposed a nationwide ban on mobile devices in schools, aiming to curb concerns over student phone addiction. Under the revised regulation, which will take effect in August, teachers and schools will be required to collect mobile devices — including phones, laptops and wearables devices — for safekeeping during school hours, unless they are being used for educational purposes. For Chang Fong-ching (張鳳琴), the ban will have a positive impact. “It’s a good move,” says the professor in the department of
RSS