The current head of the clan went through Elia's brother Prince Xavier. Xavier married Madeleine de Bourbon Busset. Madeleine was a member of the Bourbon-Busset family, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon generally regarded as non-dynastic in France. The marriage to Madeleine was recognised as dynastic by the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain, Alfonso Carlos, who was married to the sister of Xavier's mother, Infanta Maria Neves of Portugal who had adopted Xaver as their heir. However, Elias - who was regent for their handicapped brother Enrico - did not recognise the marriage as dynastic regarding the succession to Parma. The reason was partially influenced by various political and family differences. During the 1920s and 1930s Elias and Xavier were on opposing sides of a family legal battle over the ownership of the Château de Chambord which had been confiscated by the French government on the basis that Elias was an enemy combatant, Elias having served in the Austrian army. Xavier had fought in the Belgian army (the queen of Belgium being his first cousin, her mother being Infanta Marie Jose of Portugal) and tried to get the government to at least turn the property over to him rather than losing it altogether. Elias had also recognised Alfonso XIII as constitutional king of Spain, in spite of the fact that his father Robert had supported the Carlist claimants and the bond that the younger Bourbon-Parmas (children of Infanta Maria Antonia) had to the Duke of San Jaime, Maria Neves's husband. Finally, in 1961 Elias' son Duke Robert II of Parma recognised the marriage between Xavier and Madeleine as dynastic regarding the succession to the ducal throne of Parma. Duke Robert II died in 1974 having never married and his younger brother, Francis, had also died a bachelor. Thus, Xavier's eldest son, Carlos Hugo (married Princess Irene of the Netherlands) is the current head of the family.
