List of knights of the Golden Fleece

This article contains a list of knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Habsburg Golden Fleece

16th century

1601

Rival branches

Carlist branch of the Spanish Golden Fleece (1836–1931)

Carloctaviste branch

On 29 June 1943 Archduke Karl Pius of Austria, Prince of Tuscany issued a manifesto in which he claimed to be the legitimate successor to the Spanish throne. At the time, he had three older brothers still living, but none of these had shown an interest in claiming the throne for himself. In 1947 Karl's older brothers Leopold and Franz Josef formally renounced their rights in New York. In 1948 his other brother Anton verbally renounced his rights in Barcelona. (Both Anton and Franz Josef would take up the claim after Karl died, and Anton's son Dominic is the current claimant.)

Karl was recognised by his supporters as Carlos VIII; his movement is therefore called carloctavismo or octavismo. He used the title Duke of Madrid as his grandfather had done. Karl received the support of some of the most conservative Carlist leaders. He also received a certain level of support from some of General Franco's officials in the Movimiento Nacional; the followers of the Carlist regent Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma claimed that the Francoist support was merely an attempt to divide Carlists. Karl moved to Andorra and then returned to Barcelona. Between 1944 and 1951 he gave out fourteen titles of nobility; he also named members to the Order of Proscribed Legitimacy and the Order of Santa Maria of the Lily of Navarre. He established a new order of merit named in honour of Saint Charles Borromeo. In 1952 he awarded the collar of this order to General Franco and the grand cross of the order to Cardinal Federico Tedeschini, papal legate to the International Eucharistic Congress in Barcelona.

Since Karl claimed to be the legitimate successor to the Spanish throne Carloctavismo also has its own branch of the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece. For a list of the Knights of the Carloctaviste branch of the Spanish Golden Fleece (1943 to present) see fr:Liste des chevaliers de l'ordre de la Toison d'or#Ordre carloctaviste de la Toison d'Or

Napoleon's project to merge the Spanish and Austrian branches of the order

On 15 August 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte planned the creation of a new order which would receive the name of Ordre des Trois Toisons d'Or (Order of the Three Golden Fleece). It was planned to merge the Spanish and Austrian branches and to extend the order to France, and to reflect this merger in a design made up of three copies of the golden fleece of the pre-existing orders, in which design would also be shown the French Imperial (Napoleonic) Eagle. It was projected that the order would count a maximum of 100 Grand Knights, and would include two new categories of 400 Commanders and 1000 Knights. However Napoleon's project never materialized.

Bibliography

• Knights of the Golden Fleece