Bourbons

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Bourbons European dynastic family, descendants of the Capetians. The ducal title was created in 1327, and continued until 1527. A cadet branch, the Bourbon-Vendôme line, won the kingdom of Navarre. The Bourbons ruled France from 1589 (when Henry of Navarre became Henry IV) until the French Revolution (1789). Two members of the family, Louis XVIII and Charles X, reigned after the restoration of the monarchy. In 1700 the Bourbons became the ruling family of Spain, when Philip V (grandson of Louis XIV of France) assumed the throne. His descendants continued to rule Spain until the declaration of the Second Republic (1931). Juan Carlos, a Bourbon, was restored to the Spanish throne in 1975.

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