This Thursday, Amélie de Bourbon-Parme added her signature to her books, at the Pierre Berger gallery in Paris. Relatives of the writer attended the presentation of her novel L’Ascensionvolume 2 of his trilogy The traffickers of eternity. This book continues the incredible epic of Alessandro Farnese, future Pope Paul III and ancestor of the writer herself.
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Amaury de Bourbon-Parme, Charles-Henri de Lobkowicz and Patricia de Belsunce d’Arenberg at the signing session of Amélie de Bourbon-Parme
The novel L’Ascension opens during the pontificate of Julius II, in the 16th century. Volume 2 of the trilogy The traffickers of eternity takes up the dazzling portrait of Alessandro Farnese, where the first volume, L’Ambitionhad left him. This Thursday, October 17, 2024, Amélie de Bourbon-Parme, daughter of Prince Michel de Bourbon-Parme and Laure Le Bourgeois, presented her new novel in a Parisian gallery, during a signing session.
Prince Amaury of Bourbon-Parma, Prince Charles-Henri of Lobkowicz and Princess Patricia of Belsunce d’Arenberg, accompanied by Jean-Paul Enthoven, were among the personalities who purchased the first copies of the novel published by Gallimard. Once again, Amélie de Bourbon-Parma takes us to a corrupt Italian Renaissance, within the high Roman aristocracy, where all vices are permitted. While Italy was disputed between Charles V and Francis I, Alessandro Farnese continued his rise in the highest echelons of the Church, becoming the advisor to Popes Julius II, Leo X and Clement VII, who was nevertheless his former rival.
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The rise of Alessandro Farnese continues in volume 2 of the trilogy The traffickers of eternity
While the papacy was discreet and the Protestant threat could cause it to waver, Alessandro Farnese became pope in 1534, under the name Paul III. The story of Alessandro Farnese is fascinating and it was also the subject of a famous novel by Stendhal, The Charterhouse of Parma. Amélie de Bourbon-Parma is the great-granddaughter of Duke Robert I, last sovereign of Parma, himself a descendant of King Philip V of Spain, grandson of Louis XIV.
Amélie de Bourbon-Parma did not choose her protagonist by chance. Alessandro Farnese is an ancestor. Several members of the Farnese family held imminent positions in several states on the Italian peninsula, including Alessandro Farnese who served as pope. Thanks to Paul III, first one of his sons, then numerous generations of descendants reigned over the Duchy of Parma from 1545 to 1731. The Bourbons would then become Dukes of Parma. The Duchy of Parma was annexed to the new great kingdom of unified Italy in 1859. The Bourbon-Parma are themselves descendants of the Farnese, the historical sovereigns of Parma, in the female line because King Philip V of Spain had for married Élisabeth Farnese.
Amélie de Bourbon-Parma was the wife of the famous scientist Igor Bogdanoff from 2009 to 2018 with whom she had two children: Alexandre and Constantin. Due to her own family history, Amélie de Bourbon-Parma has a passion for history and great families. “ Belonging to such a family makes the present very close to the past, and in doing so, I have a familiar feeling for these great historical figures.”she explained at the microphone of France Culture in 2023.
Nicolas Fontaine
Editor-in-chief
Nicolas Fontaine has been a designer-editor and author for numerous Belgian and French brands and media. A specialist in royal family news, Nicolas founded the site Histoires royales of which he is the editor-in-chief. [email protected]
