Group of Miniatures Awards of Jaime de Borbón y de Borbón-Parma, Duke of Madrid

Chain of miniatures made by Rothe & Neffe, Vienna.

Gold, silver, enamel.
Height 25 mm.
Length 100 mm.
Weight 16 g.

Order of the Golden Fleece (Spain), Order of Saint Vladimir with swords, Order of Saint Anne with swords, Order of Saint Stanislaus with swords, Order of the Crown with swords (Prussia), Order of Leopold I with swords (Belgium).

Miniatures of Russian orders.

Case.

Workshop label.

 

Jaime de Borbón y de Borbón-Parma, known as Duke of Madrid (27 June 1870 – 2 October 1931) was the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain from 18 July 1909 to 2 October 1931, succeeding Carlos VII of Spain and preceding Infante Alfonso Carlos, Duke of San Jaime.
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Jaime was born in Vevey, Switzerland in 1870, the son of King Carlos VII of Spain and Princess Margherita of Bourbon-Parma. When he was seventeen, he was supposed to marry the daughter of the late King Alfonso XII of Spain to end the dispute between the Carlists and Alfonsists, but he failed at several other attempts at betrothals, and he remained a lifelong bachelor. He studied in the United Kingdom and travelled the world, eventually entering the Imperial Russian Army in 1896. He served in a cavalry regiment in Odessa before transferring to Warsaw, and he fought in the Boxer Rebellion and in the Russo-Japanese War. He spent much of his time in exile in Warsaw, and he became the Carlist claimant to the throne in 1909 upon the former King Carlos VII of Spain's death. He was held under house arrest in Austria-Hungary during World War I due to his status as a French noble, and he died in exile in Paris, France in 1931 at the age of 61.
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Don Jaime and Russo-Japanese war.

During winter of 1904 Don Jaime was on leave from active service and resided with his father in Venice. It is there that in February he was reached by the call to arms; he was ordered to join imperial troops in the Far East. He first travelled to Moscow, then took the trans-Siberian train and made the last section of his journey aboard a ship on the river Liao. Don Jaime reported on duty to general staff of general Kuropatkin in Port Arthur in early May 1904; he was immediately promoted to captain.As the fortress was coming under the Japanese threat the staff withdrew to Liaoyang, where Don Jaime spent around a month on regular garrison duty; at the time he was injured having fallen from a horse and spent some time using crutches. He was then deployed in the 6. Cavalry Regiment within the 1st Siberian Army Corps, commanded by general Stackelberg. In June he took part in fierce combat during the Battle of Te-li-Ssu, which might have been the 5 most dramatic days of his life. His unit was later withdrawn to Liaoyang.

Don Jaime (back, with moustache) with Japanese POWs, 1904

According to his own account Don Jaime spent the next few weeks of June–July on special missions, including minor skirmishes and scouting in plain clothes beyond the enemy lines. Nearly taken prisoner by the Japanese, he posed as an English press correspondent and managed to make it back to own troops. In August he spent a longer spell on leave in Vladivostok; at that time the press already circulated news about his withdrawal due to health problems, but he returned to line in Mukden in the early autumn. In October he suffered injuries again having fallen from a horse and it is not clear whether he took part in the Battle of Shaho. In November he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir and was promoted to major. Following an unspecified "special mission" in December 1904 Don Jaime was granted his request to depart for Europe and later that month he left the Kuropatkin's staff in Mukden. Having travelled by train across eastern China he arrived in Saigon. From there he sailed to Marseille, back in Europe in early May 1905.​