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Infante
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Infante (masculine), also anglicized as infant, was the title and rank given in the ancient European kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Galicia, Navarre, León, and Portugal to a son or daughter, and to a grandson or granddaughter in the male line of a reigning King (and also to a princess's children if she was the heir apparent to the throne), and their woman consorts. Male consorts had not, and have no right to the title, style and rank.
The name derives from the same root as "infant," but this means simply "child" in Romance languages (cfr. French Enfants de France), and in this case indicates that the Infante or Infanta is the child of the monarch. Like the Enfants de France, all Infantes in the different kingdoms were and are always royal princes, in the general meaning of the word.
Infante had no feminine form at first in Portugal, and may be related in Portuguese to the Portuguese lower nobility, the infanções, who where also the younger children with no prospects of heritage in the noble houses they were born to, just distinguished in law by some prerogatives, but almost no patrimony.
Afterwards, the word Infanta emerged in Portugal as a feminised form applied to the Portuguese princesses after the 16 and 17th centurys. Also, after Edward of Portugal, in the 15th century, the heir apparent and his older son, or daughter, were styled Prince and Princess. The first Prince in Portugal was the future Afonso V, his eldest son, maybe adopting the french royal style by an English influence brought by queen Philippa of England.
The current Infantes of Portugal (presently a republic) are Dom Henrique, Duke of Coimbra and Dom Miguel, Duke of Viseu (the brothers of Dom Duarte, Duke of Braganza, head of the Portuguese Royal House), and his younger children Dom Afonso, Prince of V, Dona Maria Francisca de Bragança, Infanta de Portugal and Dom Diniz, Duke of Porto. Dom Afonso de Santa Maria, Prince of Beira, the eldest son and heir apparent to the Portuguese Royal House, being born the Prince, is not styled Infante.
In contemporary Spain, distantly related princes of the blood of the Spanish royal family are also granted the title. Note that infante is also used for a hereditary title of nobility, as in los infantes de Carrión in The Lay of the Cid.
The current Infantas of Spain are Leonor and Sofia (the daughters of Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia), Elena and Cristina (daughters of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía), and Pilar and Margarita (daughters of Juan de Borbón, Count of Barcelona). Carlos de Borbón, Duke of Calabria and King Juan Carlos' cousin, also holds the title of Infante of Spain. Prince Felipe, son of King Juan Carlos, is heir apparent to the Spanish throne and therefore Prince of Asturias.