Noble Honors to the Boncompagni Ludovisi

Interior to the cover to the 1739 patent. The ‘Grandeza’ was long divided into three classes, each with distinct privileges in court protocol. At the top, “Grandees First Class” could speak directly to the king with head remaining covered.

The Spanish sovereign could confer ‘la Grandeza’ also on foreigners. In 1739, King Philip V granted it First Class to Gaetano Boncompagni Ludovisi (1706-1777, portrayed here after 1745) and to “his successors in perpetuity”.

Gaetano Boncompagni Ludovisi had obtained the full favor of Charles III—the eldest son of Philip V [reigned 1700-1746] and Elisabetta Farnese—from the start of Charles' government in Naples (1733).

Title page of the 1739 patent. In January 1735, Don Gaetano had been designated Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Madrid. His absence from Italy, scheduled to last a few months, lasted for over two years, to mid-autumn 1737.

Gaetano had married Laura Chigi Albani della Rovere (1707-1792, portrayed here after 1745) in 1726. Their first son, Antonio, was born on 16 June 1735, during the embassy. Of their other seven children, four died in infancy.

Portrait of Philip V and Elisabetta Farnese. In February 1738, their son Charles III appointed Gaetano as the Major Head Steward of the Future Sovereign—and tasked him to manage the large procession that would take his fiancée from Germany to Naples.

Portrait in the patent of an unidentified saint with the insignia of the Golden Fleece. In February 1739, Charles III and his new wife brought it about that Philip V King of Spain granted the distinction of Grandee of Spain First Class to Gaetano and his descendants in perpetuity.

Detail of portrait of Madonna and Holy Child in the richly illustrated patent of Gaetano Boncompagni Ludovisi’s 1739 investiture. It is preserved today in the Casino Aurora, rediscovered in 2010 by HSH Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi.

First page of the text of the grant, made 26 February 1739, and signed by King Philip V and 10 other members of his court on 21 May that year at the Royal Estate of Aranjuez—a town then reserved for royalty and nobility.

The book containing the patent, highly personalized for Gaetano Boncompagni Ludovisi, features a series of painted initial capitals set against rural scenes of farming, hunting and fishing.

Here Philip V enjoins that "Don Gaetano Boncompagni Ludovisi, Duke of Sora, and each one of your heirs in your time eternally and always, ever may you be and they be Grandees of Spain of the First Class."

Detail of the text of the 1739 patent. The Spanish crown was indebted also to Gaetano's ancestors, especially Popes Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572-1585) and Gregory XV Ludovisi (1621-1623), both devotees to the Royal House of Spain.