Don Luis Alfonso de Borbón y Martínez Bordiú is often referred as ainé des capétiens (the most senior male of the Capetian dynasty). In a reaction on an article in Figaro Magazine, Prince Henri d'Orléans made a comment also referring to the seniority of the various branches of the dynasty:
[....]
Moreover there is a fiction, which appeared in 1987, that there is a sort of hierarchy between the capétiens. If we accept this fiction, then we must assume it in all it's reality: the most senior branch of the capétiens exists: it is French and not Spanish. It is the branch of Bourbon-Busset. Some dismiss them on grounds that the marriage of Louis de Bourbon, Prince-Bishop of Lìège at the time was not recognized by King Louis XI. This branch of the capétiens has firmly rooted. Honesty would dictate that when we dig further into the Capetian legitimacy of the Spanish Bourbons, history tells us that since the reign of the Queens Maria-Luisa and Isabel, the Capetian blood no longer flows in the veins of their successors, except those of King Juan Carlos through the marriage of his father with Doña María de las Mercedes (de Borbón-Dos Sicilias y Orléans). This does not matter anyway because in Spain, since the "Pragmatic Sanction" of King Carlos VII of Spain, the "Salic Law" has been repealed: females can transmit the reign and the dynastic torch. All this still is not the case in France and in the Royal House of France.
[....]
The marriage of Louis de Bourbon, Prince-Bishop of Liège in 1464 with Cathérine of Guelders was legitimate for Church. However it was kept secret so it never obtained formal approval of King Louis XI. It is the most senior existing male-line branch of the capétiens.
Therefore the most senior Bourbon is not Luis Alfonso de Borbón y Martínez Bordiú but
Charles de Bourbon, Comte de Busset, (
see picture) who was Mayor of Ballancourt-sur-Essonne and lives there, at the Château du Saussay (
see picture) and also owns the Château de Busset (
see picture), now leased to be used as a luxe resort. Via inheritiance in 1984 his family's Château de Lignières (
see picture) came into the hands of the princely family de Bourbon de Parme.