Category Archives: Two Sicilies Royals

Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in today’s southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816 after the defeat of Napoleon. After the 1816 restoration, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

********************

Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta. source: Wikipedia

Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta, was a younger half-brother of King Francesco II, the last reigning King of the Two Sicilies. Upon Francesco’s death in 1894, Alfonso became Head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and pretender to the former throne.

Prince Alfonso Maria Giuseppe Alberto was born March 28, 1841 in Caserta, Two Sicilies, the third child of King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies and his second wife, Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria. Alfonso had 11 siblings:

Alfonso also had one elder half-sibling from his father’s first marriage to Maria Cristina of Savoy:

At the time of his birth, Alfonso was 4th in line to the throne of the Two Sicilies, preceded by his three elder brothers, Francesco, Luigi and Alberto. Upon their father’s death in May 1859, his eldest brother, Francesco, became the last reigning King of the Two Sicilies. Alfonso, alongside his two surviving elder brothers, fought on the front lines in an attempt to defeat Garibaldi’s forces, but were unsuccessful, and the Kingdom was overtaken. Along with his brothers, he left the country in February 1861, and would spend the rest of his life in exile.

Upon the death of his brother Luigi in 1886, Alfonso became heir presumptive to his eldest brother who had no male heirs. Thus, when Franceso II died on December 27, 1894, Alfonso became Pretender to the former throne of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Princess Maria Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. source: Wikipedia

On June 8, 1868, Alfonso married his cousin, Princess Maria Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. She was the daughter of Prince Francesco of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Trapani and Archduchess Maria Isabella of Austria, Princess of Tuscany. Alfonso and his wife were both grandchildren of King Franceso I of the Two Sicilies. Together they had 12 children:

Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta; source: Wikipedia

Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta died on May 26, 1934 in Cannes, France. He is buried in the Cimetière du Grand Jas in Cannes.

* * * * * * * * * *

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

* * * * * * * * * *

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess of Parma

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Duchy of Parma was in today’s northwest Italy and came into existence in 1545 when Pope Paul III made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the Duke of Parma and Piacenza, territories that previously were a part of the Papal States. The House of Farnese reigned until 1731 when the male line went extinct. The duchy passed to Felipe V, King of Spain from the Spanish House of Bourbon whose second wife Elizabeth Farnese was the Farnese heiress. Felipe V made Carlos, his only son with Elizabeth Farnese, the Duke of Parma. However, in 1738, Felipe V traded the Duchy of Parma to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine for the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily and Carlos became King of Naples and Sicily.

In 1748, the Duchy of Parma was ceded back to the Bourbons. Infante Felipe of Spain became Duke of Parma and was the founder of the House of Bourbon-Parma, a cadet branch of the Spanish House of Bourbon.  In 1796, the Duchy of Parma was occupied by French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte. It remained in French hands until the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 when the duchy was given to Napoleon’s second wife, Marie-Louise of Habsburg-Lorraine. She reigned until her death in 1847 when the Duchy of Parma was restored to the House of Bourbon-Parma. In 1859, the Duchy of Parma was abolished during the Italian unification movement. It was merged with the Kingdom of Sardinia as part of the unification of Italy. In 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy.

********************

Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was the first wife of Roberto I, Duke of Parma from 1854 – 1859 and titular Duke of Parma from 1859 until his death in 1907. As a not quite six-year-old, Roberto succeeded his father who was assassinated and then lost his throne five years later due to the Italian unification movement. Maria Pia della Grazia was born in Gaeta, Italy on August 2, 1849. She was the eighth of the twelve children and the third of the four daughters of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Maria Theresa of Austria. Maria Pia’s paternal grandparents were Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Maria Isabella of Spain. Her maternal grandparents were Archduke Karl of Austria, Duke of Teschen and Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg.

Maria Pia’s family, circa 1860, Maria Pia is standing on the left in the first row; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Pia had eleven siblings:

Maria Pia had one half-brother from her father’s first marriage to Maria Cristina of Savoy. Sadly, Maria Cristina died from childbirth complications five days after giving birth to her only child.

Maria Pia’s father Ferdinando II had hesitated for months to have surgery for a strangulated hernia. His hesitancy probably caused his death on May 22, 1859, at the age of 49. During Ferdinando II’s reign, the Italian unification movement led by Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, later Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Italy, began. Shortly before Ferdinando II’s death, the Second War of Italian Independence started. During the reign of Francesco II, Ferdinando II’s son from his first marriage, the 1860-1861 invasion called the Expedition of the Thousand led to the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which then was annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Maria Pia’s mother Maria Theresa, along with her children, was among the first to leave Naples. She eventually made her way to Rome which was part of the Papal States and not the new Kingdom of Italy. Pope Pius IX placed the Quirinal Palace in Rome at her disposal.

Maria Pia and Roberto on their wedding day; Credit – Wikipedia

While in exile in Rome, negotiations began for the marriage of Maria Pia. After the failed attempts to marry her to an Austrian archduke like her elder sisters Maria Annunziata and Maria Immacolata, Maria Pia was betrothed to her half-first cousin once removed Roberto I, titular Duke of Parma, the son of the assassinated Carlo III, Duke of Parma and Louise Marie Thérèse of France (granddaughter of King Charles X of France). Despite losing his throne and living in exile, Roberto was quite a catch. He had considerable wealth and traveled in a private train of more than a dozen cars. Roberto had several residences including  Schloss Schwarzau  (link in German) in Schwarzau am Steinfeld, Austria, Villa Borbone delle Pianore (link in Italian) in Capezzano Pianore, Italy, and Château de Chambord in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France which he inherited from his maternal uncle Prince Henri, Duke of Bordeaux, Count of Chambord. Maria Pia and Roberto were married in Rome, Italy on April 5, 1869.

Maria Pia and her son Elias in 1881; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Pia and Roberto had twelve children. Six of the children were mentally disabled, two died in infancy, and one was stillborn.

  • Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma (1870 – 1899), married Ferdinand I, Prince of Bulgaria (later Tsar), had four children including Tsar Boris I of Bulgaria,
  • Ferdinando, Prince of Piacenza (born and died 1871 ), died in infancy
  • Princess Luisa Maria of Bourbon-Parma (1872 – 1943), unmarried, mentally disabled
  • Enrico, Titular Duke of Parma (1873 – 1939), unmarried, mentally disabled, his brother Elias took up the role as regent and Head of the House of Bourbon-Parma
  • Princess Maria Immacolata of Bourbon-Parma (1874 – 1914), unmarried, mentally disabled
  • Giuseppe, Titular Duke of Parma (1875 – 1950), unmarried, mentally disabled, his brother Elias continued his role as regent and Head of the House of Bourbon-Parma
  • Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Parma (1876 – 1959), unmarried, mentally disabled
  • Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma (1877 – 1915), unmarried, mentally disabled
  • Princess Beatrice of Bourbon-Parma (1879 – 1946), married Count Pietro Lucchesi-Palli, had four children
  • Elias, Titular Duke of Parma (1880 – 1959), married Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, had eight children, from 1907 to 1950, he served as regent for the claims of his two older disabled brothers, Head of the House of Bourbon-Parma
  • Princess Maria Anastasia of Bourbon-Parma (born and died 1881), died in infancy
  • Prince Augusto of Bourbon-Parma (stillborn 1882)

Chapel of the Villa Borbone in Viareggio, Italy, where Maria Pia is buried; Credit – Di I, Sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27517360

The dangerous practice of close pregnancies and births – twelve children in thirteen years of marriage – made Maria Pia weak and sickly. At the age of 33, Maria Pia died of puerperal fever (childbed fever) on September 29, 1882, in Biarritz, France, a week after giving birth to her last child, a stillborn son. She was buried in the chapel at the Villa Borbone (link in Italian) in Viareggio, Italy. Two years after Maria Pia’s death, Roberto married Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal, the daughter of the deposed Miguel I, King of Portugal and Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. Roberto and Maria Antonia also had twelve children but Maria Antonia lived a long life, dying at the age of 96.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Almanachdegotha.org. 2021. Duchy of Parma – House of Bourbon-Parma. [online] Available at: <http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id29.html> [Accessed 11 October 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1849–1882) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Maria_Pia_of_Bourbon-Two_Sicilies_(1849%E2%80%931882)> [Accessed 18 October 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinando-ii-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 19 October 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Roberto I, Duke of Parma. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/roberto-i-duke-of-parma/> [Accessed 19 October 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Pia di Borbone-Due Sicilie – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Pia_di_Borbone-Due_Sicilie> [Accessed 19 October 2021].
  • Louda, Jiri and MacLagan, Michael, 2002. Lines of Succession. New York: Barnes and Noble.

Maria Antonia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Grand Duchess of Tuscany

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was located in present-day northwest Italy. It existed, with a few interruptions, from 1569 – 1859. Tuscany was ruled by the de Medici family from 1434–1494 and from 1512 until the extinction of its senior branch in 1737. In 1569, Pope Pius V elevated Tuscany to a Grand Duchy and Cosimo I de’ Medici became its first Grand Duke.

In 1737, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine obtained control of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.  François Étienne, Duke of Lorraine exchanged the Duchy of Lorraine for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Stanisław I, the father-in-law of King Louis XV of France, had abdicated the throne of Poland in 1736 and now became the Duke of Lorraine.

Except for a period of thirteen years from 1801 – 1814 during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine retained the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, as a part of the unification of Italy. In 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy.

Two Grand Dukes of Tuscany were also Holy Roman Emperors: Francesco II Stefano, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1737 – 1765) also Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1745 – 1765) and Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1765 – 1790) also Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1790 – 1792).

********************

Maria Antonia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Grand Duchess of Tuscany; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies was the second wife of Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Maria Antonietta Giuseppa Anna was born at the Royal Palace of Palermo, Kingdom of Sicily, now in Italy on December 19, 1814. She was the sixth of the twelve children and the third of the six daughters of Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Maria Isabella of Spain. Maria Antonia’s paternal grandparents were Ferdinando, who reigned as King of Naples and King of Sicily from 1759 – 1816, and then as King Ferdinando I of the Two Sicilies from 1816 – 1825, and his first wife Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria. Her maternal grandparents were Carlos IV, King of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma.

Maria Antonia had two half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to his double first cousin Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria who died from tuberculosis at the age of twenty-four:

Left to right: Maria Isabella, second wife of Francesco holding Maria Carolina, Maria Antonia, Luisa Carlotta, Maria Cristina, Ferdinando, Francesco holding Maria Amalia, Carlo, Prince of Capua and Leopoldo, Count of Syracuse; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Antonia had eleven siblings. Unusual for the time, all eleven survived childhood:

Maria Antonia at the time of her wedding; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1832, Maria Anna of Saxony, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, the wife of Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Saxony, died from tuberculosis. Leopoldo greatly grieved his beloved wife Maria Anna but because he had three daughters and needed a male heir to ensure the succession. If Leopoldo did not have a male heir, the throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany would revert to Leopoldo’s Austrian Habsburg relatives. On June 7, 1833, at the chapel of the Royal Palace in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy, Leopoldo married his first cousin Maria Antonia.

Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Antonia and Leopoldo had ten children including Leopoldo’s heir, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand IV:

The Revolutions of 1847/1848 caused Leopoldo to enact a constitution but it was not enough for the radical forces who wanted to completely eliminate Austrian influence. In January 1849, Leopoldo, Maria Antonia, and their family left Florence when a provisional republican government was formed. However, the republican government was short-lived due to a counter-revolution by Austrian troops and Leopoldo was able to return to Florence.

In 1859, the Grand Ducal family was forced to flee Florence permanently because of the wars caused by the Italian unification movement, and the family took refuge in Austria. On July 21, 1859, Leopoldo II abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand IV who was Grand Duke of Tuscany in name but never really reigned. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, as a part of the unification of Italy. In 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy.

Schlackenwerth Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

The former Grand Ducal Family of Tuscany settled in the Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire ruled by Leopoldo’s Austrian Habsburg relatives. The family resided at Schlackenwerth Castle (link in German) in Schlackenwerth, a German-speaking town in the Kingdom of Bohemia, now Ostrov, in the Czech Republic. The people of the town treated Leopoldo with great respect and asked him to become the mayor of Schlackenwerth. In November 1869, Leopoldo and Maria Antonia made a pilgrimage to Rome, and Leopoldo died there on January 29, 1870, at the age of 72. Initially, Leopoldo was buried in Rome at the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles (Santi Apostoli).  In 1914, his remains were transferred to Vienna, Austria where they were interred in the Tuscan Vault at the Imperial Crypt in the Capuchin Church.

Schloss Ort; Credit – By Bwag – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77565334

After the death of her husband, Maria Antonia mostly lived at Schloss Ort in Gmunden, a town on the Traunsee, a lake in Austria. Every year she went to Rome where she prayed at her husband’s grave and visited the Pope.

Maria Antonia in 1898, the year of her death; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Antonia survived her husband by twenty-eight years, dying at the age of 83 on November 7, 1898, at Schloss Ort in Gmunden, Austria. She was interred in the Ferdinand Vault at the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Grand Duchy of Tuscany Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Maria_Antonia_of_the_Two_Sicilies> [Accessed 28 September 2021].
  • Flantzer, S., 2021. Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/francesco-i-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 28 September 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopoldo-ii-grand-duke-of-tuscany/> [Accessed 28 September 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Antonia di Borbone-Due Sicilie – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Antonia_di_Borbone-Due_Sicilie> [Accessed 28 September 2021].
  • Wheatcroft, Andrew, 1995. The Habsburgs. New York: Viking.
  • Wilson, Peter, 2016. Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Luisa of Naples and Sicily, Grand Duchess of Tuscany

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Luisa of Naples and Sicily, Grand Duchess of Tuscany; Credit – Wikipedia

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was located in present-day northwest Italy. It existed, with a few interruptions, from 1569 – 1859. Tuscany was ruled by the de Medici family from 1434–1494 and from 1512 until the extinction of its senior branch in 1737. In 1569, Pope Pius V elevated Tuscany to a Grand Duchy and Cosimo I de’ Medici became its first Grand Duke.

In 1737, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine obtained control of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.  François Étienne, Duke of Lorraine exchanged the Duchy of Lorraine for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Stanisław I, the father-in-law of King Louis XV of France, had abdicated the throne of Poland in 1736 and now became the Duke of Lorraine.

Except for a period of thirteen years from 1801 – 1814 during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine retained the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, as a part of the unification of Italy. In 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy.

Two Grand Dukes of Tuscany were also Holy Roman Emperors: Francesco II Stefano, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1737 – 1765) also Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1745 – 1765) and Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1765 – 1790) also Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1790 – 1792).

********************

Luisa of Naples and Sicily was the first wife of Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Luisa Maria Amalia Teresa was born on July 27, 1773, at the Royal Palace in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, now in Italy. She was the second of the seventeen children and the second of the ten daughters of King Ferdinando IV of Naples and III of Sicily, later Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies, and his first wife Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria. Luisa’s paternal grandparents were Carlos IV, King of Naples and Sicily, later Carlos III, King of Spain, and Maria Amalia of Saxony. Her maternal grandparents were Maria Theresa of Austria, in her own right Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia and Francis Stephen, Holy Roman Emperor, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Duke of Lorraine.

Luisa’s family in 1783: Maria Theresa, Francesco, her father Ferdinando, her mother Maria Carolina, Maria Cristina, Gennaro, Maria Amelia, Luisa; Credit – Wikipedia

Luisa had had sixteen siblings but only seven survived childhood. Seven of her siblings died from smallpox. However, her surviving four sisters all married sovereigns although her sister Maria Antonia died before her husband became King of Spain.

Portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun of Luisa whose features have been “modified”; Credit – Wikipedia

Luisa was not considered to be good-looking. In 1790, Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun, a prominent French portrait painter of the late 18th century, visited Naples to paint portraits of Luisa’s family and she later stated: “Princess Luisa Maria was extremely ugly, and I would have gladly done without finishing her portrait, but in the end, I modified some features of the princess in order to make her at least presentable.”

In 1790, Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany had been elected Holy Roman Emperor as Leopold II upon the death of his childless brother Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, and he abdicated the throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in favor of his second son who became Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Leopold wanted his son Ferdinando to be married as soon as possible and he turned to his sister Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily and a match was made between the double first cousins Luisa and Ferdinando. Luisa’s father Ferdinando I, King of Naples and Sicily was the brother of Ferdinando’s mother Maria Luisa of Spain. Luisa’s mother Maria Carolina was the sister of Ferdinando’s father Leopold.  Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1765 – 1790), later Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1790 – 1792)

Luisa’s husband Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 15, 1790, in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, now in Italy, Luisa married by proxy Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The couple married in person in Vienna, Austria on September 19, 1790. At the Tuscan court, there was gossip about Luisa’s lack of attractiveness. However, many considered the gossip about her looks to be superficial and saw Luisa as a person who showed great kindness to everyone.

Grand Duchess Luisa of Tuscany with her children pointing to a bust of Empress Maria Theresa; Credit – Wikipedia

Luisa and Ferdinando had five children:

In 1801, Napoleon conquered Tuscany and Ferdinando was forced by the Treaty of Aranjuez to leave Tuscany to make way for the Kingdom of Etruria. Ferdinando and his family went into exile in Vienna, Austria. In 1807, Napoleon dissolved the Kingdom of Etruria and integrated it into France. After Napoleon’s downfall in 1814, Tuscany was restored to Ferdinando.

Tomb of Luisa of Naples and Sicily, Grand Duchess of Tuscany; Credit – Von Krischnig in der Wikipedia auf Deutsch – Eigenes Werk, Gemeinfrei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5557226

While the family was in exile in Vienna, Austria, Luisa, aged 29, died in childbirth delivering a stillborn son on September 19, 1802, at Hofburg Palace. She was buried with her stillborn son in her arms at the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, Austria. Twenty years after Luisa’s death,  52-year-old Ferdinando married 25-year-old Princess Maria Ferdinanda of Saxony. The couple had no children. Ferdinando survived his first wife Luisa by twenty-two years, dying at the age of 55, on June 18, 1824, in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy. He was buried in the Medici Chapel at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Luisa of Naples and Sicily – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_of_Naples_and_Sicily> [Accessed 26 September 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinando-i-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 26 September 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Archduke of Austria. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinando-iii-grand-duke-of-tuscany-archduke-of-austria/> [Accessed 26 September 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Luisa Maria Amalia di Borbone-Napoli – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_Maria_Amalia_di_Borbone-Napoli> [Accessed 26 September 2021].
  • Wilson, Peter, 2016. Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Maria Sophie of Bavaria, Queen of the Two Sicilies

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in today’s southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816 after the defeat of Napoleon. After the 1816 restoration, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

********************

Maria Sophie, Queen of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Sophie, Duchess in Bavaria was the wife of Francesco II, the last King of the Two Sicilies. Maria Sophie Amalie was born on October 4, 1841, at Possenhofen Castle in Possenhofen, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. She was the sixth of the nine children and the third of the five daughters of Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. Pius August, Duke in Bavaria and Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg were her paternal grandparents. Her maternal grandparents were Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria and his second wife Caroline of Baden. Maria Sophie was a younger sister of the more well-known Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria (Sisi) who married Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria and was assassinated in 1898. The painting below is a group portrait of the siblings of Empress Elisabeth given to her by her brother Karl Theodor on the occasion of her wedding.

Maria Sophie with her siblings: (left to right) Sophie Charlotte, Maximilian Emanuel, Karl Theodor, Helene, Ludwig Wilhelm, Mathilde Ludovika, and Maria Sophie; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Sophie had eight siblings:

Maria Sophie’s father Maximilian Joseph was from a junior branch of the House of Wittelsbach. Maximilian Joseph did much to promote Bavarian folk music. He played the zither, which is the national instrument of Bavaria, and composed music for it. Although the family had a home in Munich, Herzog-Max-Palais (Duke Max Palace, link in German), Maria Sophie’s parents had no obligations with the Bavarian royal court and their nine children spent much time living a carefree, unstructured, unrestrained childhood at Possenhofen Castle on Lake Starnberg.

Maria Sophie’s husband Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1858, 16-year-old Maria Sophie of Bavaria was betrothed to 23-year-old Francesco, Duke of Calabria, the eldest son and heir of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies and his first wife Maria Cristina of Savoy. On January 8, 1859, a proxy marriage was held at the Court Church of All Saints in the Munich Residenz, the royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs. The couple married in person on February 5, 1859, in Bari, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy.

Three months after the marriage, Francesco’s father Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies died on May 22, 1859, aged 49 from a strangulated hernia after hesitating for months to have surgery. Francesco began his two-year reign as King of the Two Sicilies and Maria Sophie became Queen of the Two Sicilies. During the reign of Francesco’s father, Ferdinando II, the Italian unification movement led by Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, later Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Italy, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, a noted general and politician, began. Shortly before Ferdinando II’s death, the Second War of Italian Independence began. During the reign of Francesco II, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s 1860-1861 invasion called the Expedition of the Thousand led to the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which then was annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861, ending the reign of Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies. After the loss of the throne of the Two Sicilies, Francesco and Maria Sophie lived in Rome as guests of Pope Pius IX. In 1870, the annexation of the Papal States to Italy, including Rome, forced Francesco and Maria Sophie to find refuge in Austria, France, and Bavaria.

Maria Sophie in the 1860s; Credit – Wikipedia

Francesco had a congenital condition that prevented him from consummating his marriage. Maria Sophie, after having been patient for some time, began having affairs. While in Rome, Maria Sophie fell in love with Belgian Count Armand de Lawayss and became pregnant. To avoid scandal, the pregnancy was kept secret and Maria Sophie stayed at her parents’ home Possenhofen Castle in Bavaria. On November 24, 1862, Maria Sophie gave birth to a daughter at St. Ursula’s Convent in Augsburg, Kingdom of Bavaria. The child was immediately given to the family of the father. A year later, on the advice of her family, Maria Sophie decided to confess the affair to her husband. Subsequently, the relationship between Maria Sophie and Francesco improved, and after nearly ten years after his marriage, Francesco finally had surgery that corrected the condition. Maria Sofia became pregnant and a daughter was born to joyful parents but sadly, she lived for only three months. Francesco and Maria Sophie had no other children.

  • Maria Cristina Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (December 24, 1869 – March 28, 1870)

Garatshausen Castle; Credit – Von 2micha – Eigenes Werk, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8311631

In 1870, Maria Sophie purchased Garatshausen Castle (link in German) on Lake Starnberg in the Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria from her brother Ludwig Wilhelm, and the castle became their home. The former Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies died on December 27, 1894, aged 58, in Arco, where he spent winters, then in Austria-Hungary, now in Italy. He was originally buried with his daughter at the Church of the Holy Spirit of the Neapolitans (link in Italian) in Rome.

After her husband’s death, Maria Sophie lived for a time in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. She also spent time in Paris, France where she lived in a house that her husband had purchased. There she presided over an informal Bourbon-Two Sicilies court in exile. Maria Sophie never stopped hoping that the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies would be returned to her husband’s family. It was even rumored she was involved in the 1900 anarchist assassination of Umberto I, King of Italy in hopes of destabilizing the Kingdom of Italy.

During World War I, Maria Sophie was actively on the side of the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in their war against the Kingdom of Italy. Again, some rumors claimed she participated in sabotage and espionage against Italy hoping that an Italian defeat would restore the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Despite her dislike of the Kingdom of Italy, Maria Sophie would anonymously visit Italian soldiers in prisoner-of-war camps in Germany, giving them books and food.

Coat of arms of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies on the entrance to the royal crypt at the Basilica of Santa Chiara; Credit – Di Giuseppe Guida – Flickr: Basilica di Santa Chiara., CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20267754

After World War I, Maria Sophie returned to her birthplace of Bavaria, Germany, living in Munich. It is there that she died on January 19, 1925, at the age of 83. Maria Sophie was initially buried with her husband and daughter at the Church of the Holy Spirit of the Neapolitans (link in Italian) in Rome. In 1984, their remains were transferred to the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Italy, the traditional burial site of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in Naples, Italy.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. 2021. Marie in Bayern – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_in_Bayern> [Accessed 18 August 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Maximilian_Joseph_in_Bavaria> [Accessed 18 August 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Sophie of Bavaria – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Sophie_of_Bavaria> [Accessed 18 August 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/francesco-ii-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 18 August 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Cristina Pia di Borbone-Due Sicilie – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Cristina_Pia_di_Borbone-Due_Sicilie> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Sofia di Baviera – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Sofia_di_Baviera> [Accessed 18 August 2021].

Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in today’s southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816 after the defeat of Napoleon. After the 1816 restoration, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

********************

Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

Francesco II was the last King of the Two Sicilies. Francesco d’Assisi Maria Leopoldo was born in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy, on January 16, 1836. He was the only child of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies and his first wife Maria Cristina of Savoy. His paternal grandparents were Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Maria Isabella of Spain.  Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia and Maria Theresa of Austria-Este were his maternal grandparents.

Francesco’s mother Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

Sadly, Francesco’s mother Maria Cristina died from childbirth complications on January 21, 1836, five days after giving birth to him. Maria Cristina had been called “the Holy Queen” for her deep religious devotion. She was frequently ill which she patiently endured with her piety and was popular with the people for her charity, modesty, and humility.

In 1859, a cause for the canonization of Maria Cristina as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church was opened. On July 10, 1872, Maria Cristina was declared to be a Servant of God and on May 6, 1937, she was declared a Venerable Servant of God. On May 3, 2013, Pope Francis authorized a decree recognizing a miracle due to her intercession and approved Maria Cristina’s beatification. Her beatification took place on January 25, 2014, at the Basilica of Santa Chiara where she is buried. She is known in the Roman Catholic Church as Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy and is one step away from canonization as a saint. Her son Francesco may be following in her footsteps. In December 2020, Cardinal Sepe Crescenzio, Archbishop of Naples announced the opening of a cause for the beatification and canonization of Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies, and Francesco was declared to be a Servant of God.

A year after his mother’s death, Francesco’s father Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies married Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Archduke Karl of Austria, Duke of Teschen and Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg. Francesco had a good relationship with his stepmother. He respected his stepmother, who was the only mother he had ever known, and Maria Theresa considered him her son.

Francesco (standing fourth from the left) with his father, stepmother Maria Theresa (sitting on chair), and his half-siblings; Credit – Wikipedia

Francesco had twelve half-siblings from his father’s second marriage:

Maria Sophie of Bavaria, Queen of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1858, Francesco was betrothed to Maria Sophie of Bavaria, the daughter of Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria, daughter of Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria. Maria Sophie was the younger sister of the better-known Elisabeth of Bavaria (Sisi) who married Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria. On January 8, 1859, a proxy marriage was held at the Court Church of All Saints in the Munich Residenz, the royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs. The couple married in person on February 5, 1859, in Bari, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy.

Three months after the marriage, Francesco’s father Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies died on May 22, 1859, aged 49 from a strangulated hernia after hesitating for months to have surgery. Francesco began his two-year reign as King of the Two Sicilies. During the reign of Francesco’s father, Ferdinando II, the Italian unification movement led by Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, later Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Italy, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, a noted general and politician, began. Shortly before Ferdinando II’s death, the Second War of Italian Independence began. During the reign of Francesco II, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s 1860-1861 invasion called the Expedition of the Thousand led to the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which then was annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Francesco and Maria Sophie, circa 1865; Credit – Wikipedia

After the loss of the throne of the Two Sicilies, Francesco and Maria Sophia lived in Rome as guests of Pope Pius IX where Francesco maintained a government in exile recognized by some Catholic powers including France, Spain, Austria, and Bavaria. After the Third Italian War of Independence and the Austro-Prussian War weakened his allies, Francesco ended his government in exile. In 1870, the annexation of the Papal States to Italy, including Rome, forced Francesco and Maria Sophie to find refuge in Austria, France, and Bavaria.

Francesco had a congenital condition that prevented him from consummating his marriage. Maria Sophie, after having been patient for some time, began having affairs and she became pregnant. To avoid scandal, the pregnancy was kept secret by Maria Sophie’s mother and her brothers. On November 24, 1862, Maria Sophie gave birth to a daughter in St. Ursula’s Convent in Augsburg, Kingdom of Bavaria. The child was immediately given to the family of the father. A year later, on the advice of her family, Maria Sophie decided to confess the affair to her husband. In addition, Maria Sophie’s brother-in-law Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria intervened. In a letter to Francesco, Franz Joseph attempted to persuade him to fulfill his marital duties. Nearly ten years after his marriage, Francesco finally had surgery that corrected the condition. A daughter was born to joyful parents but sadly, she lived for only three months.

  • Maria Cristina Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (December 24, 1869 – March 28, 1870)

Garatshausen Castle; Credit – Von 2micha – Eigenes Werk, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8311631

In 1870, Maria Sophie purchased Garatshausen Castle on Lake Starnberg in the Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria from her brother Ludwig, and the castle became their home. The former Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies died on December 27, 1894, aged 58, in Arco, where he spent winters, then in Austria-Hungary, now in Italy. He was originally buried with his daughter at the Church of the Holy Spirit of the Neapolitans (link in Italian) in Rome. Upon the death of Francesco, his half-brother Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta became the pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Francesco shortly before his death; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Sophie survived her husband by thirty-one years, dying at the age of 83 on January 19, 1925, in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. She was buried with her husband and daughter at the Church of the Holy Spirit of the Neapolitans in Rome. In 1984, their remains were transferred to the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Italy, the traditional burial site of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in Naples, Italy.

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. 2021. Franz II. (Sizilien) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_II._(Sizilien)> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Francis II of the Two Sicilies – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_II_of_the_Two_Sicilies> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinando-ii-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • Flantzer, S., 2021. Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maria-cristina-of-savoy-queen-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Francesco II delle Due Sicilie – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_II_delle_Due_Sicilie> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Cristina Pia di Borbone-Due Sicilie – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Cristina_Pia_di_Borbone-Due_Sicilie> [Accessed 16 August 2021].

Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of the Two Sicilies

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in today’s southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816 after the defeat of Napoleon. After the 1816 restoration, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

********************

Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria was the second wife of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies. Maria Theresia Isabella was born at Weilburg Castle in Baden bei Wien, Austria, near Vienna, on July 31, 1816. She was the eldest of the seven children and the eldest of the two daughters of Archduke Karl of Austria, Duke of Teschen and Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg. Her paternal grandparents were Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Luisa of Spain. Her maternal grandparents were Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg and Luise Isabelle of Kirchberg.

Maria Theresa had six younger siblings:

Archduke Karl of Austria, Duke of Teschen and his six surviving children, painted after the death of his wife whose bust is on the left. Left to right: Wilhlem Franz, Karl Ferdinand, Maria Theresa, Archduke Karl, Albrecht, Maria Karoline and Friedrich; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1829, Maria Theresa’s mother died at the age of 32 after contracting scarlet fever and pneumonia from her children. Maria Theresa, the eldest child, was thirteen years old and took over the child-rearing role for her siblings who ranged in age from two to twelve years old. Together with her father and her brother Albrecht, she served as a tutor for her four youngest siblings. From 1834 to 1835, she was abbess of the Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies in Prague, founded in 1755 by Empress Maria Theresa to serve as a religious order for impoverished noblewomen. The noblewomen were not required to take vows of celibacy and were allowed to leave to marry. The Theresian Institution was run by a Princess-Abbess, who was selected by the Holy Roman Emperor and later the Emperor of Austria. By birth, each Princess-Abbess was an Archduchess of Austria.

Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

In January 1836, Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies, wife of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies died at the age of 23 from childbirth complications after giving birth to a son. The widowed king met Maria Theresa during his stay in Vienna, Austria in July 1836, and they became engaged to strengthen the relations between Austria and the Two Sicilies. Maria Cristina and Ferdinando were married on January 9, 1837, at the Augustinian Church in Vienna, Austria.

Maria Theresa became the stepmother of Ferdinando’s one-year-old son:

Maria Theresa and Ferdinando II had twelve children:

Ferdinando II and Maria Theresa with their children; Credit – Wikipedia

The court of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies considered Maria Theresa poorly dressed and not their idea of a queen. Maria Theresa disliked her public role as Queen of the Two Sicilies and her life at court. She preferred to spend time in her rooms with her children and doing needlework. Maria Theresa had a good relationship with her husband and her stepson Francesco. Francesco respected his stepmother, who was the only mother he had ever known, and Maria Theresa considered him her son. Despite not liking her public role, Maria Theresa was interested in politics and did advise her husband on many matters.

Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies had hesitated for months to have surgery for a strangulated hernia. His hesitancy probably caused his death. Maria Theresa nursed him until he died at the age of 49 at the Royal Palace of Caserta in Caserta, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy on May 22, 1859. He was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy.

Maria Theresa surrounded by her sons in 1862 (Gennaro is not in the photo); Credit – Wikipedia

During Ferdinando II’s reign, the Italian unification movement led by Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, later Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Italy, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, a noted general and politician, began. Shortly before Ferdinando II’s death, the Second War of Italian Independence began. During the reign of Ferdinando’s son Francesco II, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s 1860-1861 invasion called the Expedition of the Thousand led to the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which then was annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Maria Theresa, along with her children, was among the first to leave Naples. She eventually made her way to Rome which was part of the Papal States and not the new Kingdom of Italy. Pope Pius IX placed the Quirinal Palace in Rome at her disposal.

Maria Theresa in 1866; Credit – Wikipedia

In the summer of 1867, a cholera epidemic broke out in Rome. Maria Theresa and her family left the city and moved to a villa in Albano Laziale, outside of Rome but they did not escape the illness. Both Maria Theresa and her youngest son, ten-year-old Gennaro developed cholera. Maria Theresa survived her husband by eight years, dying at the age of 51 from cholera on August 8, 1867, just five days before her youngest child also died from cholera. Maria Theresa and her son Gennaro were buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Italy.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Theresia von Österreich (1816–1867) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresia_von_%C3%96sterreich_(1816%E2%80%931867)> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Charles,_Duke_of_Teschen> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Theresa of Austria (1816–1867) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_of_Austria_(1816%E2%80%931867)> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinando-ii-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Teresa d’Asburgo-Teschen (1816-1867) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Teresa_d%27Asburgo-Teschen_(1816-1867)> [Accessed 16 August 2021].

Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in today’s southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816 after the defeat of Napoleon. After the 1816 restoration, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

********************

Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Cristina of Savoy was the first wife of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies, and has been venerated in the Roman Catholic Church as Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy since her beatification in 2014. Maria Cristina Carlotta Giuseppa Gaetana Efisia was born on November 14, 1812, in Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia in the Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy. She was the youngest of the six daughters and the youngest of the seven children of Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia and Maria Theresa of Austria-Este. Her paternal grandparents were Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain. Her maternal grandparents were Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Austria-Este and Maria Beatrice d’Este, Duchess of Massa.

Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia, his wife Maria Theresa, and their daughters: twins Maria Teresa and Maria Anna and Maria Cristina; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Cristina had five sisters and one brother. Two of her sisters died in infancy and her brother died in childhood from smallpox.

Marriage of Maria Cristina and Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 21, 1832, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Acquasanta in Genoa, Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy, 20-year-old Maria Cristina married 22-year-old Ferdinando II, King of Two Sicilies. Ferdinando had become King of the Two Sicilies two years earlier upon the death of his father Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies.

Maria Cristina at prayer; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Cristina was shy, modest, reserved, and a very devout Catholic. She found herself living in a court with a lifestyle that was very far from her sensitivity. This caused her to never feel quite comfortable. During the short time that she was Queen of the Two Sicilies, Maria Cristina managed to prevent the carrying out of all death sentences. Maria Cristina was called “the Holy Queen” for her deep religious devotion. She endured her nearly constant illnesses with patience and piety and was popular with the people for her charity, modesty, and humility.

Ferdinando and Maria Cristina had one child:

On January 21, 1836, five days after giving birth to her only child, 23-year-old Maria Cristina died from childbirth complications. She was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the traditional burial site for the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, now in Italy. A year after Maria Cristina’s death, Ferdinando married Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Archduke Karl of Austria, Duke of Teschen and Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg. The couple had twelve children.

Tomb of Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy; Credit – By © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38973019

In 1859, a cause for the canonization of Maria Cristina as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church was opened. On July 10, 1872, Maria Cristina was declared to be a Servant of God and on May 6, 1937, she was declared a Venerable Servant of God. On May 3, 2013, Pope Francis authorized a decree recognizing a miracle due to her intercession and approved Maria Cristina’s beatification. She is known in the Roman Catholic Church as Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy and is one step away from canonization as a saint.

Guests at the Beatification of Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy at the Basilica of Santa Chiara; Credit – https://realcasadiborbone.it/en/duke-duchess-castro-attend-beatification-queen-maria-cristina/

On January 25, 2014, the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Italy, the burial site of Maria Cristina, was the site of her beatification ceremony. Several thousand people attended the ceremony including the two branches of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies led by Carlos, Prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infante of Spain, Duke of Calabria and Carlo, Prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro. Both branches claim to be Head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and this event united them for the first time in fifty years. Carlos, Prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infante of Spain, Duke of Calabria, who died the following year, did not attend the beatification and was represented by his wife.

Beatification of Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy at the Basilica of Santa Chiara; Credit – https://realcasadiborbone.it/en/duke-duchess-castro-attend-beatification-queen-maria-cristina/

Pope Francis was represented at the beatification ceremony by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Cardinal Sepe Crescenzio, Archbishop of Naples was celebrant, and Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, Grand Prior of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George, a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, was also present. Following the beatification ceremony, members of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies paid their respects at the tomb of Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Cristina of Savoy – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Cristina_of_Savoy> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinando-ii-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/vittorio-emanuele-i-king-of-sardinia-and-duke-of-savoy/> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Cristina di Savoia – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Cristina_di_Savoia> [Accessed 16 August 2021].
  • Realcasadiborbone.it. 2014. Beatification of Queen Maria Cristina of Savoy – Real Casa di Borbone delle Due Sicilie. [online] Available at: <https://realcasadiborbone.it/en/duke-duchess-castro-attend-beatification-queen-maria-cristina/> [Accessed 16 August 2021].

Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in today’s southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816 after the defeat of Napoleon. After the 1816 restoration, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

********************

Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on January 12, 1810, in Palermo, Sicily in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy, Ferdinando Carlo Maria was the eldest of the six sons and the third of the twelve children of Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Maria Isabella of Spain. His paternal grandparents were Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies and his first wife Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily, who died before her husband became King of the Two Sicilies. His maternal grandparents were Carlos IV, King of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. Ferdinando I and Carols IV were brothers, both sons of Carlos III, King of Spain and Maria Amalia of Saxony.

Ferdinando’s parents and siblings: Left to right: Maria Isabella, second wife of Francesco I holding Maria Carolina, Ferdinanda Luisa, Maria Antonia, Luisa Carlotta, Maria Cristina, Ferdinando, Francesco I holding Maria Amalia, Carlo, Prince of Capua and Leopoldo, Count of Syracuse; Credit – Wikipedia

Ferdinando II had eleven siblings. Unusual for the time, they all survived childhood.

Ferdinando had two half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria who died from tuberculosis in 1801:

Ferdinando was well-educated by Giuseppe Capocasale (link in Italian), an abbot known by the nickname of “the Christian Socrates“, who became his tutor in 1822. Ferdinando also received a political and military education in local academies. Twenty-year-old Ferdinando II succeeded to the throne of the Two Sicilies upon the death of his father on November 8, 1830. He quickly got to work on reorganizing the government, focused on reducing public debt, and calming the country still affected by the turbulence following the Napoleonic Wars.

Marriage of Ferdinando II and Maria Cristina of Savoy; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 21, 1832, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Acquasanta in Genoa, Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy, Ferdinando married Maria Cristina of Savoy, the daughter of Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia and Maria Theresa of Austria-Este.

Ferdinando and Maria Cristina had one child:

Ferdinando’s first wife Maria Cristina of Savoy; Credit – Wikipedia

On January 21, 1836, five days after giving birth to her only child, 23-year-old Maria Cristina died from childbirth complications. She was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy. Maria Cristina had been called “the Holy Queen” for her deep religious devotion. She was constantly ill which she patiently endured with her piety and was popular with the people for her charity, modesty, and humility.

The Roman Catholic Church opened a cause for Maria Cristina’s possible canonization as a saint. On July 10, 1872, Maria Cristina was declared to be a Servant of God and on May 6, 1937, she was declared a Venerable Servant of God. On May 3, 2013, Pope Francis authorized a decree recognizing a miracle due to her intercession and approved Maria Cristina’s beatification. Her beatification took place on January 25, 2014, at the Basilica of Santa Chiara where she is buried. She is known in the Roman Catholic Church as Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy and is one step away from canonization as a saint.

Ferdinando’s second wife Maria Theresa of Austria; Credit – Wikipedia

A year after Maria Cristina’s death, Ferdinando married Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Archduke Karl of Austria, Duke of Teschen and Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg. He had met Maria Theresa during his stay in Vienna, Austria in July 1836, and they married on January 9, 1837, at the Augustinian Church in Vienna, Austria.

Ferdinando II and his family; Credit – Wikipedia

Ferdinando and Maria Theresa of Austria had twelve children:

The Revolutions of 1848 reached the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and Ferdinando II was forced to grant a constitution of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The goodwill created by the constitution did not last long. Between 1849 and 1851, Ferdinando returned to repressive policies causing many who opposed him to go into exile. An estimated 2,000 suspected revolutionaries or dissidents were jailed.

The attempted assassination of Ferdinando II by Agesilao Milano: Credit – Wikipedia

On December 8, 1856, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Ferdinando II attended mass in Naples with his family, government officials, and nobles. After the mass, Ferdinando reviewed the troops. During the military review, Agesilao Milano (link in Italian), a soldier who had accused Ferdinando of being a “tyrant from whom the nation had to free itself” wounded the king with a bayonet in an assassination attempt. Milano was arrested and sentenced to death and was hanged five days later.

Ferdinando II on his deathbed; Credit _ Wikipedia

Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies died at the Royal Palace of Caserta in Caserta, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy on May 22, 1859, aged 49 from a strangulated hernia after hesitating for months to have surgery. There is some speculation that his condition could have been related to the assassination attempt. He was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy. His second wife Maria Theresa survived her husband by eight years, dying at the age of 51 from cholera on August 8, 1867, just days before her youngest child also died from cholera. She was buried with her husband at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples.

During Ferdinando II’s reign, the Italian unification movement led by Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia , later Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Italy, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, a noted general and politician, began. Shortly before Ferdinando II’s death, the Second War of Italian Independence began. During the reign of Ferdinando’s son Francesco II, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s 1860-1861 invasion called the Expedition of the Thousand led to the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which then was annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. 2021. Ferdinand II. (Sizilien) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II._(Sizilien)> [Accessed 12 August 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_the_Two_Sicilies> [Accessed 12 August 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/francesco-i-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 12 August 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Royal Burial Sites. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/kingdom-of-the-two-sicilies-royal-burial-sites/> [Accessed 12 August 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Ferdinando II delle Due Sicilie – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinando_II_delle_Due_Sicilie> [Accessed 12 August 2021].

​Maria Isabella of Spain, Queen of the Two Sicilies

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in today’s southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816 after the defeat of Napoleon. After the 1816 restoration, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

********************

Maria Isabella of Spain, Queen of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Isabella of Spain was the second wife of Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies. María Isabel Antonia Josefa Ana Teresa Filipina was born at the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain on July 6, 1789. She was the eleventh of the fourteen children and the fifth of the six daughters of  Carlos IV, King of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. Her paternal grandparents were King Carlos III of Spain and Maria Amalia of Saxony. Felipe of Spain, Duke of Parma, who founded the House of Bourbon-Parma, and Louise Élisabeth of France, daughter of Louis XV, King of France, were her maternal grandparents.

The Family of Carlos IV by Francisco Goya, 1800. The man in the shadows in the background on the left is the artist Francisco Goya. From left to right: Carlos Maria Isidro, the future Fernando VII, Maria Josefa the sister of Carlos IV, an unknown woman, Maria Isabella, Queen Maria Luisa, Francisco de Paula, King Carlos IV, Antonio Pascual the brother of Carlos IV, Carlota Joaquina (only part of her head is visible), Luis of Parma and his wife Maria Luisa holding baby Carlos Luis the future Duke of Parma; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Isabella had thirteen siblings:

Raised at the Royal Palace in Madrid, Maria Isabella received only a cursory education. Several possible husbands were considered for her including Napoleon Bonaparte, then the First Consul of France. Through Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother and the French ambassador to Spain, a marriage between Maria Isabella and Napoleon was proposed in April 1801. Napoleon was married to Joséphine de Beauharnais but it had been suggested that he should divorce her and marry a princess of royal blood. However, Napoleon had a low opinion of the Spanish House of Bourbon.

Maria Isabella of Spain, circa 1801; Credit – Wikipedia

Despite Maria Isabella being only twelve years old, her mother Maria Luisa was anxious to find a match for her. Maria Clementina of Austria, the wife of Maria Isabella’s first cousin Francesco, Duke of Calabria, the heir to the thrones of Naples and Sicily, had died in 1801 from tuberculosis. A marriage between Spain and Naples and Sicily would be politically advantageous at a time when Europe was dealing with the expansionist policy of Napoleon. A double marriage was arranged between Spain and Naples and Sicily. Carlos IV, King of Spain was the brother of King Ferdinando IV of Naples and III of Sicily, and so these marriages were between first cousins. Maria Isabella would marry Franceso and her brother Ferdinand of Spain, Prince of Asturias, later King Ferdinand VII of Spain would marry Franceso’s sister Maria Antonia. On July 6, 1802, in Madrid Spain, 13-year-old Maria Isabella married her 25-year-old cousin Francesco by proxy with her brother Ferdinand standing in for the groom. The two couples were married in person in Barcelona, Spain on October 4, 1802. However, Maria Antonia died in 1806 from tuberculosis before her husband became King of Spain.

Although Maria Isabella did not make a good impression on her mother-in-law, born Maria Carolina of Austria, the Spanish ambassador to Naples informed the Spanish court that Maria Isabella was happy in Naples and that she attended theater performances and celebrations. Maria Isabella had a four-year-old stepdaughter from her husband’s first marriage:

Maria Isabella and Francesco’s family: Left to right: Maria Isabella  holding Maria Carolina, Ferdinanda Luisa, Maria Antonia, Luisa Carlotta, Maria Cristina, Ferdinando, Francesco holding Maria Amalia, Carlo, Prince of Capua and Leopoldo, Count of Syracuse; Credit – Wikipedia

As a 15-year-old, Maria Isabella gave birth to her first child who was to be followed by eleven more children over the next twenty-three years. Unusual for the time, all twelve survived childhood.

Francesco’s father Ferdinando was deposed twice from his thrones: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805. In February 1806, Ferdinando, Maria Carolina, and their family, including Maria Isabella and Francesco, were forced to flee to the island of Sicily, which was still in their control, where they lived in the Royal Palace of Palermo under British protection. However, the government of Sicily was a feudal type and the British insisted on a government more similar to the British one. In 1813, Ferdinando essentially but not officially abdicated and Francesco was appointed regent. At the insistence of the British, who were becoming more and more adverse to Maria Carolina, she was forced to leave Sicily. She returned to her home in Austria where she died from a stroke in 1814.

Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1816, after Ferdinando abolished the constitution of the Kingdom of Sicily, the two kingdoms, Naples and Sicily, were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. For the next four years, Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies reigned as an absolute monarch and there were no constitutional reforms. In 1820, a revolt broke out in Sicily and riots occurred in Naples. Ferdinando was forced to sign a constitution and appoint his son Francesco as regent of Sicily. This only lasted until March 1821, when Austrian troops friendly to Ferdinando occupied Naples. Ferdinando was re-established as an absolute monarch and the constitution was withdrawn. Ferdinando died from a stroke on January 4, 1825, at the age of 73 and his son Francesco became King of the Two Sicilies and Maria Isabella became Queen Consort.

Maria Isabella, Queen of the Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

As Queen Consort, Maria Isabella had no interest in politics or government. After her many births, she was overweight and preferred to attend the theater, balls, and parties. She was described as kind and generous and was more popular than her husband. In 1829, she took over the patronage of the girls’ boarding school located in the monastery complex of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Naples and established a girls’ boarding school at the former monastery Santi Marcellino e Festo also in Naples called Queen Isabella Secondary School.

Maria Isabella and her husband Francesco decided to travel to Spain for the wedding of their daughter Maria Christina and Maria Isabella’s brother Ferdinand VII, King of Spain. Ferdinand VII was three times a widower and had no surviving children. Although Francesco had gout and his health was declining, Maria Isabella had not been to Spain since her marriage twenty-seven years earlier and persuaded her husband to take the long trip. Leaving Naples in September 1829 on a ten-month trip, they visited Pope Pius VIII in Rome, and then in France, they visited Francesco’s daughter from his first marriage Maria Carolina who they had not seen for thirteen years. Finally, the bride Maria Christina and the groom Ferdinand VII met in Aranjuez, Spain on December 10, 1829, made their solemn entry into Madrid the next day, and were married. Maria Isabella and Francesco had an extended stay in Spain. On the return trip, Maria Isabella and Francesco met again with his daughter Maria Carolina and then traveled to Paris, France for a stay with King Charles X of France. Maria Isabella and Francesco arrived back in Naples on July 30, 1830.

Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies, 1829; Credit – Wikipedia

It had been a wonderful trip but it was exhausting for the ailing Francesco. Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies died on November 8, 1830, aged 53, in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy. He was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, the traditional burial site of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

After the death of Francesco, his 20-year-old son succeeded him as Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies. Prince Vincenzo Ruffo della Scarletta and Pietro Ugo, Marchese delle Favare (link in Italian) plotted to remove the conservative Ferdinando II from the throne only for a period of several years and to install Maria Isabella as regent in his place. This conspiracy, arranged without Maria Isabella’s knowledge and intended to bring about more liberal conditions, was quickly exposed and stopped. However, Maria Isabella and her son Ferdinando had a very cool relationship until Ferdinando’s first wife Maria Christina of Savoy reconciled them.

Maria Isabella was only 41-year-old when her husband died and despite being overweight, she was still attractive and had relationships with younger handsome servants. In 1835, Maria Isabella began a love affair with Baron Peter von Schmucker, a married Austrian officer. After the death of Schmucker’s wife in 1837, Maria Isabella wanted to marry him. However, Schmucker was too greedy. He wanted to be guaranteed that he would have the title and privileges of a Royal Highness if he married Maria Isabella. She refused and had her son Ferdinando II expel Schmucker from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

The Royal Palace of Capodimonte, home of Maria Isabella and her second husband Count Francesco del Balzo; Credit – By Mentnafunangann – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37000184

Maria Isabella wanted to marry again and her son Ferdinando II provided her with a list of acceptable young nobles as potential husbands. On January 15, 1839, 50-year-old Maria Isabella married 34-year-old Count Francesco del Balzo. Her second husband was an attractive, high-ranking army officer but was not allowed to be at court with Maria Isabella. The couple withdrew from court and moved to the Royal Palace of Capodimonte in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy.

Coat of arms of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies on the entrance to the royal crypt; Credit – Di Giuseppe Guida – Flickr: Basilica di Santa Chiara., CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20267754

Maria Isabella died on September 13, 1848, aged 59, at the Palace of Portici in Portici, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. She was buried in the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Isabel von Spanien – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Isabel_von_Spanien> [Accessed 7 August 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Charles IV of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_IV_of_Spain> [Accessed 7 August 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. María Isabella of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Isabella_of_Spain> [Accessed 7 August 2021].
  • Flantzer, S., 2021. Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/francesco-i-king-of-the-two-sicilies/> [Accessed 7 August 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Isabella di Borbone-Spagna – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Isabella_di_Borbone-Spagna> [Accessed 7 August 2021].