Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily

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.

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Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily; Credit – Wikipedia

Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria was the first wife of King Ferdinando IV of Naples and III Sicily, after her death, Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies. Maria Carolina Louise Josepha Johanna Antonia was born on August 13, 1752, at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. She was the thirteenth of the sixteen children and the tenth of the eleven daughters of Empress Maria Theresa, who was in her own right Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia, and Queen of Bohemia, and Francis Stephen, Holy Roman Emperor, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Duke of Lorraine. Although Maria Theresa’s husband was Holy Roman Emperor, she wielded the real power.

Empress Maria Theresa with her family in 1754; Credit – Wikipedia

Eight of Maria Carolina’s fifteen siblings died in childhood.

Maria Carolina in the blue dress with her favorite sister Maria Antonia in the pink dress, the future Queen Marie Antoinette of France, circa 1764; Credit – Wikipedia

During childhood, Maria Carolina was very close to her younger sister Maria Antonia, better known as the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. All the children of Empress Maria Theresa were educated following a strict program developed by their mother. Their lesson schedule included history, political science, math, science, Latin, Italian, dance lessons, theater performances, and painting. The girls were also instructed in handicrafts and conversation. Empress Maria Theresa wrote specific rules of conduct for each of her children. One rule written for Maria Carolina was: “I cannot forget your naughtiness and I will never forgive you. Your voice and language are uncomfortable. You must never raise your voice. You have to keep your mind occupied because that will keep you from making inappropriate comments.”

Maria Carolina holding a portrait of her father, circa 1765, the year of his death; Credit – Wikipedia

Empress Maria Theresa and her foreign minister Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg planned to improve Austria’s relations with other countries and Austria’s position in Europe through family ties. Part of that plan was for Maria Theresa to develop marriage plans for her surviving children at an early age. In October 1767, a marriage was arranged as part of an alliance between Austria and Spain. Empress Maria Theresa’s daughter sixteen-year-old daughter Maria Josepha was engaged to marry sixteen-year-old King Ferdinando IV of Naples and III of Sicily, the son of King Carlos III of Spain. However, Maria Josepha died during a smallpox epidemic. Ferdinando’s father Carlos III of Spain was anxious to save the Austro-Spanish alliance, and so he requested one of Maria Josepha’s sisters as a replacement bride. Empress Maria Theresa offered a choice of two of her daughters, Maria Amalia or Maria Carolina. Because Maria Amalia was five years older than his son, Carlos III of Spain chose fifteen-year-old Maria Carolina.

Maria Carolina’s husband Ferdinando; Credit – Wikipedia

To say Maria Carolina was unhappy about her future marriage would be an understatement. Despite her objections, Maria Carolina was carefully prepared for her role as Queen of Naples and Sicily. Her mother’s instructions were “Do not make comparisons between our habits and theirs. Be a German in your heart and in the righteousness of your mind. In everything that does not matter, however, but not in what is bad, you must seem Neapolitan.” Nine months after the start of her preparations to become Queen of Naples and Sicily, on April 7, 1768, at the Augustinian Church in Vienna, Austria, Maria Carolina married Ferdinando by proxy, with her brother Ferdinand representing the groom. On that afternoon, Maria Carolina left for Naples. On May 12, 1768, Maria Carolina and Ferdinando were married in person at the Royal Palace of Caserta in Caserta, near Naples. As part of the marriage contract, Maria Carolina was to have a place on the council of state after the birth of her first son.

Maria Carolina circa 1768; Credit – Wikipedia

During the early months of their marriage, serious differences arose between the newlyweds which would worsen over the years. In contrast to Maria Carolina, who had been well educated and carefully prepared for her role as a future queen, Ferdinando had never received a comprehensive education and spent his time hunting, playing pranks, and eating excessively. Following her mother’s instructions, Maria Carolina earned Ferdinando’s trust by pretending to have an interest in hunting, his favorite activity.

Included in the portrait are Ferdinando, Maria Carolina, and their children Maria Theresa, Maria Luisa, Maria Amelia, Francesco, Maria Cristina, and Gennaro, 1783; Credit – Wikipedia

Despite her dislike for her husband, Maria Carolina fulfilled her most important duty – to continue the dynasty. Maria Carolina and Ferdinando had seventeen children but only seven survived childhood. Seven of their children died from smallpox. However, four of their five surviving daughters married sovereigns.

In 1775, after her first son was born, Maria Carolina took her place on the council of state. Bernardo Tanucci, the former president of her husband’s regency council, was still on the council of state and attempted to thwart her political influence and found himself dismissed in 1777. From then on, Maria Carolina was the de facto ruler of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.

Ferdinando I was been deposed twice from his thrones: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon, Emperor of the French in 1805. In February 1806, Ferdinando, Maria Carolina, and their family 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 his eldest surviving son 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 and return to Austria.

Maria Carolina in 1714; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Carolina arrived in Vienna, Austria in January 1814, where she began negotiations with Prince Klemens von Metternich, then the Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire, and her nephew Franz I, Emperor of Austria for the restoration of her husband and herself to the thrones of Naples and Sicily. However, this never happened in her lifetime. On September 8, 1814, Maria Carolina, aged 62, died from a stroke at Hetzendorf Palace in Vienna, Austria without seeing the final defeat of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna’s restoration of her husband’s rights to the thrones of Naples and Sicily. Maria Carolina was buried at the Imperial Crypt in the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria, the traditional burial site of her birth family, the House of Habsburg.

Tomb of Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily at the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, Austria; Credit – https://everythingieverloved.tumblr.com/post/177880600179/tiny-librarian-maria-carolina-of-austria-queen/amp

Less than three months after the death of Maria Carolina, Ferdinando married Lucia Migliaccio, Duchess of Floridia. Because Ferdinando and Lucia’s marriage was morganatic, Lucia was not Queen. 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. Ferdinando survived his first wife Maria Carolina by eleven years, dying from a stroke in Naples on January 4, 1825, at the age of 73. He was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, then in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy.

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Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

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  • Flantzer, Susan, 2013. Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maria-theresa-archduchess-of-austria-queen-of-hungary-croatia-and-bohemia/> [Accessed 1 August 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Carolina d’Asburgo-Lorena – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Carolina_d%27Asburgo-Lorena> [Accessed 1 August 2021].