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.

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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.

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