Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias; Credit – Wikipedia

The first of the four wives of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, Princess Maria Antonietta of Naples and Sicily (Maria Antonietta Teresa Amelia Giovanna Battista Francesca Gaetana Maria Anna Lucia), known as Maria Antonia, was named after her mother’s favorite sister Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria. Princess Maria Antonia was the eleventh of the seventeen children of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (before 1816, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand III of the Kingdom of Sicily) and Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria, daughter of Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. Maria Antonia was born on December 14, 1784, at the Royal Palace of Caserta in Caserta, Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, now in Italy

Maria Antonia had sixteen siblings, sadly, eight of them died in childhood from smallpox:

Maria Theresa (1772 – 1807), married (second of four wives) Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor, had issue
Maria Luisa (1773 – 1802), married (first of two wives) Ferdinano III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, had issue
Carlo (1775 – 1778), died young from smallpox
Maria Anna (1775 – 1780), died young from smallpox
Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies (1777 – 1830), married (1) Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, had issue (2) Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain, had issue
Maria Cristina (1779 – 1849), married Carlo Felice, King of Sardinia, no issue
Maria Cristina Amelia (1779 – 1783), twin of Maria Cristina above, died young from smallpox
Gennaro (1780 – 1789), died young from smallpox
Giuseppe (1781 – 1783), died young from smallpox
Maria Amalia (1782 – 1866), married Louis Philippe I, King of the French, had issue
Maria Clotilde (1786 – 1792), died young from smallpox
Maria Enricheta (1787 – 1792), died young from smallpox
Carlo (1788 – 1789), died young from smallpox
Leopoldo, Prince of Salerno (1790 – 1851), married Archduchess Clementina of Austria, had issue
Alberto (1792 – 1798), died young
Maria Isabella (1793 – 1801), died young

Ferdinand IV, King of Naples, and his family (1783); Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Antonia married her first cousin Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias, heir to the Spanish throne, on October 10, 1802, in Barcelona, Spain. At the same time, Maria Antonia’s eldest brother Francesco of Naples and Sicily (later King of the Two Sicilies) married Ferdinand’s sister Maria Isabella of Spain.

Maria Antonia’s two pregnancies in 1804 and 1805 ended in miscarriages. Guided by her mother from Naples, Maria Antonia encouraged her husband to confront his mother Queen Maria Luisa, with whom she had a bad relationship, and the Queen’s possible lover Manuel Godoy, the Prime Minister of Spain. At the same time, Maria Antonia sought support for the cause of Ferdinand in the Spanish court.

Maria Antonia, aged 21, died on May 21, 1806, at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez from tuberculosis. There were rumors that Maria Antonia had been poisoned by Manuel Godoy and Queen Maria Luisa, but there is no evidence that this is true. However, Maria Antonia’s mother, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, was convinced that her daughter had been poisoned. Maria Antonia was buried in the Pantheon of Infantes in the Royal Crypt of the Monastery of El Escorial in Spain. The inscription on her tomb reads: ” Who God has loved, He has quickly freed from life.” Her husband succeeded to the Spanish throne as King Ferdinand VII and went on to have three additional marriages.

Tomb of Maria Antonia, Princess of Asturias; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

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