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.

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

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.

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

• Archduchess Maria Elisabeth (1737 – 1740), died in childhood
• Archduchess Maria Anna (1738 – 1789), died unmarried, suffered from ill health and physical disabilities
• Archduchess Maria Carolina (1740 – 1741), died in infancy
• Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1741 – 1790), married 1) Isabella of Parma, had two daughters who died young 2) Princess Marie Josephe of Bavaria, no children, died from smallpox
• Archduchess Maria Christina (1742 – 1798), married Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen, had one stillborn daughter
• Archduchess Maria Elisabeth (1743 – 1808), died unmarried
• Archduke Karl Joseph (1745 – 1761), died in his teens from smallpox
• Archduchess Maria Amalia (1746 – 1804), married Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, had ten children
• Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747-1792), married Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain, had sixteen children
• Archduchess Maria Carolina (born and died 1748), died hours after baptism
• Archduchess Maria Johanna (1750 – 1762), died in childhood from smallpox
• Archduchess Maria Josepha (1751-1767), died in her teens from smallpox
• Archduke Ferdinand Karl (1754 – 1806), married Maria Beatrice d’Este, Duchess of Massa, had ten children
• Archduchess Maria Antonia (1755-1793), married King Louis XVI of France, became Queen Marie Antoinette of France, had four children, beheaded during the French Revolution
• Archduke Maximilian Franz, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne (1756 – 1801), unmarried

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.”

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 sixteen-year-old daughter Maria Josepha was engaged to marry sixteen-year-old Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies, 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 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.

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.

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 be interested in hunting, his favorite activity.

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.

• Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily (1772 – 1807), married her first cousin Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor (later Franz I, Emperor of Austria), had twelve children, died in childbirth
• Maria Luisa of Naples and Sicily (1773 – 1802), married her first cousin Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, had five children, died in childbirth
• Carlo of Naples and Sicily (1775 – 1778), died in early childhood from smallpox.
• Maria Anna of Naples and Sicily (1775 – 1780), died in childhood from smallpox.
• Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies (1777 – 1830), married (1) Maria Clementina of Austria, had two children (2) Maria Isabella of Spain, had twelve children
• Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily (1779 – 1849), married Carlo Felice, King of Sardinia, no children
• Gennaro of Naples and Sicily (1780 – 1789), died in childhood from smallpox
• Giuseppe of Naples and Sicily (1781 – 1783), died in early childhood from smallpox.
• Maria Amelia of Naples and Sicily (1782 – 1866), married Louis Philippe d’Orléans, Duke of Orléans, later King of the French, had ten children
• Maria Carolina of Naples and Sicily (born and died 1783)
• Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (1784 – 1806), married Infante Ferdinand of Spain, Prince of Asturias, later King Ferdinand VII of Spain, no children, died from tuberculosis
• Maria Clotilde of Naples and Sicily (1786 – 1792), died in childhood from smallpox
• Maria Enricheta of Naples and Sicily (1787- 1792), died in childhood from smallpox
• Carlo Gennaro of Naples and Sicily (1788 – 1789), died in infancy from smallpox
• Leopoldo of Naples and Sicily (1790 – 1851), married his niece Clementina of Austria, had two children
• Alberto of Naples and Sicily (1792 – 1798), died in childhood
• Maria Isabella of Naples and Sicily (1793 – 1801), died in childhood

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 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, 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 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 Napoleon’s final defeat 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.

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.

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

• Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Index
• Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Royal Burial Sites

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Karolina von Österreich – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Karolina_von_%C3%96sterreich> [Accessed 1 August 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Carolina of Austria – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Carolina_of_Austria> [Accessed 1 August 2021].
• Flantzer, S., 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 1 August 2021].
• 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].