Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of Sardinia: The House of Savoy had been Counts and then Dukes of Savoy, since the 11th century and ruled from the city of Turin, now in northern Italy. Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy became King of Sicily in 1713 as a result of his participation in the War of the Spanish Succession. However, in 1720, Vittoria Amedeo II was forced to exchange the Kingdom of Sicily for the less important Kingdom of Sardinia after objections from the Quadruple Alliance (Great Britain, France, Habsburg Austria, and the Dutch Republic).

Sardinia, now in Italy, is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, also now in Italy, but the Kings of Sardinia of the House of Savoy ruled from Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy. They styled themselves as Kings of Sardinia because the title was superior to their original lesser title as Dukes of Savoy. However, they retained the regnal numerical order of the Dukes of Savoy.

Vittorio Emanuele II became the last King of Sardinia upon the abdication of his father in 1849. He then 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, while 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.

Note: Children of Kings of Sardinia were often styled “of Savoy” as their fathers were also Dukes of Savoy from the House of Savoy.

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Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy; Credit – Wikipedia

Carlo Emanuele IV abdicated the throne of Sardinia and was the Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England and Scotland. However, he never claimed the title and ended his life as a novice in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Born at the Royal Palace in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy, on May 24, 1751, Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia was the eldest of the twelve children of Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain. His paternal grandparents were Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia and his second wife Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg. Felipe V, King of Spain, who was born Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, the grandson of King Louis XIV of France, and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese of Parma were his maternal grandparents. From birth, Carlo Emanuele was styled Prince of Piedmont, the traditional title of the heir.

Vittorio Amedeo III and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda with their family in 1760, Carlo Emanuele is holding his father’s hand; Credit – Wikipedia

Carlo Emanuele IV had eleven younger siblings including two brothers who were also Kings of Sardinia. Two of his sisters were married to the younger brothers of King Louis XVI of France.

Marie Clotilde of France, wife of Carlo Emanuele IV; Credit – Wikipedia

After two years of negotiations, Carlo Emanuele IV married Marie Clotilde of France, the sister of King Louis XVI of France. and the daughter of  Louis, Dauphin of France (son of King Louis XV) and Maria Josepha of Saxony. The proxy marriage took place at the Palace of Versailles in France on August 21, 1775, with Marie Clotilde’s brother Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, standing in for the groom. Carlo Emanuele and Marie Clotilde were married in person on September 6, 1775, at the House of Savoy’s Château de Chambéry now in France.

Carlo Emanuele and Marie Clotilde were devoted to each other. They shared a strong faith in Roman Catholicism and studied religious texts together. Marie Clotilde played the guitar while Carlo Emanuele sang. However, their marriage was childless.

Marie Clotilde playing the guitar; Credit – Wikipedia

Carlo Emanuele was deeply affected by the effects of the French Revolution. At the start of the French Revolution, Vittorio Amadeo III, King of Sardinia allowed his two French sons-in-law, brother of King Louis XVI, and their families to stay in the Kingdom of Sardinia under his protection. This act most likely saved their lives. However, Carlo Emanuele’s brother-in-law King Louis XVI of France, along with Louis XVI’s wife Marie Antoinette and sister Élisabeth were beheaded via the guillotine. His nephew by marriage, Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France, son of Louis XVI, died at the age of ten from tuberculosis while imprisoned.

Carlo Emanuele IV succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father Vittorio Amedeo III in 1796. The new king inherited an economically damaged kingdom because of the results of the 1796 Treaty of Paris. During Napoleon‘s Italian campaign, the French defeated Vittorio Amedeo III’s troops at the 1796 Battle of Millessimo. Vittorio Amedeo III was forced to sign the 1796 Treaty of Paris which stipulated that he recognize the French Republic, cede the original Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice to France, and give the French Army free passage through his territory towards the rest of Italy. In 1814, during the reign of Vittorio Emanuele I, the second surviving son of Vittorio Amedeo III, two-thirds of Savoy was restored to the Kingdom of Sardinia following Napoleon’s abdication.

In 1798, the French occupied Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy, and Carlo Emanuele was forced to give up all his territories on the Italian mainland. Carlo Emanuele withdrew to the island of Sardinia in 1799. When Marie Clotilde died from typhoid fever on March 7, 1802, Carlo Emanuele was so upset by her death that he decided to abdicate. He left the throne of Sardinia to his brother who reigned as Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia. However, Carlo Emanuele IV retained the Duchy of Savoy and settled in Rome and the nearby town of Frascati, both now in Italy.

Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart, Carlo Emanuele’s second cousin twice removed; Credit – Wikipedia

In Frascati, Carlo Emanuele was a frequent guest of his second cousin twice removed Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart, the Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England and Scotland. The goal of the Jacobites was to restore the Roman Catholic heirs of King James II of England/VII of Scotland to the thrones of England and Scotland. Henry Benedict was the younger of the two sons of James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender, son of James II, King of England/James VII, King of Scots who had been deposed by the Glorious Revolution in 1688.

Henry Benedict died childless in 1807 and there were no surviving siblings of King James II/VII, son of King Charles I of England, or their legitimate descendants, except for the descendants of his youngest sister Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans. Henrietta married Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and they had one son who died in infancy and two daughters. Only their daughter Anne Marie d’Orléans, who married Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia, had children. Carlo Emanuele IV was the senior surviving descendant of Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans who was the youngest sister of James II/VII and the daughter of King Charles I. Therefore, after the death of Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart, Carlo Emanuele IV, Duke of Savoy, the former King of Sardinia became the Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England and Scotland but he never publicly claimed the title. See the descent below.

Charles I of England → his daughter Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans → her daughter Anne Marie d’Orléans, Queen of Sardinia → her son Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia → his son Vittorio Amadeo III, King of Sardinia → his son Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia

Carlo Emanuele in Jesuit dress; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1815, Carlo Emanuele took simple vows in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). He was never ordained as a priest but lived as a novice until his death on October 6, 1819, at the age of 68. Carlo Emanuele was buried in the Church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale in Rome, built for the Jesuit seminary on the Quirinal Hill.

The tomb of Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia in the Church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale; Credit – Di Sailko – Opera propria, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44399966 

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. Karl Emanuel IV. (Savoyen) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Emanuel_IV._(Savoyen)> [Accessed 26 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Emmanuel_IV_of_Sardinia> [Accessed 26 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Clotilde of France – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotilde_of_France> [Accessed 26 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/the-jacobite-succession-pretenders-to-the-british-throne/> [Accessed 26 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Vittorio Amadeo III, King of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/vittorio-amadeo-iii-king-of-sardinia-duke-of-savoy/> [Accessed 26 June 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Carlo Emanuele IV di Savoia – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Emanuele_IV_di_Savoia> [Accessed 26 June 2021].

Katarina Gustavsdotter Stenbock, Queen of Sweden

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Katarina Gustavsdotter Stenbock, Queen of Sweden; Credit – Wikipedia

The third wife of Gustav I Vasa, King of Sweden, Katarina Gustavsdotter Stenbock was born on July 22, 1535, at the Torpa Stenhus (Torpa Stonehouse), a medieval castle near Lake Åsunden, in Västragötaland, Sweden. Descendants of the Stenbock family still own the well-preserved castle. Katarina was the second of the six daughters and the second of the eleven children of Gustaf Olofsson Stenbock and Birgitta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud. Both Katarina’s parents were from Swedish noble families. Her father Gustaf Olofsson Stenbock was part of the contingent that brought Gustav Vasa’s first wife Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg to Sweden. Over the years, he was appointed a state councilor, Governor of Västergötland, and a Marshal of Sweden.

Margareta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud, 2nd wife of King Gustav I Vasa and the maternal aunt of Katarina; Credit – Wikipedia

Katarina’s mother Birgitta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud was the sister of King Gustav I Vasa’s second wife Margareta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud. Therefore, Katarina was the first cousin of the ten children of Gustav Vasa and Margareta Leijonhufvud. Katarina’s parents, like Margareta’s other relatives, were part of the Kungafränderna (The King’s Relatives). They were given prominent positions and had much influence at court. King Gustav I Vasa often attended their family celebrations and Katarina’s parents were considered his personal friends.

Katarina had ten siblings:

  • Beata Gustavsdotter Stenbock (1533 – 1583), married Per Brahe the Elder (nephew of King Gustav I Vasa), had thirteen children
  • Olof Gustavsson Stenbock (circa 1536 – 1599)
  • Karl Gustavsson Stenbock (circa 1537 – 1609), married Brita Claesdotter, had four children
  • Erik Gustavsson Stenbock (1538 – 1602), married his cousin Malin Sture, had two children
  • Arvid Gustafsson Stenbock (1541 – circa 1609), married Carin Månsdotter
  • Cecilia Gustavsdotter Stenbock
  • Margareta Gustavsdotter Stenbock
  • Märta Gustavsdotter Stenbock, married Svante Stensson Sture, had fifteen children
  • Ebba Gustavsdotter Stenbock (? – 1614), married Clas Eriksson Fleming, had four children
  • Abraham Gustafsson Stenbock (? – 1567)

Very little is known about Katarina’s life before she became Queen of Sweden. It is quite probable that she served as a maid of honor to her aunt Margareta Leijonhufvud. Margareta’s ten pregnancies in thirteen years took a toll on her health and she died from pneumonia at the age of 35 on August 26, 1551. After Margareta’s death, her children were placed in the care of her sisters Birgitta (Katarina’s mother) and Märta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud (Katarina’s aunt) who had married Svante Stensson Sture.

Gustav I Vasa, King of Sweden; Credit – Wikipedia

In Sweden at that time, it was the norm for a noble widower with minor children to remarry, and King Gustav I Vasa stated that he needed a queen for his court and a mother for his children. In March 1552, Katarina’s mother, her aunt Märta and her husband Svante Stensson Sture, and Per Brahe the Elder (nephew of King Gustav I Vasa and the husband of Katarina’s sister Beata) were called to a family council. At this meeting, Gustav Vasa probably proposed marriage to Katarina, despite the king being 56 and Katarina being 17. Gustav Vasa saw this marriage as a way to forgo the costs and the time-consuming negotiations necessary to arrange a marriage with a foreign princess in the complicated political climate in Europe due to the ongoing conflicts caused by the Protestant Reformation. Katarina’s family saw the marriage as a way to preserve the family connection they had made with Gustav Vasa through his previous marriage with Margareta Leijonhufvud. On August 22, 1552, at Vadstena Abbey in Vadstena, Sweden, Katarina married King Gustav I Vasa, and the next day, she was crowned Queen of Sweden.

Katarina and Gustav Vasa had no children but Katarina served as a stepmother to her first cousins, the children of Gustav Vasa and her aunt Margareta Leijonhufvud. She was given responsibility for the royal nursery, especially for the upbringing of Gustav Vasa’s daughters.

Katarina’s stepchildren, also her first cousins:

In the late 1550s, King Gustav I Vasa’s health declined. He died on September 29, 1560, aged 64, at Tre Kronor Castle (Three Crowns Castle) which stood on the site of the present Stockholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. The official cause of death was cholera but it may have been dysentery or typhoid. Gustav I, King of Sweden was buried in the Vasa Chapel at Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden with his first two wives. Katarina never remarried despite being only 25-years old when King Gustav I died. She dressed in mourning for the rest of her life.

Katarina lived during the reigns of the next five Kings of Sweden who were either sons or grandsons of her husband:

King Erik XIV (reigned 1560 – 1568) – Gustav Vasa’s only surviving child from his first marriage to Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg. Erik was deposed via a rebellion by his half-brother who became King Johan III. He was then imprisoned in various castles for nine years. He died in 1577 and was most likely murdered due to the three major conspiracies that attempted to depose his half-brother Johan III and place Erik back on the Swedish throne. An examination of his remains in 1958 confirmed that Erik probably died of arsenic poisoning.

King Johan III (reigned 1568 – 1592) – son of King Gustav I Vasa and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud and therefore, he was Katarina’s first cousin. During the reign of King Johan III, Katarina no longer had such a prominent place at court. However, because of her royal rank, she occupied a more dominant role in her own birth family, and often hosted family meetings and arranged family occasions such as weddings and funerals, and continued to act as a channel between her relatives and the royal house. King Johan III died in 1592.

King Sigismund III Vasa (reigned 1592 – 1599) – son of King Johan III and grandson of King Gustav I Vasa. Sigismund was not only King of Sweden but also King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania through his mother. Sigismund, who was Catholic, was deposed in 1599 as King of Sweden by his Protestant uncle who reigned as King Karl IX, and lived the remainder of his life in Poland.

King Karl IX (Regent of Sweden 1599 – 1604, King of Sweden 1604 – 1611) – youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud.  Karl became King of Sweden by championing the Protestant cause and deposing his Catholic nephew.

King Gustavus Adolphus (reigned 1611 – 1632) – son of Karl IX, King of Sweden and grandson of King Gustav I Vasa. 16-year-old Gustavus Adolphus became King of Sweden with his mother serving as Regent until he became of age. Gustavus Adolphus, aged 37, was killed in the Battle of Lützen during the Thirty Years War.

Strömsholm Castle, Katarina’s dowager home; Credit – By Christer Johansson – Own work (File produced by Christer Johansson), CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2502279

Katarina spent her last years tending to her estates, engaging in her financial and business enterprises, and spending time with her relatives, especially her sisters. Katarina was well known for providing a safe haven for many female relatives of the exiled supporters of the deposed King Sigismund III Vasa and other charitable work. During her last years, she had mobility issues and was not able to attend the wedding of her husband’s grandson King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1620.

Katarina survived her husband by sixty-one years, dying on December 13, 1621, aged 86, at her home Strömsholm Castle in Strömsholm, Västmanland, Sweden. Upon her death, it was noted, “The poor have lost a friend, the orphans their mother.”  Katarina was buried in Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden with her husband and his first two wives but she has no monument or memorial.

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 Sweden Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Catherine Stenbock – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Stenbock> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Gustav I, King of Sweden. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/gustav-vasa-i-king-of-sweden-reigned-1523-1560/> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
  • Sv.wikipedia.org. 2021. Gustaf Olofsson (Stenbock) till Torpa – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustaf_Olofsson_(Stenbock)_till_Torpa> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
  • Sv.wikipedia.org. 2021. Katarina Gustavsdotter (Stenbock) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katarina_Gustavsdotter_(Stenbock)> [Accessed 27 April 2021].

Crown Prince Leka II of the Albanians

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

photo: Albanian Royal Court

Crown Prince Leka II was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on March 26, 1982, the only son of Crown Prince Leka I of the Albanians and Susan Cullen-Ward. He is the current claimant to the defunct throne of Albania.

He was given the following names:

Raised in South Africa, Leka attended St. Stithians College junior preparatory school, St. Peter’s Preparatory School and St. Peter’s College before enrolling at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the British Army in 2005.

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In 2002, the Royal Family returned to Albania at the invitation of the Albanian government. There, Leka studied at the University of Illyria, earning his BA in International Relations and Diplomacy. He also studied at the University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy, and the Albanian Defense College.

The Crown Prince began working in the public sector, working as a political advisor to the Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006-2009; to the Minister of the Interior from 2009-2012; and to the Albanian President from 2012-2013. During that time, upon his father’s death in 2011, Leka became the Pretender to the former Albanian throne. Since that time, he has worked tirelessly to promote Albania within the international community, as well as continuing his efforts to support Kosovo. In addition, he and his wife oversee the Queen Geraldine Foundation, established by the Crown Princess in 2012.

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In May 2010, it was announced that Leka was engaged to Elia Zaharia, an Albanian actress and singer who he had met several years earlier. The couple was married at the Royal Palace in Tirana on October 8, 2016. A civil ceremony was held, officiated by the Mayor of Tirana, followed by a blessing from the religious leaders of Albania representing the Sunni Islam, Bektashi, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant faiths. This showed the long-standing tradition of religious diversity and tolerance in the country, and within the Albanian Royal Family. The wedding was attended by numerous representatives from current and former royal families, including Queen Sofia of Spain and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent (who was distantly related to Leka’s grandmother, Queen Geraldine).

The couple welcomed a daughter on October 22, 2020. She was named Geraldine in honor of her great-grandmother Queen Geraldine, as she was born on the anniversary of the Queen’s death 18 years earlier.

On January 16, 2024, it was announced that Crown Prince Leka, the current claimant to the defunct throne of Albania, and his wife Crown Princess Elia were ending their marriage.

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Albanian Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

James II, King of England/James VII, King of Scots; Credit – Wikipedia

After James II, King of England/James VII, King of Scots, a son of King Charles I, lost his throne via the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Jacobite (from Jacobus, the Latin for James) movement formed. The goal of the Jacobites was to restore the Roman Catholic Stuart King James II of England/VII of Scotland and his Roman Catholic heirs to the thrones of England and Scotland.

The current Jacobite pretender is Franz, Duke of Bavaria (born 1933) who is also the pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Because Franz never married, his heir presumptive in the Jacobite line of succession is his younger brother Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria (born 1937). Prince Max’s heir presumptive is his daughter Sophie, Duchess in Bavaria, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein, and then her eldest son Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein, who is second in the line of succession to the throne of Liechtenstein after his father Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein.

Why did James II, King of England/James VII, King of Scots lose his throne?

On February 6, 1685, Charles II, King of England, King of Scots died. Having no legitimate children, Charles was succeeded by his brother James, who reigned in England and Ireland as King James II, and in Scotland as King James VII. James and his second wife Mary Beatrice of Modena, who were both Catholics, were crowned on April 23, 1685, following the Church of England rite but omitting Holy Communion. The previous day, they had been privately crowned and anointed in a Catholic rite in their private chapel at the Palace of Whitehall.

James II’s nephew James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth; Credit – Wikipedia

On June 11, 1685, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, the eldest of the illegitimate children of King Charles II, claimed the throne as the Protestant champion. Monmouth’s forces were defeated by his uncle’s forces at the Battle of Sedgemoor. The Duke of Monmouth was beheaded for treason on July 15, 1685.

King James II was now set on a course of restoring Catholicism to England. He issued a Declaration of Indulgence removing restrictions imposed on those that did not conform to the Church of England. England might have tolerated King James II knowing that his heirs were the Protestant daughters of his first wife Anne Hyde, the future Queen Mary II and Queen Anne. However, on June 10, 1688, his Catholic second wife Maria Beatrice of Modena, who had no surviving children, gave birth to a son, James Francis Edward who would be raised Catholic. Immediately, false rumors swirled that the infant had been smuggled into the queen’s chambers in a warming pan.

William III, Prince of Orange, later King William III of England, James II’s nephew and son-in-law; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 5, 1688, William III, Prince of Orange, the nephew and son-in-law of King James II, landed in England vowing to safeguard the Protestant interest. He marched to London, gathering many supporters. James panicked and sent his wife and infant son to France. He tried to flee to France about a month later but was captured. William III, Prince of Orange had no desire to make his uncle a martyr, so he allowed him to escape. James was received in France by his first cousin King Louis XIV, who offered him a palace and a pension.

Back in England, Parliament refused to depose James but declared that having fled to France, James had effectively abdicated the throne and the throne had become vacant. James’s elder daughter Mary was declared Queen Mary II and she was to rule jointly with her husband and first cousin William III, Prince of Orange, who would be King William III. At that time, William, the only child of King James II’s deceased elder sister Mary, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange, was third in the line of succession after his wife and first cousin Mary and her sister Anne. This overthrow of King James II is known as the Glorious Revolution.

What happened to James II, King of England/James VII, King of Scots and his family?

Mary Beatrice and her son James Francis Edward Stuart; Credit – Wikipedia

James II, his wife Maria Beatrice of Modena, and his son James Francis Edward Stuart settled at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France, provided by James II’s first cousin King Louis XIV of France, where a court in exile, composed mainly of Scots and English Catholics, was established. James II was determined to regain the throne and landed in Ireland with a French force in 1689. He was defeated by his nephew William III, King of England at the Battle of the Boyne on July 1, 1690, and was forced to withdraw once again to France. James II spent the rest of his life in France, planning invasions that never happened. He died from a stroke on September 16, 1701, at St. Germain.

Battle of the Boyne between James II and his nephew William III, July 11, 1690; Credit – Wikipedia

Upon his father’s death, James Francis Edward was recognized by King Louis XIV of France as the rightful heir to the English and Scottish thrones. Spain, the Vatican, and Modena recognized him as King James III of England and VIII of Scotland and refused to recognize William III, Mary II, or Anne as legitimate sovereigns. As a result of James Francis Edward claiming his father’s lost thrones, he was attainted for treason in 1702 and his titles were forfeited under English law.

In 1708, James Francis Edward, with the support of King Louis XIV, attempted to land in Scotland, but the British Royal Navy intercepted the ships and prevented the landing. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht forced King Louis XIV of France to recognize the British 1701 Act of Settlement settling the succession on the Electress Sophia of Hanover, a granddaughter of James VI of Scotland and I of England, and her non-Roman Catholic heirs. Upon the death of Queen Anne in August 1714, George, Elector of Hanover, son of Electress Sophia of Hanover, ascended the British throne as King George I. With the death of King Louis XIV in 1715, the French government found James Francis Edward an embarrassment and he was no longer welcome in France. In 1715, Scottish Jacobites started “The ‘Fifteen” Jacobite rising, an unsuccessful attempt to put “James III and VIII” on the throne.

The Battle of Culloden; Credit – Wikipedia

After James Francis Edward failed to regain the throne, attention fell upon his son Charles Edward, The Young Pretender, whose Jacobite Rising of 1745 culminated in the final devastating loss for the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden. After the disastrous Battle of Culloden, there were no further Jacobite uprisings. James Francis Edward Stuart died at his home, the Palazzo Muti in Rome, on January 1, 1766, and was buried in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

The Vatican had recognized James Francis Edward as King of England and Scotland as “James III and VIII”, but did not give his son Charles Edward the same recognition. 67-year-old Charles Edward Stuart died of a stroke on January 31, 1788, at the Palazzo Muti in Rome. He was initially buried in the Cathedral of San Pietro in Frascati, Italy where his brother Henry Benedict Stuart was Cardinal Bishop.

Memorial to the three Stuart pretenders, ‘James III’, and his sons, Charles Edward and Henry Benedict, above their place of interment in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican; Credit – By Kim Traynor – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20417324

Upon the death of his elder brother Charles Edward Stuart in 1788, Henry Benedict assumed the style “King Henry IX”, but no government considered him the legal King. After the French Revolution, Henry Benedict lost the funds that the French Royal Family had been paying his exiled family, and lost any French property he owned, causing him financial problems. In 1800, King George III granted Henry Benedict a pension of £4,000 per year. For many years the British government had promised to return the dowry of his grandmother Maria Beatrice of Modena, but never did so. Henry Benedict considered the £4,000 per year an installment on money legally owed him. Henry Benedict Stuart died on July 13, 1807, at the age of 82. He was buried in the crypt at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican where his father had been buried and Charles Edward’s remains were transferred to the same crypt in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

The Jacobite Pretenders

In 1807, with the extinction of the Stuart line descended from James II, King of England/James VII, King of Scots, the Jacobite succession proceeded to the House of Savoy. The Jacobite pretender became Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia, the senior surviving descendant of Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans, the younger sister of James II/VII. The Jacobite succession proceeded to the House of Austria-Este, and then to the House of Wittelsbach. It likely will proceed to the House of Liechtenstein. However, unlike the Stuart pretenders, none of the later pretenders have claimed the thrones of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom or incorporated the arms of these countries in their coats-of-arms. Nevertheless, since the 19th century, there have been groups advocating the restoration of the Jacobite succession to the throne.

Charles I of England → his daughter Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans → her daughter Anne Marie d’Orléans, Queen of Sardinia → her son Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia → his son Vittorio Amadeo III, King of Sardinia → his son Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia → his brother Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia → his daughter Maria Beatrice of Savoy, Duchess of Modena and Reggio → her son Francesco V, Duke of Modena and Reggio → his niece Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, Queen of Bavaria → her son Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria → his son Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria → his son Franz, Duke of Bavaria

House of Stuart

James II, King of England/James VII, King of Scots; Credit – Wikipedia

  • James II of England & James VII of Scotland (1633 – 1701)
  • Reigned: February 6, 1685 – December 11, 1688
  • Claim: December 11, 1688 – September 16, 1701
  • James lawfully succeeded his brother King Charles II to the thrones of England and Scotland on February 6, 1685, as Charles II did not have legitimate children. When James fled England in 1688, the English Parliament declared that he had abdicated and the Scottish Convention of Estates declared he had forfeited his crown. However, James and his supporters denied that he had abdicated and claimed that the declaration of forfeiture had been by an illegal Scottish Convention. They maintained that James continued to be the rightful king.

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James Francis Edward Stuart; Credit – Wikipedia

  • James Francis Edward Stuart (1688 – 1766)
  • Son of James II of England & James VII of Scotland
  • “James III & James VIII”
  • The Old Pretender
  • Claim: September 16, 1701 – January 1, 1766 as James II/VII’s only surviving legitimate son

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Charles Edward Stuart; Credit – Wikipedia

  • Charles Edward Stuart (1720 – 1788)
  • Elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart
  • “Charles III”
  • The Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie
  • Claim: January 1, 1766 – January 31, 1788 as James Francis Stuart’s elder son

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Henry Benedict Stuart; Credit – Wikipedia

  • Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart (1725 – 1807)
  • Younger son of James Francis Edward Stuart
  • “Henry IX & Henry I”
  • Claim: January 31, 1788 – July 13, 1807 as the only brother of Charles Edward Stuart. Henry Benedict was the last surviving legitimate descendant of James II/VII.

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House of Savoy

Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

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Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

  • Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia (1759 – 1824)
  • Brother of Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia
  • “Victor”
  • Claim: October 6, 1819 – January 10, 1824 as the next eldest brother of his predecessor, Carlo Emanuele who had died childless

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Maria Beatrice of Savoy, Duchess of Modena; Credit – Wikipedia

  • Maria Beatrice of Savoy, Duchess of Modena (1792 – 1840)
  • Eldest surviving daughter of Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia
  • “Mary II”
  • Claim: January 10, 1824 – September 15, 1840 as the eldest surviving daughter of her predecessor Vittorio Emanuele who had no surviving sons

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House of Austria-Este

Francesco V, Duke of Modena; Credit – Wikipedia

  • Francesco V, Duke of Modena (1819 – 1875)
  • Eldest son of Maria Beatrice of Savoy, Duchess of Modena
  • “Francis I”
  • Claim: September 15, 1840 – November 20, 1875 as the eldest son of his predecessor Maria Beatrice

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Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, Queen of Bavaria; Credit – Wikipedia

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House of Wittelsbach

Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria; Credit – Wikipedia

  • Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria (1869 – 1955)
  • Eldest son of Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, Queen of Bavaria
  • “Robert I & IV”
  • Claim: February 3, 1919 – August 2, 1955 as the eldest son of his predecessor Maria Theresa.

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Albrecht with his younger half-brother, Prince Heinrich; Credit – Wikipedia

  • Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria (1905 – 1996)
  • Eldest surviving son of Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
  • “Albert”
  • Claim: August 2, 1955 – July 8, 1996, as the eldest surviving son of his predecessor Rupprecht.

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Franz, Duke of Bavaria; Credit – By Christoph Wagener – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22663494

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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. Jacobite succession – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobite_succession> [Accessed 22 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2016. Charles Edward Stuart, The Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/charles-edward-stuart/> [Accessed 22 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2016. Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/cardinal-henry-benedict-stuart/> [Accessed 22 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2017. King James II of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-james-ii-of-england/> [Accessed 22 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2016. James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/james-francis-edward-stuart-the-old-pretender/> [Accessed 22 June 2021].
  • Jacobite.ca. 2021. The Jacobite Heritage. [online] Available at: <http://www.jacobite.ca/> [Accessed 22 June 2021].

Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace in London, England

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

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The original Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace, circa 1910-1911

The building at the core of today’s Buckingham Palace was originally Buckingham House, a large townhouse built for John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham in 1703. It was acquired by King George III in 1761 as a private residence for his wife Queen Charlotte and became known as The Queen’s House. During the 19th century, it was enlarged by John Nash, one of the foremost architects of the Regency and Georgian eras, and then by Edward Blore, a landscape and building architect.

The original Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace was created for Queen Victoria in what had originally been a conservatory. Queen Victoria disliked the octagonal chapel that had formerly been one of King George III’s libraries. Edward Blore was commissioned to convert one of the conservatories created by John Nash into a chapel. The roof had to be raised and many alterations were needed. In 1843, William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury consecrated the new Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace: The Private Chapel 1843-4 by Douglas Morrison; Credit – Royal Collection Trust

The purpose of a Private Chapel is to provide a place for members of the royal family to worship when in residence. During the reign of Queen Victoria, six of her nine children and one of her grandchildren were christened at the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace, and during the reign of King George V, four of his grandchildren were also christened there. In addition, several royal weddings were held at the Private Chapel.

During World War II, one non-British, but royal christening, was held at the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace. On May 10, 1940, the German army invaded the Netherlands. A few days later, the Dutch royal family fled to London. Princess Irene, born on August 5, 1939, the second of four daughters of the future Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, had yet to be christened. King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth arranged for Princess Irene to be christened on May 31, 1940, the same day as her christening had been scheduled in the Netherlands, in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace in London, with Queen Elizabeth serving as one of Princess Irene’s godparents. Less than four months later, the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace was destroyed.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth survey the damage after the September 13, 1940 bombing of Buckingham Palace; Credit – https://www.royal.uk/80th-anniversary-bombing-buckingham-palace-during-blitz

During The Blitz, the German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom during World War II, Buckingham Palace and its grounds were bombed on sixteen separate occasions with nine direct hits. One of those direct hits occurred on September 13, 1940, while King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth were in residence. Their daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret had been sent to Windsor Castle for their safety. A water main was ruptured, most of the windows on the southern and western sides of Buckingham Palace were blown out, the Private Chapel was destroyed, and four workers were injured with one later dying. Originally, King George VI had wanted the Private Chapel rebuilt but because of all the reconstruction needed in the country after World War II, the plan was shelved.

In 1962, at the suggestion of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the ruined Private Chapel was redeveloped as a gallery for the Royal Collection. The Queen’s Gallery opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection. At that time, a very small Private Chapel was built near The Queen’s Gallery for the royal family’s personal use.

The 1997 renovated Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace; Credit – http://www.johnsimpsonarchitects.com/pa/Buckingham-Palace-cp.html

In 1997, a competition was held for the appointment of an architect (John Simpson Architects Ltd.) to expand and modernize the Queen’s Gallery in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. At that time, the Private Chapel was renovated in a manner that is reminiscent of architect John Nash’s work.

Since the bombing of the original private chapel in 1940 and the construction (1962) and renovation (1997) of a new private chapel, which is much smaller than the original private chapel, royal christenings occurring at Buckingham Palace have occurred in the larger Music Room. Those christened in the Music Room include Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince William.

Christenings at the Private Chapel, Buckingham Palace

The Christening of Prince Arthur in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by Eugene-Louis Lami; Credit – The Royal Collection

Photograph, above, of a painting depicting the christening of Prince Arthur at the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace. Towards the center of the composition are Prince Albert, Queen Victoria, the Princess Royal, the Prince of Wales, Princess Alice, and Prince Alfred.

(Links are to Unofficial Royalty biography articles.)

Weddings at the Private Chapel, Buckingham Palace

The Marriage of Princess Louise of Wales with the Duke of Fife at Buckingham Palace, 27th July 1889 by Sydney Prior Hall; Credit – Royal Collection Trust

The painting above depicts the couple kneeling at the altar, Behind them, from right to left: The Prince of Wales; Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine; Queen Victoria; The Princess of Wales and her brothers King George I of Greece, and Crown Frederik of Denmark

 (Links are to Unofficial Royalty wedding articles.)

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. Buckingham Palace – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Palace> [Accessed 25 April 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2019. British Royal Christenings: House of Windsor. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/house-of-windsor-christenings/> [Accessed 25 April 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2019. British Royal Christenings: Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Their Children, and Select Grandchildren. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/christenings-of-queen-victoria-prince-albert-their-children-and-select-grandchildren/> [Accessed 25 April 2021].
  • Flantzer, S., 2012. Weddings of British Monarchs’ Children: Tudors – Windsors. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-weddings/british-royal-weddings/weddings-of-british-monarchs-children/> [Accessed 25 April 2021].
  • Healey, Edna, 1997. The Queen’s House – A Social History of Buckingham Palace. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.
  • Westendatwar.org.uk. 2021. 13 September 1940 | Buckingham Palace | Bomb Incidents | West End at War. [online] Available at: <http://www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_id__39_path__0p2p.aspx> [Accessed 24 April 2021].

Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, Queen of Sardinia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of Sardinia: The House of Savoy had been Counts and then Dukes of Savoy, since the 11th century and ruled from the city of Turin in the Duchy of Savoy, now in northern Italy. Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy became King of Sicily in 1713 as a result of his participation in the War of the Spanish Succession. However, in 1720, Vittoria Amedeo II was forced to exchange the Kingdom of Sicily for the less important Kingdom of Sardinia after objections from the Quadruple Alliance (Great Britain, France, Habsburg Austria, and the Dutch Republic).

Sardinia, now in Italy, is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, also now in Italy, but the Kings of Sardinia of the House of Savoy ruled from Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy. They styled themselves as Kings of Sardinia because the title was superior to their original lesser title as Dukes of Savoy. However, they retained the regnal numerical order of the Dukes of Savoy.

Vittorio Emanuele II became the last King of Sardinia upon the abdication of his father in 1849. He then 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, while 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.

Note: Children of Kings of Sardinia were often styled “of Savoy” as their fathers were also Dukes of Savoy from the House of Savoy.

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Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, Queen of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

The wife of Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain was born on November 17, 1729, at the Royal Alcázar in Seville, Spain. She was the youngest of the three daughters and the youngest of the six children of Felipe V, King of Spain and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese of Parma.

Maria Antonia’s father was born Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou at the Palace of Versailles in France. He was the second of the three sons of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, the heir apparent to the throne of France, and Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria. At the time of Philippe’s birth, his grandfather Louis XIV was King of France. In 1700, Carlos II, King of Spain died childless with no immediate Habsburg heir. Philippe’s father Louis, Le Grand Dauphin had the strongest genealogical claim to the throne of Spain because his mother Maria Teresa, Infanta of Spain had been the half-sister of Carlos II. However, neither Philippe’s father nor his elder brother Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin could be displaced from their place in the succession to the French throne. Therefore, Carlos II, King of Spain, in his will, named 16-year-old Philippe of Anjou, Duke of Anjou as his successor. He took the Spanish version of his name Felipe V, King of Spain, the first Spanish King of the House of Bourbon that still reigns in Spain.

Maria Antonia’s mother Elisabeth Farnese of Parma was the only surviving child of Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma and Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg. Because of the lack of male heirs to succeed to the Duchy of Parma, changes were legally made for the succession of the Duchy of Parma in the female line through Elisabeth Farnese. Her second son Felipe became the Duke of Parma and founded the House of Bourbon-Parma.

“The Family of Felipe V”; (L-R) Mariana Victoria, Barbara, Princess of Asturias; Fernando, Prince of Asturias; King Felipe V; Luis, Count of Chinchón; Elisabeth Farnese; Infante Felipe; Louise Élisabeth of France; Infanta Maria Teresa; Infanta Maria Antonia (Queen of Sardinia); Maria Amalia, Queen of Naples and Sicily; Carlo, King of Naples and Sicily. The two children in the foreground are Princess Maria Isabella Anne of Naples and Sicily and Infanta Isabella of Spain (daughter of the future Duke of Parma); Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Antonia had five siblings:

Maria Antonia had four half-brothers from her father’s first marriage to Maria Luisa of Savoy, daughter of Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia and Anne Marie d’Orléans. Maria Luisa died from tuberculosis at the age of 25. Only two of Maria Antonia’s half-brothers survived childhood and both became Kings of Spain.

Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Antonia Ferdinanda married the future Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia. The marriage was arranged by Maria Antonia’s half-brother Fernando VI, King of Spain to strengthen relations between Spain and Sardinia/Savoy as they had fought on opposing sides during the War of the Austrian Succession. As a wedding gift from her father-in-law, Maria Antonia’s apartments at the Royal Palace of Turin were remodeled by the architect Benedetto Alfieri. Her half-brother Ferdinand VI, King of Spain provided a dowry of 3,500,000 Piedmontese Lires and Spanish possessions in Milan. Vittorio Amedeo and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda were married by proxy in Madrid, Spain on April 12, 1750, and were married in person on May 31, 1750, at Oulx, near Turin in the Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy.

Maria Antonia Ferdinanda and Vittorio Amedeo with their family in 1760; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Antonia Ferdinanda and Vittorio Amedeo had twelve children:

Upon the death of her father-in-law Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia in 1773, Maria Antonia’s husband succeeded him as Vittorio Amedeo III. She was the first Queen Consort of Sardinia since the death of Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine in 1741. In 1773 her son Carlo Emanuele married Maria Clotilde of France, the sister of King Louis XVI of France. Maria Clotilde and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda had a very close relationship.

Basilica of Superga in Turin; Credit – By Incola – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32157893

Maria Antonia Ferdinanda died on September 19, 1785, aged 55, at the Castle of Moncalieri in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy. Vittorio Amedeo III survived her by eleven years, dying from a stroke, aged 70, on October 16, 1796, also at the Castle of Moncalieri in Turin. They were both buried at the Basilica of Superga in Turin.

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. Elisabeth Farnese – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Farnese> [Accessed 21 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Antonia_Ferdinanda_of_Spain> [Accessed 21 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2019. Felipe V, King of Spain. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/felipe-v-first-bourbon-king-of-spain/> [Accessed 21 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Vittorio Amadeo III, King of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/vittorio-amadeo-iii-king-of-sardinia-duke-of-savoy/> [Accessed 21 June 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Maria Antonia di Borbone-Spagna – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Antonia_di_Borbone-Spagna> [Accessed 21 June 2021].
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. 2021. Мария Антония Испанская — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%90%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%98%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F> [Accessed 21 June 2021].

Vittorio Amadeo III, King of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of Sardinia: The House of Savoy had been Counts and then Dukes of Savoy, since the 11th century and ruled from the city of Turin in the Duchy of Savoy, now in northern Italy. Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy became King of Sicily in 1713 as a result of his participation in the War of the Spanish Succession. However, in 1720, Vittoria Amedeo II was forced to exchange the Kingdom of Sicily for the less important Kingdom of Sardinia after objections from the Quadruple Alliance (Great Britain, France, Habsburg Austria, and the Dutch Republic).

Sardinia, now in Italy, is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, also now in Italy, but the Kings of Sardinia of the House of Savoy ruled from Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy. They styled themselves as Kings of Sardinia because the title was superior to their original lesser title as Dukes of Savoy. However, they retained the regnal numerical order of the Dukes of Savoy.

Vittorio Emanuele II became the last King of Sardinia upon the abdication of his father in 1849. He then 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, while 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.

Note: Children of Kings of Sardinia were often styled “of Savoy” as their fathers were also Dukes of Savoy from the House of Savoy.

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Vittorio Amadeo III, King of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy; Credit – Wikipedia

Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy was born at the Royal Palace in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy on June 26, 1726. He was the eldest of the two sons and the eldest of the six children of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia and his second wife Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg. Vittorio Amedeo’s paternal grandparents were Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia and his first wife Anne Marie d’Orléans.  Ernst Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg and Eleonore of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort were his maternal grandparents. His maternal grandmother Anne Marie d’Orléans was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, son of King Louis XIII of France, and his first wife Princess Henrietta of England, daughter of King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France.

Vittorio Amedeo with his three sisters Credit – Wikipedia

Vittorio Amedeo III had five younger siblings:

Vittorio Amedeo III had one elder half-brother from his father’s first marriage to Anna Christine of Sulzbach, who died giving birth to her son:

Vittorio Amedeo with his sister Eleanora and his mother Polyxena; Credit – Wikipedia

Vittorio Amedeo’s mother Polyxena fell seriously ill in June 1734 and died at the Royal Palace in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy, on January 13, 1735, aged 28. Her eldest son Vittorio Amedeo was only eight years old. Two years after Polyxena’s death, Vittorio Amedeo’s father married Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, daughter of Leopold Joseph, Duke of Lorraine and Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, the daughter of King Louis XIV of France’s only sibling Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and his second wife Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, known as Liselotte.

Vittorio Amedeo III had three half-siblings from his father’s third marriage to Elisabeth. Sadly, like Carlo Emanuele III’s first two wives, Elisabeth Therese also died young, dying in 1741, aged 29, from puerperal fever (childbed fever), thirteen days after giving birth to her third child Benedetto:

Vittorio Amedeo’s wife Maria Antonia Ferdinanda; Credit – Wikipedia

Vittorio Amedeo III married Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, daughter of Felipe V, King of Spain and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese. The marriage was arranged by Maria Antonia Ferdinanda’s half-brother Ferdnando VI, King of Spain to strengthen relations between Spain and Sardinia/Savoy as they had fought on opposing sides during the War of the Austrian Succession. Vittorio Amedeo and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda were married by proxy in Madrid, Spain on April 12, 1750, and then were married in person on May 31, 1750, at Oulx, near Turin in the Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy.

Vittorio Amedeo III was a great-great-grandson of King Charles I of England from the House of Stuart. After King James II, a son of King Charles I, lost his throne via the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Jacobite (from Jacobus, the Latin for James) movement formed. The goal of the Jacobites was to restore the Roman Catholic Stuart King James II of England/VII of Scotland and his Roman Catholic heirs to the thrones of England and Scotland. When the line of the deposed King James II of England died out in 1807, the Jacobite claims to the British throne descended from the line of his sister Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans. In 1807, Vittorio Amedeo’s son Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia became the Jacobite heir from the House of Savoy.

Vittorio Amedeo and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda with their family in 1760; Credit – Wikipedia

Vittorio Amedeo III and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda had twelve children:

Vittorio Amedeo III became King of Sardinia in 1773 following his father’s death. His wife Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain died on September 19, 1785, at the Castle of Moncalieri in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy, and was buried at the Basilica of Superga in Turin. In 1786, Vittorio Amedeo III  moved the remains of many of his ancestors and relatives to the Basilica of Superga, which became the traditional burial site of the House of Savoy.

Battle of Millesimo; Credit – Wikipedia

Vittorio Amedeo III’s daughters Maria Giuseppina and Maria Teresa married French princes and at the start of the French Revolution, Vittorio Amadeo III allowed his two sons-in-law and their families to stay in the Kingdom of Sardinia under his protection.  Vittorio Amedeo’s troops were defeated by the French at the 1796 Battle of Milessimo during Napoleon Bonaparte’s Italian campaign. Vittorio Amedeo was forced to sign the 1796 Treaty of Paris, abandoning the First Coalition against the French Republic. The treaty stipulated that Vittorio Amedeo recognize the French Republic, cede the original Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice to France, and give the French Army free passage through his territory towards the rest of Italy.

Basilica of Superga; Credit – By Paris Orlando – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74180727

Five months after signing the devastating Treaty of Paris, Vittorio Amadeo III died from a stroke, aged 70, on October 16, 1796, at the Castle of Moncalieri in Turin. He was buried in the Hall of the Kings at the Basilica of Superga in Turin. Vittorio Amedeo III was succeeded by his eldest son Carlo Emanuele IV, leaving him an economically damaged kingdom because of the results of the 1796 Treaty of Paris. In 1814, during the reign of Vittorio Emanuele I, the second surviving son of Vittorio Amedeo III, two-thirds of Savoy was restored to the Kingdom of Sardinia following Napoleon’s abdication.

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. Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Antonia_Ferdinanda_of_Spain> [Accessed 21 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Amadeus_III_of_Sardinia> [Accessed 21 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/carlo-emanuele-iii-king-of-sardinia/> [Accessed 21 June 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Vittorio Amedeo III di Savoia – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_Amedeo_III_di_Savoia> [Accessed 21 June 2021].

​Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, Queen of Sardinia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of Sardinia: The House of Savoy had been Counts and then Dukes of Savoy, since the 11th century and ruled from the city of Turin in the Duchy of Savoy, now in northern Italy. Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy became King of Sicily in 1713 as a result of his participation in the War of the Spanish Succession. However, in 1720, Vittoria Amedeo II was forced to exchange the Kingdom of Sicily for the less important Kingdom of Sardinia after objections from the Quadruple Alliance (Great Britain, France, Habsburg Austria, and the Dutch Republic).

Sardinia, now in Italy, is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, also now in Italy, but the Kings of Sardinia of the House of Savoy ruled from Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy. They styled themselves as Kings of Sardinia because the title was superior to their original lesser title as Dukes of Savoy. However, they retained the regnal numerical order of the Dukes of Savoy.

Vittorio Emanuele II became the last King of Sardinia upon the abdication of his father in 1849. He then 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, while 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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Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, Queen of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine was the third of the three wives, all of whom died young, of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia. She was born on October 15, 1711, at the Château de Lunéville in the Duchy of Lorraine, now in France. Elisabeth Therese was the eleventh of fourteen children and the seventh of the nine daughters of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine and Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans. Her paternal grandparents were Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, and Eleonora of Austria. Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the only sibling of King Louis XIV of France, and Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatine, known as Liselotte, were her maternal grandparents.

Elisabeth Therese had thirteen siblings but ten of her siblings did not survive to adulthood. Three of her siblings died from smallpox in 1711, within a week. Her father Leopold, Duke of Lorraine is the direct male ancestor of all rulers of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, including all Emperors of Austria.

  • Léopold, Hereditary Prince of Lorraine (1699 – 1700) died in infancy
  • Élisabeth Charlotte of Lorraine (1700 – 1711) died in childhood from smallpox
  • Louise Christine of Lorraine (born and died 1701), died in infancy
  • Marie Gabrièle Charlotte of Lorraine (1702 – 1711) died in childhood from smallpox.
  • Louis, Hereditary Prince of Lorraine (1704 – 1711) died in childhood from smallpox
  • Joséphine Gabrièle of Lorraine (1705 – 1708) died in childhood
  • Gabrièle Louise of Lorraine (1706 – 1710), died in childhood
  • Léopold Clément, Hereditary Prince of Lorraine (1707 – 1723), died in his teens
  • Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1708 – 1765), married Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia in her own right, had sixteen children including Archduchess Maria Antonia who married King Louis XVI of France, became Queen Marie Antoinette of France
  • Eléonore of Lorraine (born and 1710 – 1710), died in infancy
  • Charles Alexander of Lorraine (1712 – 1780), married Maria Anna of Austria, no children
  • Anne Charlotte of Lorraine (1714 – 1773), Abbess of Remiremont Abbey in Remiremont, Vosges, France
  • Marie Louise of Lorraine (1716 – 1723), died in childhood

Elisabeth Therese’s mother first attempted to marry her to the 15-year-old King Louis XV of France. Louis XV had been engaged to marry 7-year-old Mariana Victoria of Spain but she was sent back to Spain because she was too young to have children. A marriage with Elisabeth Therese was opposed by Louis XV’s chief minister Louis Henri I, Prince of Condé, Duke of Bourbon who said that the House of Lorraine was too closely related to the House of Habsburg and marriage with Elisabeth Therese caused conflict with the French nobility. In 1729, marriage negotiations with Elisabeth Therese’s recently widowed first cousin Louis d’Orléans, Duke of Orléans fell apart when her father died.

Elisabeth Therese’s husband Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1736, Elisabeth Therese’s brother Francis, who had succeeded his father as Duke of Lorraine, married the Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter and heiress apparent of Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor’s territories of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. This marriage between the House of Lorraine and the House of Habsburg allowed a more prestigious marriage for Elisabeth Therese. In late 1736, the twice-widowed 35-year-old Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia asked to marry the 25-year-old Elisabeth Therese. Carlo Emanuele and Elisabeth Therese were half-first cousins as their mothers were half-sisters. After a proxy marriage on March 5, 1737, at the Château de Lunéville in the Duchy of Lorraine, now in France, Carlo Emanuele and Elisabeth Therese married in person on April 1, 1737, in Lyon, France.

Carlo Emanuele’s four surviving children from his second marriage to Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg were Elisabeth Therese’s stepchildren:

Elisabeth Therese with her eldest son Carlo Francesco: Credit – Wikipedia

Elisabeth Therese and Carlo Emanuele III had three children but only the third child Benedetto survived childhood. Sadly, Elisabeth Therese died at the Palace of Venaria in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy, on July 3, 1741, aged 29, from puerperal fever (childbed fever), thirteen days after giving birth to Benedetto.

Basilica of Superga; Credit – By Bruce The Deus at Italian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75926656

Elisabeth Therese was first buried in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy. In 1786, her remains were moved to the Basilica of Superga in Turin by her stepson Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia.

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. Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Therese_of_Lorraine> [Accessed 20 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold,_Duke_of_Lorraine> [Accessed 20 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/carlo-emanuele-iii-king-of-sardinia/> [Accessed 19 June 2021].

Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, Queen of Sardinia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of Sardinia: The House of Savoy had been Counts and then Dukes of Savoy, since the 11th century and ruled from the city of Turin, now in northern Italy. Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy became King of Sicily in 1713 as a result of his participation in the War of the Spanish Succession. However, in 1720, Vittoria Amedeo II was forced to exchange the Kingdom of Sicily for the less important Kingdom of Sardinia after objections from the Quadruple Alliance (Great Britain, France, Habsburg Austria, and the Dutch Republic).

Sardinia, now in Italy, is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, also now in Italy, but the Kings of Sardinia of the House of Savoy ruled from Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy. They styled themselves as Kings of Sardinia because the title was superior to their original lesser title as Dukes of Savoy. However, they retained the regnal numerical order of the Dukes of Savoy.

Vittorio Emanuele II became the last King of Sardinia upon the abdication of his father in 1849. He then 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, while 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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Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, Queen of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg was the second of the three wives, all of whom died young, of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia. Given the names Polyxena Christina Johanna, she was born on September 21, 1706, in Langinswalbach, Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, now Bad Schwalbach in the German state of Hesse. Polyxena was the eldest of the six daughters and the second of the ten children of Ernst II Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg and Eleonore Maria Anna von Löwenstein-Wertheim.

Polyxena had nine siblings:

Polyxena’s husband Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1723, Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, the future Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia, proposed marriage with Polyxena. Carlo Emanuele’s first wife Anna Christine of Sulzbach, a cousin of Polyxena, died of childbirth complications on March 12, 1723, shortly after the birth of her only child Prince Vittorio Amedeo Teodoro of Savoy. After a proxy marriage on July 23, 1724, in Rotenburg, Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, now in Hesse, Germany, Polyxena and Carlo Emanuele were married in person on August 20, 1724, in Thonon-les-Bains, Chablais, then a province of the Duchy of Savoy, now in France. When her husband became King of Sardinia in 1730, Polyxena became Queen of Sardinia.

Polyxena was entrusted with the care of her stepson Prince Vittorio Amedeo Teodoro. She became very attached to him and greatly mourned his death on August 11, 1725. Polyxena had had a close relationship with her mother-in-law Anne Marie d’Orléans. The two often stayed at the Villa della Regina outside the capital of Turin, where Anne Marie died in 1728.

Polyxena with her two eldest children, Eleonora (left) and Vittorio Amedeo (right); Credit – Wikipedia

Polyxena and Carlo Emanuele had six children:

The children of Carlo Emanuele and his second wife Polyxena; (L-R) Eleonora; Vittorio Amedeo; Maria Felicita and Luisa; Credit – Wikipedia

Polyxena was active in charity work, founding a home for young mothers in Turin in 1732. She worked with Italian architect Filippo Juvarra, the architect of the great Basilica of Superga in Turin, to remodel and renovate buildings including the Villa della Regina and the Palazzina di Stupinigi. She was also the patroness of the painter Giovanni Battista Crosato.

In 1733, Polyxena gave birth to her last child Prince Carlo of Savoy, Duke of Chablais, who lived a little over five months. She fell seriously ill in June 1734, and died at the Royal Palace in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy, on January 13, 1735, aged 28. Polyxena was first buried in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin and was moved to the Basilica of Superga in Turin in 1786.

Basilica of Superga; Credit – By Paris Orlando – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74180727

Two years after Polyxena’s death, her widower married Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, the daughter of Leopold Joseph, Duke of Lorraine and Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans the daughter of King Louis XIV of France’s only sibling Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and his second wife Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, known as Liselotte. Sadly, like Carlo Emanuele III’s first two wives, Elisabeth Therese also died young, dying in 1741, aged 29, from puerperal fever (childbed fever), thirteen days after giving birth to her third child, her only child who survived childhood.

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. Ernst II. Leopold (Hessen-Rotenburg) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_II._Leopold_(Hessen-Rotenburg)> [Accessed 19 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyxena_of_Hesse-Rotenburg> [Accessed 19 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/carlo-emanuele-iii-king-of-sardinia/> [Accessed 19 June 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Polissena d’Assia-Rheinfels-Rotenburg – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polissena_d%27Assia-Rheinfels-Rotenburg> [Accessed 19 June 2021].
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. 2021. Поликсена Гессен-Рейнфельс-Ротенбургская — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%93%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD-%D0%A0%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BD%D1%84%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81-%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F> [Accessed 19 June 2021].

Margareta Leijonhufvud, Queen of Sweden

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Margareta Leijonhufvud, Queen of Sweden; Credit – Wikipedia

The second of the three wives of Gustav I Vasa, King of Sweden, Swedish noblewoman Margareta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud was born on January 1, 1516, at Ekeberg Castle in Närke, Sweden. She was the third of the six children of Erik Abrahamsson Leijonhufvud (died 1520, link in Swedish) and Ebba Eriksdotter Vasa (circa 1490 – 1549), a second cousin of Gustav I Vasa, King of Sweden.

Margareta had five siblings:

  • Abraham Eriksson Leijonhufvud (1512 – 1556), married (1) Anna Agesdotter Thott, had one son (2) Emerentia Gera
  • Birgitta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud (1514 – 1572), married Gustaf Olofsson Stenbock, had eleven children including Katarina Gustafsdotter Stenbock, third wife of Gustav I Vasa, King of Sweden
  • Anna Leijonhufvud (1517 – 1540), married Axel Eriksson Bielke
  • Sten Eriksson Leijonhufvud (1518 – 1568), married Ebba Mansdotter Lilliehöök
  • Marta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud (1520 – 1584), married Svante Stensson Sture, had fifteen children

When Margareta was four years old, her father was beheaded during the Stockholm Bloodbath. Several days after the coronation of Christian II, King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden as King of Sweden, the followers of Sten Sture the Younger, who led the anti-Danish faction in Sweden, were charged with heresy for their part in the rising against Gustav Eriksson Trolle, Archbishop of Uppsala and his support of Christian II. What followed is known as the Stockholm Bloodbath. It is estimated that from November 9 – 10, 1520, 82 people were either hanged or beheaded in the square outside Stockholm Palace. Instead of cementing Christian II’s control of the Swedish throne, the Stockholm Bloodbath led to him losing the Swedish throne. The remaining Swedish nobility, disgusted by the bloodbath, rose against Christian II. On August 23, 1521, Christian was deposed with the election of Gustav Vasa as Regent of Sweden. On June 6, 1523, Gustav Vasa was elected King of Sweden, the first monarch of the Swedish House of Vasa.

Margareta’s sister Birgitta married Gustaf Olofsson Stenbock, King Gustav Vasa’s favorite courtier. Considering Margareta’s social status, age, contacts, and the contemporary custom for those from noble families to end their upbringing as a court, Margareta likely served as a maid-of-honor to Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg, the first wife of Gustav Vasa.

In September 1535, during a ball given in honor of her sister’s husband, Christian III, King of Denmark and Norway, who was visiting Sweden. King Gustav Vasa’s first wife Katharina, who was pregnant with her second child, fell while dancing with Christian III. The fall confined her to bed and led to complications, and she died on September 23, 1535, the day before her twenty-second birthday along with her unborn child.

Although Katharina fulfilled her most important duty as queen consort when she gave birth to a son, the future Erik XIV, King of Sweden, it was considered necessary for King Gustav Vasa to remarry in case the heir to the throne was to die. Margareta was selected as the king’s second wife because she belonged to one of the leading Swedish noble families. The marriage created an alliance between the king and one of the most powerful factions of the nobility.

Gustav Vasa and Margareta Leijonhufvud; Credit – Wikipedia

Margareta and Gustav Vasa were married on October 1, 1536, at Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden, where Margareta was crowned Queen of Sweden the following day. The new queen’s brothers were knighted and, along with the husbands of Margareta’s sisters, were named state councilors. This began the period called Kungafränderna (The King’s Relatives), during which the relatives that King Gustav I Vasa had acquired through his marriage with Margareta were given prominent positions and influence at court. During the first years of their marriage, Margareta’s mother and Gustav Vasa’s second cousin Ebba Eriksdotter Vasa played such a dominating role at court, that not even the king dared oppose her.

Margareta and Gustav had ten children including Johan III, King of Sweden who succeeded his deposed half-brother Eric XIV.

Although Margareta was twenty years younger than her husband, she felt very comfortable in her role as Queen of Sweden and had a great influence on King Gustav I Vasa. Margareta remained a Catholic her entire life despite the Swedish Reformation, and made donations to the still-active Vadstena Abbey, while her husband had Catholic churches and monasteries looted.

Margareta’s effigy; Credit – Wikipedia

Margareta’s constant pregnancies took a toll on her health. She died from pneumonia at the age of 35 on August 26, 1551, at Tynnelsö Castle in Strängnäs Municipality, Södermanland, Sweden. She was buried next to Gustav Vasa’s first wife in Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden. When King Gustav Vasa died in 1560, he was buried with his first two wives. Gustav’s effigy is in the middle of the tomb with the effigies of his wives Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg and Margareta Leijonhufvud on either side. One year after Margareta’s death, King Gustav Vasa married her 17-year-old niece Katharina Gustafsdotter Stenbock, the daughter of Margareta’s eldest sister Birgitta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud.

Tomb of Gustav I and his first two wives; Credit – Von Skippy13 – Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=726933

Kingdom of Sweden 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

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Ebba Eriksdotter Vasa – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebba_Eriksdotter_Vasa> [Accessed 20 April 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Margaret Leijonhufvud – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Leijonhufvud> [Accessed 20 April 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan. 2021. Gustav I, King of Sweden. [online] Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/gustav-vasa-i-king-of-sweden-reigned-1523-1560/> [Accessed 20 April 2021].
  • Sv.wikipedia.org. 2021. Margareta Eriksdotter (Leijonhufvud) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margareta_Eriksdotter_(Leijonhufvud)> [Accessed 20 April 2021].