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 the death of his father. 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. Vittorio Amedeo survived her by eleven years. In 1786, he 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].

Anna Christine of Sulzbach, Princess of Piedmont

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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Anna Christine of Sulzbach, Princess of Piedmont; Credit – Wikipedia

Countess Palatine Anna Christine of Sulzbach was the first of the three wives of Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Sardina, and, after Anna Christine’s death, Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia. The eighth of the nine children and the youngest of the five daughters of Theodor Eustach, Count Palatine of Sulzbach (1659 – 1732) and Maria Eleonore of Hesse-Rothenburg (1675 – 1720), Anna Christine was born on February 5, 1704, at Sulzbach Castle in the Palatinate-Sulzbach, a state of the Holy Roman Empire, now in Bavaria, Germany. Her father was the head of a Roman Catholic cadet branch of Bavaria’s House of Wittelsbach.

Sulzbach Castle, Anna Christine’s birthplace; Credit – Wikipedia

Anna Christine had eight siblings:

Carlo Emanuele, Anna Christine’s husband; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 15, 1722, in Vercelli, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy, Anna Christine married Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Sardina, and the son of Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia and his first wife Anne Marie d’Orléans. The couple had one son:

On March 12, 1723, a few days after giving birth to her son, Anna Christine, aged nineteen, died of childbirth complications, at the Royal Palace of Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy. She 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. In 1724, Anna Christine’s widower married her cousin Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg.

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. Theodor Eustach (Pfalz-Sulzbach) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Eustach_(Pfalz-Sulzbach)> [Accessed 18 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Anne Christine of Sulzbach, Princess of Piedmont – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Christine_of_Sulzbach,_Princess_of_Piedmont> [Accessed 18 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 18 June 2021].

Carlo Emanuele 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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Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

Carlo Emanuele III was the King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death in 1773. Born on April 27, 1701, at the Royal Palace in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy, he was the fifth of the six children and the second of the three sons of Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia and his first wife Anne Marie d’Orléans. His paternal grandparents were Carlo Emanuele II, Duke of Savoy and Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours and his maternal grandparents were King Louis XIV of France’s only sibling Philippe, Duke of Orléans and his first wife Princess Henrietta of England, the daughter of King Charles I of England. At birth, he was given the title Duke of Aosta, which came to be the traditional title of the second son of the reigning monarch of the House of Savoy.

Carlo Emanuele had five siblings:

Carlo Emanuele’s elder brother Vittorio Amedeo was the heir to the throne and bore the title Prince of Piedmont, the traditional title of the heir of the House of Savoy. Vittorio Amedeo II favored his eldest son and neglected Carlo Emanuele’s education except on the military field, where he sometimes accompanied the father. On March 22, 1715, fifteen-year-old Vittorio Amedeo died from smallpox and his younger brother Carlo Emanuele became the heir to the throne and the Prince of Piedmont.

Carlo Emanuele married three times but all three wives died young.

Anna Christine of Sulzbach, Princess of Piedmont; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 15, 1722, in Vercelli, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy, Carlo Emanuele married Anna Christine of Sulzbach, daughter of Theodor Eustach, Count Palatine of Sulzbach and Eleonore of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg. They had one child and a few days later, on March 12, 1723, Anna Christine died of childbirth complications, aged nineteen. Anna Christine died before her husband became King of Sardinia and so she was titled Princess of Piedmont.

Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, Queen of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

Carlo Emanuele’s second wife was Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, daughter of Ernst Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg and Eleonore of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort. Polyxena was the first cousin of Carlo Emanuele’s first wife and belonged to the only Roman Catholic branch of the reigning House of Hesse. After a proxy marriage on July 23, 1724, in Rotenburg, Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, now in Hesse, Germany, the couple was married in person on August 20, 1724, in Thonon, 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. She died on January 13, 1735, aged 28, having been ill since June 1734. Carlo Emanuele and Polyxena had six children.

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

Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, Queen of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine was the third wife of Carlo Emanuele. She was 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. 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. The couple had three children but only the third child Benedetto survived childhood. Sadly, Elisabeth Therese died on July 3, 1741, aged 29, from puerperal fever (childbed fever), thirteen days after giving birth to Benedetto.

Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia in his coronation robes; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 26, 1728, Carlo Emanuele’s mother Queen Anne Marie died after a series of heart attacks the day before her 59th birthday. Two years later, Carlo Emanuele’s father Vittorio Amedeo II secretly married Anna Canalis di Cumiana, a former mistress. To the surprise and dismay of the court, Vittorio Amedeo II and Anna Canalis di Cumiana made their marriage public on September 3, 1730. At the same time as the marriage announcement, Vittorio Amedeo II abdicated and retired from the royal court. His son succeeded him as Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia. However, in 1731, Vittorio Amedeo attempted to reclaim the throne, accusing his son of incompetence. Carlo Emanuele III thwarted this power play by having his father arrested and confined for the remainder of his life. Anna Canalis di Cumiana was also separately confined for the rest of her life.

Carlo Emanuele was a soldier-king who gained territory for his kingdom by fighting on the French side in the War of the Polish Succession and then on the Austrian side in the War of the Austrian Succession. His ancestors were avid art collectors and Carlo Emanuele was no different. He added many new paintings to the collection of the House of Savoy.

Tomb of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia; https://www.wga.hu/html_m/c/collino/filippo/carloem3.html

On February 20, 1773, at the Royal Palace in Turin, Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia died at the age of 71. He is buried in the Royal Crypt of the Basilica of Superga in Turin in a monumental tomb, the work of the sculptor Ignazio Collino. He survived his three wives, his five siblings, and six of his ten children.

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. Anne Christine of Sulzbach, Princess of Piedmont – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Christine_of_Sulzbach,_Princess_of_Piedmont> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Emmanuel_III_of_Sardinia> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Therese_of_Lorraine> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyxena_of_Hesse-Rotenburg> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/vittorio-amedeo-ii-king-of-sardinia/> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Carlo Emanuele III di Savoia – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Emanuele_III_di_Savoia> [Accessed 17 June 2021].

Anne Marie d’Orléans, 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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Anne Marie d’Orléans, Queen of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

Anne Marie d’Orléans was the first wife of Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia. She was born on August 27, 1669, at the Château de Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine, France, near Paris, France. Anne Marie had an impeccable royal genealogy. Her parents were first cousins. Her father was Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the younger of the two sons of Louis XIII, King of France and Anne of Austria, and the only sibling of Louis XIV, King of France. Her mother was Princess Henrietta of England, the youngest child of Charles I, King of England and Henrietta Maria of France. Philippe’s father Louis XIII and Henrietta’s mother Henrietta Maria were siblings, the children of Henri IV, King of France and Marie de Medici from the famous House of Medici. As the granddaughter of Louis XIII, King of France, Anne Marie was entitled to the style and title Her Royal Highness Petite-fille de France (Granddaughter of France).

Anne Marie had two siblings:

On June 30, 1670, when Anne Marie was only ten months old, her mother died at the age of 26. King Louis XIV wanted a male heir to continue the Orléans line and looked for a second wife for his brother Philippe himself. King Louis XIV rejected many potential second brides for his brother before settling on the Protestant Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, known as Liselotte. She was the only daughter of Karl I Ludwig, Elector Palatine and Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel. Liselotte’s paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James I of England and granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots. Liselotte converted to Roman Catholicism and married Philippe on November 19, 1671.

Anne Marie’s father Philippe I, Duke of Orléans; Credit – Wikipedia

Due to the attitude of the court, as well as the homosexual relations of her husband Philippe, which he did not hide, Liselotte devoted much attention to Philippe’s daughters. Liselotte acted as a mother to Anne Marie and her elder sister Marie Louise and maintained correspondence with them throughout their lives. As with his first marriage, Philippe had homosexual affairs but was intent on fulfilling his dynastic responsibility of having children. Philippe and Liselotte had three children who were the half-siblings of Anne Marie:

Anne Marie’s husband Vittorio Amdedeo II, King of Sardinia; Credit – Wikipedia

Always eager to maintain his influence in the Duchy of Savoy which bordered France, King Louis XIV of France offered his niece Anne Marie as a bride to Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy, the future King of Sardinia, and he agreed to the match. The proxy marriage of Vittorio Amedeus and Anne Marie took place at the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France on April 10, 1684. Anne Marie’s cousin Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine stood in for the groom and King Louis XIV gave Anne Marie a huge dowry of 900,000 livres. Philippe, Duke of Orléans accompanied his daughter as far as Juvisy-sur-Orge, 18 kilometers south of Paris, and then Christine d’Estrées, Comtesse de Lillebonne accompanied Anne Marie to Savoy. Anne Marie and Vittorio Amedeo met at the House of Savoy’s Château de Chambéry where the marriage ceremony was performed by Étienne Le Camus, Archbishop of Grenoble on May 6, 1684. Two days later, the newlyweds made their “Joyous Entry” into Turin.

Anne Marie and Vittoria Amedeo had six children:

Upon arrival at the court of Savoy, Anne Marie fell under the influence of her pro-French mother-in-law Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours who had been born at the Hôtel de Nemours in Paris and was a half-first cousin once removed of King Louis XIV of France. Vittorio Amadeus did not appreciate the close relationship between his wife and his mother. When Vittorio Amedus severed ties with France in 1690, Anne Marie, her children, and her mother-in-law left Turin, the capital of Savoy, for a period of time in protest. Vittorio Amedeo had extramarital affairs which Anne Marie quietly accepted. His longest affair, eleven years, was with Jeanne Baptiste d’Albert de Luynes with whom he had two children.

Vittorio Amadeo II and Anne Marie, King and Queen of Sardinia, circa 1723-1728; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 26, 1728, the day before her 59th birthday, at the Villa della Regina in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy, Anne Marie died after a series of heart attacks. She was buried at the Basilica of Superga in Turin.

Anne Marie is an important link in the Jacobite succession to the thrones of England and Scotland, and now to the United Kingdom.  In 1688, Anne Marie’s maternal uncle James II, King of England/James VII, King of Scots was deposed. After James II lost his throne, 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 the Jacobite claims to the British throne descended from the line of Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans, James II’s sister and Anne Marie’s mother. Since Anne Marie’s elder sister had died and had no children and her brother died in childhood, the Jacobite claims descended through Anne Marie. Her great-grandson Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia was the first Jacobite heir from the House of Savoy. All subsequent Jacobite heirs have been descendants of Anne Marie. Although no Jacobite heirs after James II’s son and grandsons made a claim on the British throne, the Jacobite line of succession has proceeded over the years from the House of Savoy to the House of Austria-Este, and to the House of Wittelsbach (Bavaria). It appears in the future, that it will proceed to the House of Liechtenstein.

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 Sardinia Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Anne Marie d’Orléans – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Marie_d%27Orl%C3%A9ans> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2019. Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/philippe-i-duke-of-orleans/> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/vittorio-amedeo-ii-king-of-sardinia/> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2021. Anna Maria di Borbone-Orléans – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Maria_di_Borbone-Orl%C3%A9ans> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • Jacobite.ca. 2021. The Jacobite Heritage. [online] Available at: <http://www.jacobite.ca/> [Accessed 17 June 2021].
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. 2021. Анна Мария Орлеанская — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%9E%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F> [Accessed 17 June 2021].

Crown Princess Susan of the Albanians

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Crown Princess Susan of the Albanians; photo: Albanian Royal Court

Crown Princess Susan was the wife of Crown Prince Leka I of the Albanians, the only son of King Zog I and Queen Geraldine. She was born Susan Barbara Cullen-Ward on January 28, 1941 in Waverley, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, one of five children of Alan Cullen-Ward and Phyllis Murray-Prior.

Raised on her family’s sheep farm in New South Wales, Australia, Susan attended the Ladies Presbyterian College in Orange, before attending the University of the Academy of Arts in Sydney, studying art, history and architecture. She returned to teach art at Ladies Presbyterian College and then ran her own interior design company in Sydney. An avid Egyptologist, she received a scholarship to attend Sorbonne University in France. It was there that she first met Crown Prince Leka I, who later invited her to come to Spain where she studied tourism. The couple was engaged in 1974.

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On April 8, 1975, Susan married Crown Prince Leka I in a civil ceremony in Biarritz, France. A religious ceremony was held the following October in Toledo, Spain where the couple received the blessing of the Muslim, Orthodox, Catholic, and Anglican religious leaders.

They had one son:

As Crown Princess, Susan was a strong supporter of her husband and his efforts to restore the Albanian monarchy and to make life better for the Albanian people. She established the Queen Susan Cultural Foundation in the United States, which worked to assist Albanians through medical aid and education. In that role, the Crown Princess traveled extensively throughout Europe and North America to promote and gain support.

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The Royal Family was invited to return to Albania in June 2002. Arriving with her husband, son, and Queen Geraldine, Susan continued her work for improving conditions for the Albanian people and remained steadfast in her unyielding support for her husband’s efforts. Sadly, just two years later, having been diagnosed with lung cancer, Crown Princess Susan died in a village near Tirana on July 17, 2004. She was buried alongside her mother-in-law in the Sharra cemetery, and in 2012, her remains were moved to the newly rebuilt Royal Mausoleum in Tirana, along with her husband and his parents.

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Albanian Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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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.