#empress victoria of germany

Some mentions of the Neapolitan Bourbons that I found in these letters from Queen Victoria and her daughter Vicky

Fragment of a letter from Queen Victoria to her daughter Victoria, Princess of Prussia:

WINDSOR CASTLE, NOVEMBER 28, 1860

(…) I send you (to look at only) a wonderful photo: of the Queen of Naples, which Countess Bernstorff gave me. It must be in her hunting costume—for she is a great sportswoman and an excellent shot. Pity she didn’t shoot Garibaldi —Papa says. She certainly smokes, but I don’t know about the Empress of Austria.

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Dearest child; letters between Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal, 1858-1861

The book identifies the “Queen of Naples” that Victoria mentions as: “This is crearly the Queen Dowager. She was Theresa, daughter of an Austrian archduke and widow of King “Bomba” of Naples”. Which is clearly wrong, because Victoria is obviously talking about Marie Sophie, the wife of King Francesco II; at the moment this letter was written she was leading the resistance at Gaeta, the last bastion of the Bourbons in Naples during the Unification of Italy - hence the “Pity she didn’t shoot Garibaldi” comment that Prince Albert made. That’s also why she next mentions Empress Elisabeth of Austria: she was Marie Sophie’s elder sister (and in case you were wondering, yes she also smoked - allegedly her younger sister taught her).

Two years later Vicky and her husband Crown Prince Friedrich “Fritz” of Prussia were touring (?) in Italy and met some members of the now exiled Royal Family of Naples at Rome:

Fragments of letters from Victoria, Crown Princess of Prussia to her mother Queen Victoria:

ROME, NOVEMBER 15, 1862

(…) Fritz and I paid our visit to the Queen Dowager of Naples [Maria Theresa, neé Archduchess of Austria] today after Fritz had seen the King [Francesco II]. She is not attractive and was surrounded by pale, delicate-looking children of almost every age.

ROME, NOVEMBER 19, 1862

(…) You know we—that is Fritz and I—have seen the King of Naples. He is a wretched object I think, “il fait pitie”. He is too frightful, stammers when he speaks and twitches with his eyes. He tried to be as civil and amiable as he could—and has really a very good natured expression, but that is all I can say for him. The old Queen looks very cross indeed. The Count of Trani [Prince Luigi, the ex-King of Naples’ brother] is the nicest and his wife [Mathilde in Bavaria, Queen Marie Sophie’s sister] very pretty and showy-looking though not a real beauty. She must be very like her sister the Empress of Austria—though of course not to be compared to her in beauty. The Count and Countess of Trapani [Prince Francesco, the ex-King’s uncle, who was married to his niece Maria Isabella of Tuscany] are quiet sort of people and their five children look very delicate.

Victoria, Crown Princess of Prussia. Dearest mama; letters between Queen Victoria and the Crown Princess of Prussia, 1861-1864

Vicky doesn’t paint a great picture of King Francesco, and in this she’s in line with most of his contemporaries; the guy was just really introverted (can relate). She had a better impression of the Count and Countess of Trani, which made me glad because it’s hard to find information on Mathilde, so thanks Vick for acknowledging her existence.

During Vicky and Fritz’ visit there was one person from the Neapolitan Royal Family absent: Queen Marie Sophie. She had left Rome in July, departing for her homeland Bavaria - officially for health reasons, but it seems that in fact she just could no longer stand her family by marriage. Tensions between Marie Sophie and her husband and step-mother-in-law were reported in several newspapers, although during this time there were also many malicious rumors spread to discredit the deposed Neapolitan royals, as the reports also note. One of these rumors was that she actually was pregnant by a lover, this being the real reason why she left in such a hurry. Allegedly, she gave birth to an illegitimate child on November 24 - only days after Vicky and Fritz met the ex-King.

The whole pregnancy and illegitimate child business it’s something I’ve read as a fact in many books, and yet the concrete evidence of this is actually very dizzy; this however is a topic for another post. Whatever was the truth for Marie Sophie’s absence she did finally came back to Rome next year and reconciled with her husband. I don’t know if she ever met Vicky - I couldn’t find any mention of it.