#francesco ii of the two sicilies

The infant Princess only lived three months. For a whole week Maria Sophia had sat by her cradle without undressing or going to bed, and after the child’s death in the evening she clung to the little corpse all night in a frenzy of despair. The Marquise de Sassenay has related that the French sculptor Prosper d’Epinay was to have done a portrait of the child. ‘One night he was suddenly wakened and told that Francis II wanted him to come at once. He hurried to the Farnese palace, where he found the King in tears. “My child has just died,” he said, “the Queen and I both wish you to make a cast of her face.” Never having practised this special art, d’Epinay went off to find one of the men he usually employed for such work. He could find nobody. Much upset but anxious to grant the King’s wish, he decided to run home and collect the necessary material for making the cast himself. On returning to the Farnese palace he was ushered into a large room dimly lighted. Its only piece of furniture was the cradle in which the dead Princess was lying. The Queen was weeping and praying on her knees, and the King knelt beside her. D’Epinay approached the royal couple and knowing how painful the process was to witness, he begged Francis to retire and escort the Queen from the room during the operation. The King then whispered to his wife, who made a gesture of refusal. D’Epinay insisted that he could not perform his task in the presence of their Majesties, who then decided to withdraw. Alone, the artist applied the plaster and waited for it to dry before removing it; but in his flutter he had forgotten to smear oil over the dead child’s face previously, so that when he wished to remove the plaster he failed. D’Epinay then had a moment of panic, and setting himself astride the cradle to increase his efforts he struggled to make the mask yield. While intent on this tragic task he thought of the parents’ anguish if the face of their child were disfigured by the operation. Mercifully their Majesties were spared this affliction, for eventually the mask yielded and the features remained intact.’ The Princess was buried in the church of Santo Spirito dei Napoletani behind the Farnese palace.

Acton, Harold Mario Mitchell (1961). The Last Bourbons of Naples (1825-1861)

ON THIS DAY, IN 1870, PRINCESS MARIA CRISTINA OF BOURBON-TWO SICILIES DIED AGED THREE MONTHS OLD. She was the only child of the last King of the Two Sicilies, Francesco II, and his wife Queen Marie Sophie (née Duchess in Bavaria). In 1984 her and her parents remains were moved to the Basilica of Santa Chiara, in Naples, and to this day they rest there.

[Giancarlo Giannini as Francesco II and Ornella Muti as Marie Sophie in ‘O re (1989)]

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.

The last Queen of Naples and the last Empress of Mexico

Some weeks ago I finished a Haslip’s biography on Maximilian and Charlotte, and one little tidbit that I found really interesting it’s that during her stay at Rome, when Charlotte had her mental breakdown, she was visited by the deposed Queen and King of the Two Sicilies, Marie and Francesco. I looked it up but I couldn’t find much more, so here is a compilation of all the quotes I found about it, from the oldest to the most recent:

A MELANCHOLY INCIDENT is related of the Empress of Mexico. Some little time ago, while still labouring under the delusion that she was being poisoned, she was visited by the Queen of Naples, and locking steadily at her, said, “Ah! how you are changed! I see they are also slowly poisoning you. What a change! What a change!” “Could anything,” adds the Contemporary Review, “be more sad than such a meeting of the two unfortunate Queens?”

Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette, 11 December 1866

October 8, at noon, the Empress received the visit of the once King and Queen of Naples, who were at that time in Rome. They advised her to be calm and to eat and drink without fear. “Be careful not to let them poison you too”, was the answer of the Empress.

Corti, Egon Caesar (1944). La tragedia de Maximiliano y Carlota

The King and Queen of Naples, who were living in exile in the Farnese Palace, were among the Empress’s first visitors, and Maria Sofia wrote to her sister Elisabeth in Vienna that they found Charlotte ‘in a state of nervous agitation, talking incessantly of poison’.

(…)

The following day, brother and sister were seen arm in arm touring the sights of Rome and Philippe was amazed at Charlotte’s knowledge of the churches. But the effort was too much for her tired brain, and after her farewell visit to the King and Queen of Naples, the Queen noted, ‘Poor Charlotte’s condition has sadly deteriorated.’

Haslip, Joan (1971). The Crown of Mexico: Maximilian and his Empress Carlota

On October 9 the Empress and the Count of Flanders left the hotel arm in arm for the railroad station. The King and Queen of Naples came to see them off and tried to calm her, saying she should not be afraid to eat or drink.She replied that they should be careful; the poisoners were everywhere; they had poisoned her mother and father, Albert Prince Consort, Lord Palmerston, many others.

Smith, Gene (1974).Maximilian and Carlota: the Habsburg tragedy in Mexico

As you can see, they are all kinda similar. I couldn’t find more info about what kind of relationship Marie and Charlotte (and Francesco too, let’s not forget about him) had before this, but I assume they weren’t close at all, given that this seems to be their only recorded interaction. In any case, I agree with the first quote: this was a sad meeting.