| Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Tenure | 9 August 1830 – 24 February 1848 |
| Spouse | Louis Philippe I |
| Issue | |
| Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans Louise, Queen of the Belgians Marie, Duchess Alexander of Württemberg Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours Princess Françoise of Orléans Clémentine, Princess of Kohary Prince François, Prince of Joinville Prince Charles, Duke of Penthièvre Prince Henri, Duke of Aumale Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier |
|
| Full name | |
| Maria Amalia Teresa | |
| House | House of Orléans (by marriage) House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (by birth) |
| Father | Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies |
| Mother | Maria Carolina of Austria |
| Born | 26 April 1782 Caserta Palace, Caserta, Kingdom of Naples |
| Died | 24 March 1866 (aged 83) Claremont, Surrey, England |
| Burial | Chapelle royale de Dreux, Dreux, France |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily sometimes known as Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies (Maria Amalia Teresa; 26 April 1782 – 24 March 1866) was a Princess of Naples and Sicily[1] and later the Queen of the French from 1830–1848, consort to Louis Philippe I.
Contents |
Maria Amalia was born on 26 April 1782 at the Caserta Palace just outside of Naples. Her father was King Ferdinand IV & III of Naples and Sicily (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies). Her mother was Ferdinand's wife Maria Carolina of Austria, an Austrian archduchess and daughter of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Maria Carolina was one of the older sisters of the famous French queen Marie Antoinette. Maria Amalia's parents had a total of nine children, of which Maria Amalia was the seventh. Maria Amalia's siblings were:
As a young Italian princess, she was educated in the Catholic tradition which she appears to have taken to heart. Her mother, Maria Carolina, like her famous mother before her,[2] Empress Maria Theresa, made an effort to be a part of her daughter's life, though she was cared for daily by her governess, Donna Vicenza Rizzi.[3] As a child, Maria Amalia's mother and her aunt, Marie Antoinette, arranged for her to be engaged to Marie Antoinette's son, the future king of France, due to which, her mother encouraged her to remember that she would someday be his queen.[4] Tragically, her young fiance died in 1789.[5]
Maria Amelia faced chaos and upheaval from a young age. The death of her aunt Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution and her mother's subsequent dramatic actions emblazoned the event in the young girl's memory.[6]
On the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 the Neapolitan court was not hostile to the movement. When the French monarchy was abolished and her aunt and uncle were executed, her parents joined the First Coalition against France in 1793.
Although peace was made with France in 1796, by 1798 conflict was again fierce. It was decided that the royal family flee to the Kingdom of Sicily. The family left Naples on 21 December 1798 on board the HMS Vanguard, a British Royal navy vessel which was in turn protected by two Neapolitan warships.
It was on board the warship that her younger brother Alberto died of exhaustion on Christmas Day aged 6, 1798.[2] He was buried in Palermo soon after the family arrived there; his funeral was the first official engagement his family attended in Sicliy.[2]
She was forced to leave her home at the age of 18 and spent the next few years jumping from various royal dwellings to escape turbulent times in Italy.
While in flight, she encountered her future husband, Louis Philippe d'Orléans, also forced from his home in France due to political complications of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. Louis-Philippe's father, the previous Duke of Orléans, had been guillotined during the French Revolution, though he had advocated it in the early years.[7]
The two were married in 1809, three years after they met in Italy whereupon Marie-Amelie became the Duchess of Orléans. Unfortunately for Marlie-Amelie, she went to France with her new husband in 1814, where she attempted to make a home with her growing family, but with Napoleon's brief return, she was forced to flee yet again. Prior to her husband's rise to power, Maria Amalia and her husband had to cope with a persistent money problem due to the fact that they had no income aside from that which they were given by the English crown.[8] This must have been particularly difficult for Maria Amalia given her ideas about the superiority of royals and the ways in which they were to conduct themselves.
During the Orléans’ time in France prior to Louis-Philippe's coronation, the family lived in the Palais-Royal which had been the home of Louis Philippe's father, the previous Duke of Orléans. Despite the monetary worries of the family, in total, the house was returned to its original splendor at cost to the couple of eleven million francs.[9]
In 1830, following what is known as the July Revolution, Louis-Philippe became king of France, with Maria Amalia as his consort and queen of the July Monarchy. Maria Amalia did not play an active role in politics and in fact made a concerted effort to remove herself from it.[10] This seems to have been the result of her personality, training, and conception of the role of monarchy. She may also have been aware of the backlash in France against women asserting power over politics where, it was thought, they had undue influence. This became painfully clear with the example of her late aunt, Marie Antoinette. Though she was not a political woman, as a queen known to be a staunch supporter of monarchy in its traditional conception, Maria Amalia was able to escape the suspicion of many of the French who worried that her husband's ideology was not monarchical enough and tended toward middle class, bourgeois, values at the expense of the proper treatment and conduct of royalty.
After her husband was forced from kingship in the extremely turbulent events of the Revolution of 1848, the royal family fled to England. Louis-Philippe died two years later. After the death of her husband, Maria Amalia continued to live in England where she attended daily Mass and was well known to Queen Victoria.[11] Queen Maria Amalia died on 24 March 1866.[12] After her death, the dress she had kept since 1848 when her husband had left France was put on her, according to her last wishes.[13]
| Name | Picture | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Ferdinand d'Orléans | 3 September 1810 | 13 July 1842 | Married Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had issue. | |
| Louise d'Orléans | 3 April 1812 | 11 October 1850 | Married Leopold I of Belgium, had issue. | |
| Princess Marie d'Orléans | 12 April 1813 | 6 January 1839 | Married Duke Alexander of Württemberg, had issue. | |
| Prince Louis d'Orléans | 25 October 1814 | 26 June 1896 | Married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had issue. | |
| Princess Françoise Louise Caroline d'Orléans | 26 March 1816 | 20 May 1818 | Died aged two. Baptised on 20 July 1816, with Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor as her godfather. | |
| Princess Clémentine d'Orléans | 6 March 1817 | 16 February 1907 | Married Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had issue. | |
| Prince François d'Orléans | 14 August 1818 | 16 June 1900 | Married Princess Francisca of Brazil, had issue. | |
| Prince Charles d'Orléans | 1 January 1820 | 25 July 1828 | Died aged eight. | |
| Prince Henri d'Orléans | 16 January 1822 | 7 May 1897 | Married Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, had issue. | |
| Prince Antoine d'Orléans | 31 July 1824 | 4 February 1890 | Married Infanta Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier, had issue. |
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Maria_Amalia_of_the_Two_Sicilies Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies] at Wikimedia Commons
|
Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily
Cadet branch of the House of Bourbon
Born: 26 April 1782 Died: 24 March 1866 |
||
| French royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant
Title last held by
Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of Franceas Queen of France and of Navarre |
Queen consort of the French 9 August 1830–24 February 1848 |
Vacant
Title next held by
Eugénie de Montijoas Empress of the French |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Vacant
Title last held by
Marie Thérèse of Franceas Queen of France and of Navarre |
— TITULAR — Queen consort of the French 24 February 1848–26 August 1850 |
Vacant
Title next held by
Marie Isabelle d'Orléans |
| Preceded by Marie Thérèse of Austria-Este as consort of the disputed king, also titular queen until 1883 |
Vacant
Title next held by
Marie Beatrice of Austria-Esteas Queen of France and Navarre |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||