Princess Maria Felicita of Savoy (19 March 1730 – 13 May 1801) was a princess of the House of Savoy, the third daughter of

Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia Charles Emmanuel III (27 April 1701 – 20 February 1773) was Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death. Biography He was born in Turin to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and his first wife the French Anne Marie d'Orléans. H ...

and his second wife,

Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg Princess Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg (Polyxena Christina Johanna; 21 September 1706 – 13 January 1735) was the second wife of Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont whom she married in 1724. The mother of the future Victor Amadeus III ...

Biography

Clementi - Maria Felicita of Savoy as a child - Stupinigi

Born at the

Royal Palace of Turin The Royal Palace of Turin ( it, Palazzo Reale di Torino) is a historic palace of the House of Savoy in the city of Turin in Northern Italy. It was originally built in the 16th century and was later modernized by Christine Marie of France (1606–1 ...

, she was the third daughter of Charles Emmanuel III, King of Sardinia and his second wife

. Her mother died in 1735 when she was just four years old. Her father married again in 1737 to

Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine (15 October 1711 3 July 1741) was Queen of Sardinia as the wife of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia. She was born a Princess of Lorraine as the daughter of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine and Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orlé ...

, the youngest sister of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Charles Emmanuel III and Elisabeth Therese went on to have three children, including the

Duke of Chablais The title Duke of Chablais ( it, Duca di Chiablese, french: duc de Chablais) was a subsidiary title of the Duke of Savoy and later the King of Sardinia, both of the House of Savoy. The title is named after the province of Chablais, whose capi ...

. Her maternal cousins included Victor Amadeus, Prince of Carignan and his younger sister the future ''

princesse de Lamballe Princesse (French 'princess') may refer to: *"Princesse", single hit for Julie Zenatti * Princesse (Nekfeu song) * La Princesse 15-metre (50-foot) mechanical spider designed and operated by French performance art company La Machine. See also * P ...

'', both of which were born at the court of Savoy. Her paternal cousins included

Ferdinand VI of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Savoy , birth_date = 23 September 1713 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Madrid, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Villavi ...

, who was king of Spain at the time of her birth. She never married. She was described as very religious. She founded, with Giovanni Battista Canaveri, a home in her native Turin for widows and destitute noble women "Convitto Principessa Maria Felicita di Savoia". Canaveri was the director. It was made possible due to an act she had her brother implement, ''Convitto per donne nubili e vedove,'' for women in the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

. On 6 December 1798, the French First Republic declared war on

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. Her nephew Charles Emmanuel (then king) was forced to abdicate all his territories on the Italian mainland and to withdraw to the island of Sardinia. As Charles Emmanuel took little interest in the rule of what was left of his kingdom, he and Clotilde lived in Rome and then in Naples as guests of the wealthy Colonna family. Maria Felicita went with her nephew to live as fugitives in Italy. She died in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and was buried at the Royal Basilica of Superga overlooking Turin, the traditional burial place of the House of Savoy. She outlived all her siblings except the

Ancestry

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Felicita Of Savoy, Princess 1730 births 1801 deaths Nobility from Turin Princesses of Savoy Burials at the Basilica of Superga Daughters of kings