Prince Alberto of Naples and Sicily (Alberto Lodovico Maria Filipo Gaetano; 2 May 1792 – 25 December 1798) was a Prince of Naples and Sicily as the youngest son of King
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I (Italian language, Italian: ''Ferdinando I''; 12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, King of the Two Sicilies from 1816 until his death. Before that he had been, since 1759, King of Naples as Ferdinand I ...
and his wife
Maria Carolina of Austria
Maria Carolina of Austria (Maria Carolina Louise Josepha Johanna Antonia; 13 August 1752 – 8 September 1814) was Queen of Naples and Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand IV and III, who later became King of the Two Sicilies. As ''de facto' ...
. He died aged six near
Palermo, Sicily
Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
, during a storm on board , a British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
warship, whilst his family was fleeing, under the care of
Admiral Lord Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...
, from Napoleonic troops approaching Naples.
Origins
Alberto was a member of the
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...
of Naples, a Prince of Naples and Sicily by birth. He was born in Naples and baptised ''Alberto Lodovico Maria Filipo Gaetano'', the sixteenth child and seventh son of King
Ferdinand VI of Naples, by his wife
Maria Carolina of Austria
Maria Carolina of Austria (Maria Carolina Louise Josepha Johanna Antonia; 13 August 1752 – 8 September 1814) was Queen of Naples and Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand IV and III, who later became King of the Two Sicilies. As ''de facto' ...
, a daughter of
Empress Maria Theresa and thus a sister of
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...
. From his birth he was third in line to the Neapolitan throne after his brothers
Prince Francis, Duke of Calabria (later King Francis I of the Two Sicilies), and
Prince Leopold, Prince of Salerno, the other brother
Prince Carlo, Duke of Calabria having died of
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
[Dyson. C.C, ''The Life of Marie Amelie Last Queen of the French, 1782–1866'', BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, p. 50.] in 1778.
His elder sisters included
Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily (the future Holy Roman Empress),
Princess Luisa of Naples and Sicily
Luisa of Naples and Sicily (Luisa Maria Amalia Teresa; 27 July 1773 – 19 September 1802) was List of Tuscan consorts, Grand Duchess of Tuscany as the wife of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. She was born a princess of Naples and Sic ...
(Grand Duchess of Tuscany), Princess
Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily
Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily (Maria Cristina Amelia Teresa; 17 January 1779 – 11 March 1849) was a Princess of Naples and Sicily and later Queen of Sardinia as wife of King Charles Felix. She was a daughter of Ferdinand I of th ...
(Queen of Sardinia), the wife of King
Charles Felix of Sardinia
Charles Felix (; 6 April 1765 – 27 April 1831) was the King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard states from 12 March 1821 until his death in 1831. He was the last male-line member of the House of Savoy that started with Victor Amadeus I ...
; Maria Cristina's twin Princess Maria Cristina Amelia died in 1783 of smallpox. Another sister was the
Queen of the French[Dyson. C.C, ''The Life of Marie Amelie Last Queen of the French, 1782–1866'', BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, p. 50.] and the last surviving daughter was the future
Princess of Asturias
Prince or Princess of Asturias () is the main substantive title used by the heir apparent, or heir presumptive to the Spanish Crown. According to the Spanish Constitution of 1978:
The title originated in 1388, when King John I of Castile gr ...
.
His cousins included the
Duke of Parma
The Duke of Parma and Piacenza () was the ruler of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a List of historic states of Italy, historical state of Northern Italy. It was created by Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese) for his son Pier Luigi Farnese, Du ...
,
Grand Duke of Tuscany
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma, USA
* Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre
* Grand County (disambiguation), se ...
,
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
,
Queen of Portugal
This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portugal, Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution.
Thro ...
,
King of Spain
The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country.
The Spanish ...
and a
Duchess of Calabria
Duchess of Calabria was the traditional title of the wife of the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Naples after the accession of Robert of Naples. It was also adopted by the heads of certain Houses that had once claimed the Kingdom of Naples in lieu ...
, the first wife of his brother Francis.
Death

On the outbreak of the
French Revolution in 1789 the Neapolitan court was not hostile to the movement. However, when the French monarchy was abolished and
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...
and King
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...
(Alberto's aunt and uncle) were executed, his parents joined the
First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that succeeded it. They were only loosely allied ...
against France in 1793, a year after Alberto's birth.
Although peace was made with France in 1796, by 1798 conflict was again fierce. It was decided that the king and royal family should flee to the Kingdom of Sicily, to his secondary capital of
Palermo
Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
, leaving his primary capital in a state of anarchy.
During the cold and stormy night of 21 December 1798 the royal family including six-year-old Prince Alberto, and escorted in person by Admiral Nelson, left the royal palace at Naples and via a long underground tunnel reached the Vittoria landing stage where a British barge was waiting in the heavy swell of Naples Bay. It transferred them to the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
flagship waiting offshore out of range of cannon-fire, which was in turn protected by two Neapolitan
warship
A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...
s, three British transports and a Portuguese squadron. The ''Vanguard'' was overcrowded with many other Neapolitan and British refugees, and was "rolling at single anchor". It was not until two days later, at 7 pm on 23 December that the ''Vanguard'' set sail for Palermo. On 24 December in Nelson's own words "it blew harder than I have ever experienced since I have been at sea", and the ''Vanguard'' "laboured prodigiously" and "all rest was out of the question". The ''Vanguards topsails were blown to pieces, and "in the ladies' quarters the Duchess of Castelcicala cut her head on Admiral Nelson's sideboard and little Prince Alberto fell into convulsions". The Ambassadress "
Lady Hamilton, Nelson's mistress, and one of the Queen's stewards Saverio Rodino, a faithful and sure man, were the only passengers to keep their heads". In the words of Nelson, Lady Hamilton "from the moment that she had come on board ... had put him and the whole royal family under an eternal obligation". The Ambassador, her husband Sir William Hamilton, also "made every sacrifice for the comfort of the august royal family", but was found during the height of the gale in his cabin with pistols in each hand "resolved not to die with the 'guggle-guggle-guggle' of the salt water in his throat". On Christmas Day morning the wind moderated, and although Prince Alberto "apparently entirely recovered, ate a hearty breakfast", he soon afterwards began to "display symptoms of agony" and by 7 pm had died in the arms of Lady Hamilton, whose favourite of all the royal children he had become. A mourning brooch containing two lockets of his blonde hair survives in the
National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth
The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, formerly known as the Royal Naval Museum, is a museum of the history of the Royal Navy, history of the Royal Navy located in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard section of HMNB Portsmouth, Portsmo ...
(item RNM 1957/53) inscribed "Prince Albert died in my arms 25th Dec'r 1798", and on the reverse "1st Aug 98", with depiction of a gold trident breaking in two a French flag, the date of Nelson's victory in the
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; ) was fought between the Royal Navy and the French Navy at Abu Qir Bay, Aboukir Bay in Ottoman Egypt, Egypt between 1–3 August 1798. It was the climax of the Mediterranean ca ...
, which had saved the Kingdom of Naples from Napoleonic conquest by sea. It was presumably formerly the property of Lady Hamilton. The ''Vanguard'' disembarked the Queen and Princesses at Palermo at 2 am on 26 December, accompanied in person by Nelson, and the King disembarked at 9 am, also assisted by Nelson, at his secondary capital with formal ceremony. It is generally said that Alberto died of exhaustion,
after suffering four days on the stormy sea. He was buried in Palermo and his funeral was the first official engagement his family attended in Sicily.
He died on the same day as his cousin
Maria Amalia of Austria.
Letter from Admiral Nelson
On 28 December 1798 Nelson wrote concerning the voyage to Admiral
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent ( ; 9 January 1735 – 13 March 1823) was a British Royal Navy admiral and politician. He served throughout the latter half of the 18th century and into the 19th, and was an active commander during the Seven ...
, commander-in-chief of the fleet in the Mediterranean, including the following:
[National Archives, ADM 1/399 (N]
/ref>
:'' Your Lordship will believe that my anxiety was not lessened by the great charge that was with me, but not a word of uneasiness escaped the lips of any of the Royal Family. On the 25th, at 9AM, Prince Albert their Majesties’ youngest child, having eat a hearty breakfast, was taken ill, and at 7PM, died in the arms of Lady Hamilton; and here it is my duty to tell your Lordship the obligations which the whole Royal Family as well as myself are under on this trying occasion to her Ladyship.''
Ancestry
References and notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alberto Of Naples And Sicily, Prince
1792 births
1798 deaths
18th-century Neapolitan people
Neapolitan princes
Sicilian princes
18th-century royalty
Monarchs of Naples
Italian royalty who died as children
Sons of kings
Children of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
People who died at sea