Prince Francis of the Two Sicilies, Count of Trapani
(Full
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
name: ''Francesco di Paola Luigi Emanuele, Principe di Borbone delle Due Sicilie'';
[ 13 August 1827 – ][ 24 September 1892][) was a member of the ]House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon that ruled Southern Italy and Sicily for more than a century in the 18th and 19th centuries. It descends from the Capetian dynasty in legitimate male line through Phili ...
.[
]
Life
Born in Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
, Francis was the youngest child and son of Francis I of the Two Sicilies
Francis I of the Two Sicilies (; 19 August 1777 – 8 November 1830) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1825 to 1830 and regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1806 to 1814.
Early life
Francis was born the son of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicili ...
and his second wife, Maria Isabella of Spain
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
* 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
.[ He received the title of Count of Trapani. He was three years old at the death of his father and the ascension of his brother ]Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand II (; ; ; 12 January 1810 – 22 May 1859) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his death in 1859.
Family
Ferdinand was born in Palermo to King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Maria Isabella of Spain. ...
to the throne. As the youngest son in a large family, he was destined to follow a career in the church and was educated at the Jesuit college in Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
.[Acton, ''The Last Bourbons of Naples'', p. 154] His religious career was abandoned in 1844 when his uncle King Louis Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...
proposed to marry Francis to the young Queen Isabella II of Spain
Isabella II (, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until her deposition in 1868. She is the only queen regnant in the history of unified Spain.
Isabella wa ...
. She was three years younger than him and was both his cousin and his niece. The French ambassador to the Holy See who met the Count of Trapani at this time described him unfavorably as " very ugly, small, of sickly appearance, without expression of intelligence; and when I remember in what condition of health I saw Queen Isabella during my stay in Spain (she suffered from an acute form of eczema), I cannot help thinking that at least from the physical point of view, they could choose better".[Acton, ''The Last Bourbons of Naples'', p. 155]
The Count of Trapani hesitated in putting forward his candidacy to marry Isabella II. His brother the Count of Aquila, his confessor, and the pro-Austrian party in Naples were all against the idea, thinking that he would be an instrument in King Louis Philippe's hands and that the Queen of Spain could not bear children.[Acton, ''The Last Bourbons of Naples'', p. 165] However, after a family council on 17 June 1845, Trapani accepted marrying his niece under pressure by his brother Ferdinand II, his mother, and the French ambassador. However, he could not ask for the Queen's hand, she had to offer it. Spain's prime minister Narvaez and Francis's sister Queen Maria Christina favored his candidacy. However, after the fall of Narvaez's government in April 1846, and facing the lack of support in Spain for the project, Maria Christina chose her nephew the Duke of Cadiz as a husband for her daughter in an agreement with King Louis Philippe.[Acton, ''The Last Bourbons of Naples'', p. 166]
Four years later, on 10 April 1850, Francis married another niece, Archduchess Maria Isabella of Austria, Princess of Tuscany, daughter of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Leopold II, , English: ''Leopold John Joseph Francis Ferdinand Charles''. (3 October 1797 – 29 January 1870) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1824 to 1859. He married twice; first to Maria Anna of Saxony, and after her death in 1832, to Mari ...
and his wife Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies
Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies () (19 December 1814 – 7 November 1898), was a princess of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by birth and Grand Duchess of Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Tuscany from 1833 to 1859 as the consort of Leopold II ...
. Their union was unpopular in Tuscany as the Bourbon of Naples were disliked on political grounds.[Acton, ''The Last Bourbons of Naples'', p. 306]
In spite of family intrigues, he was loyal to his brother Ferdinand II. Because he did not bother Ferdinand II with petitions, Francis was well liked by the king.[Acton, ''The Last Bourbons of Naples'', p. 319] Like his brothers, the Count of Syracuse Count of Syracuse may refer to:
* Jordan of Hauteville (1060–1092), count of Syracuse (1091–1092); reconquest from Arab holding in 1091
* Tancred, Count of Syracuse (12th century; )
* Simon, Count of Syracuse (12th century; )
* Alamanno da ...
and the Count of Aquila, Trapani had a weakness for women of easy virtue, but he did not get involve in scandals.[Acton, ''The Last Bourbons of Naples'', p. 343] At Ferdinand II's death on 22 May 1859, Trapani was entrusted with handling the army.[Acton, ''The Last Bourbons of Naples'', p. 385] During the short reign of his nephew King Francis II, Trapani, lacking in political acumen, provided him with little help in the critical time of the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicillies.[Acton, ''The Last Bourbons of Naples'', p. 432]
After the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by popula ...
fell in 1861 during the Expedition of the Thousand
The Expedition of the Thousand () was an event of the unification of Italy that took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from Quarto al Mare near Genoa and landed in Marsala, Sicily, in order to conquer the Ki ...
, the royal family went into exile. Francis and his family went to Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, where they were under the protection of Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...
. However, the Papal States
The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...
were also invaded in 1870 by Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
Victor Emmanuel II (; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di House of Savoy, Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia (also informally known as Piedmont–Sardinia) from 23 March 1849 u ...
and Francis and his family fled next to France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Francis died in 1892 in Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
at 65 years of age.
Issue
The Count of Trapani and his wife had six children:
* Princess Maria Antonietta of the Two Sicilies (16 March 1851 – 12 September 1938)
: ∞ Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta on 8 June 1868 in Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, had 12 children.
*Prince Leopoldo of the Two Sicilies (24 September 1853 – 4 September 1870)
*Princess Maria Teresa Pia of the Two Sicilies (7 January 1855 – 1 September 1856)
* Princess Maria Carolina of the Two Sicilies (21 February 1856 – 7 April 1941)
: ∞ Count Andrzej Przemysław Zamoyski on 19 November 1885 in Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, had 7 children.
*Prince Ferdinando of the Two Sicilies (25 May 1857 – 22 July 1859)
*Princess Maria Annunziata of the Two Sicilies (21 September 1858 – 20 March 1873)
Honours
* Knight of the Order of Saint Januarius (1830)
* Knight of the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece (1830)
* Knight of the Order of Charles III
* Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Ferdinand and of Merit
* Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa (1861)
* Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Joseph
* Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword
Ancestry
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis Of Trapani, Count, Prince
1827 births
1892 deaths
19th-century Neapolitan people
Princes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Counts of Trapani
19th-century Roman Catholics
Italian Roman Catholics
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain
Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa
Sons of kings