| Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies | |
|---|---|
| Queen consort of the French | |
 |
|
| Tenure | 9 August 1830 – 24 February 1848 |
| Spouse | Louis-Philippe I, King of the French |
| Issue | |
| Ferdinand-Philippe, Prince Royal Louise-Marie, Queen of the Belgians Princess Marie Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours Clémentine, Princess of Kohary François, Prince of Joinville Prince Henri, Duke of Aumale Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier |
|
| House | House
of Orléans House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies |
| Father | Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies |
| Mother | Maria Carolina of Austria |
| Born | 26 April 1782 Caserta Palace, Italy |
| Died | 24 March 1866 (aged 83) Claremont, Surrey, England |
Maria Amalia Teresa of the Two Sicilies (26 April 1782 – 24 March 1866) was Queen of the French from 1830–1848, consort to King Louis-Philippe.
Contents |
Marie-Amelie was born on 26 April 1782 at the Caserta Palace outside Naples, Italy. Her parents were the King of Naples and Sicily, Ferdinand IV, and his wife, Maria Carolina. Her mother’s sister, Marie-Antoinette, was queen of France at the time of Marie-Amelie’s birth and her grandmother was Maria-Theresa.[1] As a young Italian princess, she was educated in the Catholic tradition which she appears to have taken to heart.[1] Her mother, Maria Carolina, like her famous mother before her, Marie-Therese, made an effort to be a part of her daughter’s life, though she was cared for daily by her governess, Donna Vicenza Rizzi.[2] As a child, Marie-Amelie’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.[3] Tragically, her young fiance died in 1789.[4]
Marie-Amelie 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.[5] 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, also forced from his home in France due to political complications of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon.[1] Louis-Philippe's father, the previous Duc d’Orleans, had been guillotined during the French Revolution, though he had advocated it in the early years.[6] The two were married in 1809, three years after they met in Italy whereupon Marlie-Amelie became the Duchess d’Orleans.[1] 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.[1] Prior to her husband’s rise to power, Marie-Amelie 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.[7] This must have been particularly difficult for Marie-Amelie given her ideas about the superiority of royals and the ways in which they were to conduct themselves.
During the d’Orleans’ 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 Duc d’Orleans. 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.[8]
In 1830, following what is known as the July Revolution, Louis-Philippe became king of France, with Marie-Amelie as his consort and queen of the July Monarchy. Marie-Amelie did not play an active role in politics and in fact made a concerted effort to remove herself from it.[9] 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, Marie-Amelie 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.[1]
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, Marie-Amelie continued to live in England where she attended daily Mass and was well known to Queen Victoria.[10] Queen Marie-Amelie died on 24 March 1866.[11] After her death, the dress she had kept since 1848 when her husband had left France was put on her, according to her desire.[12]
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Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies
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-Charlotte 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 of 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 |
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