Princess Maria-Carolina of Bourbon-Two Siciles
She is the first Sicilian royal princess born in Italy since the House of Bourbon of the Two Sicilies was exiled following the annexation of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily to the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The Bourbons of Naples, who lived in exile from early 1861 until July 1943, when Allied troops liberated Sicily from Fascism and the House of Savoy (its own dynastic heads unjustly exiled from 1946 until 2002), ruled Sicily from Naples from 1734 until 1860. Born in Rome on 23 June 2003 to Prince Carlo de Bourbon (di Borbone), Duke of Calabria, and his wife, Camilla, blue-eyed Maria Carolina is named for her ancestor Queen Marie Caroline (1752-1814), daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria, Consort of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (1751-1825), and favourite sister of Marie Antoinette. Through her father, Maria Carolina is descended directly in the male line from Hugh Capet, Charlemagne, the Angevins and Bourbons to Louis XIV. Through her mother, she has Italian, Hungarian and Teutonic bloodlines. She is related, through one line or another, to most of the Catholic royal dynasties of Europe, particularly closely to the Habsburgs of Austria and the Bourbons of France and Spain. She is also descended from the Norman kings of Sicily and from various French and Italian noble families, a complex heritage reflected in the coat of arms of the House of the Two Sicilies (shown here).
To place all of this in perspective, Carlo's father, Prince Ferdinando, Duke of Castro, would be King of Naples and Sicily (the "Two Sicilies") if southern Italy were still a sovereign kingdom. An academic issue, as the Savoys, the last dynasty to rule Italy, have not reigned since Italy became a republic in June 1946, and the chance of Italy becoming a monarchy could be said not to even exist. But from a purely historical perspective, the Bourbons of Naples are still a point of reference for southern Italians. While noble titles are not formally recognised in Italy, Sicily's ancien regime still looks to the "Borboni" as its own royal family. It's really a simple question of history, heritage and society. And, to at least some extent, pedigrees. The Sicilian aristocracy isn't what it used to be; palatial homes have been lost and lifestyles are often far from distinguished, but a sense of lineage and tradition still exists in a few families.
Carlo and Camilla visit Sicily occasionally, and their dynasty's Constantinian Order of Saint George, an aristocratic order of knighthood which Carlo's father still bestows today (Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a knight of the order), supports various charitable works in Sicily and throughout Italy. In Sicily, most knights and dames of the Constantinian Order are descended from the old nobility. The Neo Bourbon Movement, a regionalist organisation which seeks to make known the accomplishments of southern Italian society in the Bourbon years, is also closely linked to Carlo di Borbone. Two of the family's palaces, the Chinese Palace in Palermo (in the lush royal park known as the "Favorita") and the Ficuzza hunting lodge in a forest near Corleone, both built around 1800 when Ferdinando I and Marie Caroline were here, are lasting testaments to the dynasty's presence in Sicily. Closer to Naples, the Bourbons' country estate at Caserta was Italy's most splendid royal residence (filmed for the interior scenes of the Castle of the Queen of Naboo in the most recent Star Wars movies); its royal apartments and gardens are now open to the public and house part of a military academy.
The Duke and Duchess of Calabria divide their time between Rome and Monte Carlo. Maria Carolina is their first child. As Hereditary Prince of the Two Sicilies, Prince Carlo is first in line to be head of his dynasty after his father, who lives in the South of France. He is "the man who would be king" of Sicily, lawful heir to Roger II, Sicily's first Norman sovereign. It all seems slightly hypothetical, perhaps even a touch mystical, except for its strong symbolic element. History, after all, is based on actual events, and not on "what if?"
All the same, Maria Carolina of the Two Sicilies, like her ancestral namesake, is part of a historic --and very regal-- tradition.
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