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HM Queen Marie Caroline of Naples and Sicily

Maria Carolina of Austria (German: Maria Karolina von Österreich; Italian: Maria Carolina d'Austria; 13 August 1752 – 8 September 1814), born Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria (German: Erzherzogin Maria Karolina von Österreich), and later becoming Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and the Two Sicilies (Italian: Maria Carolina, Regina di Napoli e delle Due Sicilie) was queen consort and de facto ruler of Naples from 1768 to 1799 and from 1799 to 1806, and of Sicily from 1768 until her death in 1814, though she had lost the de facto power in 1812. She was born an Austrian Archduchess and was a sister of Marie Antoinette.

Archduchess Maria Carolina Ludovica Josepha Johanna Antonia of Austria, Princess Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Tuscany was born in 1752, the daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies

On 12 May 1768, she married the young Ferdinand IV of Naples who was also Ferdinand III of Sicily. Ferdinand was intelligent but very indolent, and Maria Carolina took advantage of that to assume control of the affairs of the kingdom. On 14 August 1777, when she gave birth to a male heir, Francis, she became a Counsellor of State, and she took advantage of this position of political influence. She inherited much of her mother's intelligence, but was also ambitious and cruel, wanting to raise the kingdom to a position of power. Maria Carolina eventually established a tyrannical reign through her husband's power.

Like her sister, Marie Antoinette, her daughter, Maria Amalia became queen consort of France. Another of her daughters, Maria Teresa, became the wife of the Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. Later, the eldest daughter of Maria Teresa, Marie Louise, became the second wife of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French.

Ferdinand and Maria Caroline's children were:

• Maria Teresa (1772-1807), who married her first cousin Francis II of Austria.
• Luisa Maria Amelia Teresa (27 July 1773 - 19 Sept 1802), who married her first cousin Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
• Carlo (4 Jan 1775 - 17 Dec 1778)
• Maria Anna (23 Nov 1775 - 22 Feb 1780)
• Francis I of the Two Sicilies (1777-1830)
• Maria Cristina Amelia (17 Jan 1779 - 11 Mar 1849), who married Charles Felix of Sardinia.
• Carlo (12 April 1780 - 2 Jan 1789)
• Giuseppe (18 Jan 1781 - 19 Dec 1783)
• Maria Amalia (1782-1866), who married the future Louis-Philippe of France in 1809.
• Stillborn (1783)
• Maria Antonietta (1784-1806), who married her first cousin Ferdinand VII of Spain.
• Maria Clothilde (18 February 1786 - 12 Sept 1792)
• Maria Enrichetta (31 July 1787 - 20 Sept 1792)
• Carlo (26 Aug 1788 - 1 February 1789)
• Leopoldo (1790-1851), Prince of Salerno, who married his niece Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, daughter of his sister Maria Teresa.
• Alberto (2 May 1792 - 24 Dec 1798)
• Maria Isabella (2 Dec 1793 - 23 April 1801)

During the French Revolution, the queen actually sympathized with the French rebels until the French monarchy was abolished on 21 September 1792. She further turned against the rebels with the execution of first her brother-in-law Louis XVI of France (21 January 1793) and then her own younger sister Marie Antoinette (16 October, 1793).

The Queen and her husband were horrified, and Maria Carolina used her uxorious husband to bring the Neopolitan and Sicilian armies into the First Coalition against France. Peace was made in 1796.

Maria Carolina and Ferdinand I, King of the two Siciles, with their children(painting by Angélica Kauffmann)

Early in 1799, Naples had its own (albeit short-lived) revolution, which replaced the Kingdom of Naples with the Parthenopaean Republic. In June, restoration forces commanded by Cardinal Ruffo destroyed the republic, returning the royal family to control. Before entry of the British fleet, allied to the court and commanded by Lord Nelson into the Bay of Naples, a capitulation treaty had been signed by Ruffo giving many republicans safe-passage to France.

The king and queen, intent on crushing the republican spirit and showing no mercy to the rebels, worked through Lady Hamilton, wife of the British Ambassador and mistress of Lord Nelson - who was at the time the Queen's close friend and confidant - to dupe the republicans into putting themselves into a position in which they could be captured. Several thousand of them were summarily judged and hanged.

In 1806, her husband was deposed as King of Naples (thus deposing her as de facto ruler) by Napoleon Bonaparte. However, Maria Carolina retained her status and power in Sicily until 1812, when her husband essentially (but not officially) abdicated, appointing his son Francis regent, which deprived the queen of her influence, and Maria Carolina was exiled to her homeland Austria, where she died in 1814. After her death, her husband became subservient to the will of Austria with his top advisor Maria Carolina gone.

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Maria Karolina of Austria