Ferdinand I of the Two-Sicilies: Creation of the Kingdom

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Ferdinand IV-III of Naples and Sicily, Italy, King of Sardinia-Piedmont, Kingdom of Naples, Kingdom of Sicily, Kingdom of the Two-Sicilies, War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302)

The Kingdom of the Two-Sicilies was formed when the Kingdom of Sicily merged with the Kingdom of Naples, which was officially also known as the Kingdom of Sicily. Since both kingdoms were named Sicily, they were collectively known as the “Two Sicilies” (Utraque Sicilia, literally “both Sicilies”), and the unified kingdom adopted this name.

The Kingdom of Naples also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302), when the island of Sicily revolted and was conquered by the Crown of Aragon, becoming a separate kingdom also called the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1816, it reunified with the island of Sicily to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

The territory of the Kingdom of Naples, corresponded to the current Italian regions of Campania, Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise and also included some areas of today’s southern and eastern Lazio.

Nomenclature
The term “Kingdom of Naples” is in near universal use among historians, but it was not used officially by the government. Since the Angevins remained in power on the Italian peninsula, they kept the original name of the Kingdom of Sicily (regnum Siciliae). At the end of the War of the Vespers, the Peace of Caltabellotta (1302) provided that the name of the island kingdom would be Trinacria (regnum Trinacriae). However, this usage did not become established, and the island kingdom became known as the Kingdom of Sicily.

In the late Middle Ages, it was common to distinguish the two Sicilies by noting its location relative to the rest of Italy and the Punta del Faro, i.e., the Strait of Messina. The peninsular kingdom was known as Sicily citra Farum or al di qua del Faro (on this side of Faro), and the island kingdom was known as Sicily ultra Farum or di la del Faro (on the other side of Faro). When both kingdoms came under the rule of Alfonso the Magnanimous in 1442, this usage became official, although Ferdinand I (1458–94) preferred the simple title King of Sicily (rex Sicilie).

By the late Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Sicily citra Farum had become known colloquially as the Kingdom of Naples (regnum Neapolitanum or regno di Napoli). It was sometimes even called the regno di Puglia, the kingdom of Apulia. In the 18th century, the Neapolitan intellectual Giuseppe Maria Galanti argued that Apulia was the true “national” name of the kingdom. By the time of Alfonso the Magnanimous, the two kingdoms were sufficiently distinct that they were no longer seen as divisions of a single kingdom. Despite being repeatedly in personal union, they remained administratively separate. In 1816, the two kingdoms finally merged to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

HRH Princess Ileana of Romania

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Carol II of Romania, Czar Alexander II, Duke of Edinburgh, George II of Greece, Ileana of Romania, Italy, Michael I of Romania, Mother Alexandra, Peter II of Yugoslavia, Queen Victoria

HRH Princess Ileana of Romania (also Mother Alexandra) (5 January 1909-21 January 1991) was the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand I of Romania, and his consort Princess Marie of Edinburgh, Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Duchess of Saxony. She was a great-granddaughter of both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and of Czar Alexander II of Russia. She was born Her Royal Highness Ileana, Princess of Romania, Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. After marriage to Archduke Anton of Austria-Hungary, Prince of Tuscany, she was known as Her Imperial and Royal Highness, Ileana, Archduchess of Austria, Princess Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Tuscany, Princess of Romania, Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Princess Ileana’s paternity is also in question. It has been claimed, or rumored, that Although it was rumored that Ileana’s real father was not the King of Romania but her mother’s lover, Prince Barbu Ştirbey. Despite the rumor the King did admit paternity. Princess Ileana had four older siblings: King Carol II of Romania, Elisabeth (wife of King George II of the Hellenes), Marie (wife of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia),  Nicholas, and  her youngest brother, Mircea, was also claimed to be the child of Prince Ştirbey even though the King also claimed to be his father.

After Michael I of Romania abdicated, Ileana and her family were exiled from the newly Communist Romania. They escaped by train to the Russian sector of Vienna, then divided into three parts. After that they settled in Switzerland, then moved to Argentina and in 1950, she and the children moved to the United States, where she bought a house in Newton, Massachusetts.

The years from 1950 to 1961 were spent lecturing against communism, working with the Romanian Orthodox Church in the United States, writing two books: I Live Again, a memoir of her last years in Romania, and Hospital of the Queen’s Heart, describing the establishment and running of the hospital.

On 29 May 1954, Ileana and Anton officially divorced and she married secondly in Newton, Massachusetts, on 20 June 1954, to Dr. Stefan Nikolas Issarescu (October 1906 – 21 December 2002).

In 1961, Princess Ileana entered the Orthodox Monastery of the Protection of the Mother of God, in Bussy-en-Othe, France. Her second marriage ended in divorce in 1965. On her tonsuring as a monastic, in 1967, Sister Ileana was given the name Mother Alexandra. She moved back to the United States and founded the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, the first English language Orthodox monastery in North America. She was the third female descendant of Queen Victoria to become a Mother Superior in a convent of her own foundation. She served as abbess until her retirement in 1981, remaining at the monastery until her death. In January 1991, she suffered a broken hip in a fall on the evening before her eighty-second birthday, and while in hospital, suffered two major heart attacks. She died four days after the foundations had been laid for the expansion of the monastery.

Ileana and Archduke Anton had six children; they were raised in the Roman Catholic faith of her husband and of the country:

Archduke Stefan of Austria (5 August 1932 – 12 November 1998)

Archduchess Maria Ileana of Austria (Minola) (18 December 1933 – 11 January 1959)

Archduchess Alexandra of Austria (Sandi) (born 21 May 1935)

Archduke Dominic of Austria (Niki) (born 4 July 1937)

Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria (Magi) (born 2 October 1939)

Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria (Herzi) (born 15 January 1942)

Royal Genealogy ~ Queen Victoria & Prince Albert

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Buckingham Palace, Charles II of England and Scotland, Denmark, Duke of York, Ernst August of Hanover, France, Friedrich I of Prussia, Friedrich III, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Italy, James VI-I of Scotland and England, Kings and Queens of England, Portugal, Prince Frederick, Princess Victoria, Queen Victoria, Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain, Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia), Spain, The Princess Royal, United Kingdom of Great Britain, Victoria and Albert, Wilhelm II of Germany

When I began my interest in royalty, genealogy was the doorway by which I entered. After sorting out the genealogy of the British Royal Family the era that piqued my interest the most was the Victorian Era. To be more accurate I also am equally interested in the Edwardian Age and the time until the end of the First World War. One of the things I have read frequently is the statement that the descendants of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert married into all the great Royal Houses of Europe. While this is true, in some ways I find it misleading because royals marrying royals is a practice that had been going on for centuries. Today all the reigning royal families are related and this is nothing new.

Let us take the marriage of Victoria and Albert’s eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal, and her marriage to the future Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia as an example. The two royals were already related. Both were descendants of Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia) and Elector Ernst August of Hanover, the line from which the royal family earned its claim to the throne. Electress Sophia’s daughter, also named Sophia, married King Friedrich I of Prussia and their son, King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia married his first cousin, Princess Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain. The next time the Prussians and the British royal family mingled was when Friedrich III’s great aunt, Princess Frederica, married Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal’s great uncle, Prince Frederick, Duke of York. Their mutual descent from the Electress Sophia made Fritz and Vicky 5th cousins.

Even if you go further back into the British Royal Family’s genealogy, their members frequently married into or chose members from the reigning houses that ruled France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Italy and many others. Charles II of England and Scotland was the first cousin of King Louis XIV of France. The marriage of Charles’ grandfather, James VI-I of Scotland and England married, Anne, the daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark and from this union also descends many of the great royal houses of Europe.

As I discuss this topic on Monday we will come to see all the myriad ways in which the various royal families are related.

Pretenders to the Throne.

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Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, France (Royal & Imperial), Greece, Italy, Romania, Russia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

As my love for European Royalty quickly expanded beyond and interest in the British Royal Family and into other European royal houses I began to wonder about the royal families of countries where the monarchy had been abolished. I wondered what became of them, who would be king/queen/emperor had the monarchy not been abolished? Is there any chance that any of these former countries would return to a monarchical form of government? How does these former royal families live and how are they treated in their former territories?

Tomorrow I will begin looking at all the pretenders to vacant or non existent thrones in Europe. I have learned that the pretenders to these thrones live various lifestyles. Some are more public while others live more private lives. There is also various levels of wealth these people live with. Some families still hold onto the traditions and rules that the family held when they were in power. Another thing I learned that almost all of these former thrones are hotly contested among these families and there are more than one member claiming the throne of their ancestors.

So in the days to come I will examine the claims and the claimants to the thrones of France (Royal & Imperial), Russia, Italy, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Austria-Hungary, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and other minor royal houses of Germany.

HRH Prince Henri VII, Count of Paris and Duke of France. Pretender to the throne of France.

HRH Prince Louis XX, Duke of Anjou and Maria, Duchess of Anjou. Pretender to the French throne.