Charles Ferdinand, Prince of Capua
Prince Charles | |
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Prince of Capua | |
Maria Isabella of Spain |
Prince Charles of the Two Sicilies, Prince of Capua[
Early life
Charles was the second-eldest son of
At age 19, Charles was named Vice-Admiral.
During the winter of 1835, the Prince of Capua fell in love with Penelope Smyth, the younger daughter of Grice Smyth (1762-1816), Esquire of Ballynatray House, Co. Waterford, Ireland, and sister of Sir John Rowland Smyth,[2] a beautiful Anglo-Irish woman visiting Naples. Ferdinand II forbade their union, as it would be a morganatic marriage.[1] On 12 January 1836 the couple eloped. Ferdinand II forfeited his brother's income, denounced Charles's departure as illegal and tried to prevent the marriage.[3]
On 12 March 1836, King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, issued a decree upholding the 1829 decision of the brothers' late father, King Francis I of the Two Sicilies, that members of the blood-royal of the kingdom whatever their age were required to obtain the consent of the sovereign to marry, and marriages made without this consent were to be deemed to be null and void.
Exile
Defying his brother's will, Charles married morganatically Penelope Smyth on 5 April 1836 in Gretna Green, the first stagecoach stop in Scotland after the border city of Carlisle. It was a popular place for young lovers to marry since it was sufficient there for couples to declare their wish to marry before witnesses, and residence requirement or parental consent was not needed.
Later, Charles applied for
The Prince of Capua and Penelope had two children:[citation needed]
- Francesco, Conte di Mascali (24 March 1837 – 2 June 1862)
- Vittoria di Borbone, Contessa di Mascali (15 May 1838 – 9 August 1895)
Ferdinand II never forgave his runaway brother. Charles was forced to live for the rest of his life in exile. He remained loyal to his wife, but all of his estates were confiscated except the county of Mascali in Sicily, which he had inherited from his father.[7] As Mascali was not run efficiently, it provided just a small revenue and the prince had to live modestly.[8] For years, Charles tried to obtain a pardon from his brother and be allowed to return to Naples but to no avail. He had to settle in London at the expense of his wife and her relatives and accumulated debts.[9]
The government of
A contemporary who met him in the Tuileries Palace in 1853 described him as follows: "The Prince is stout, vulgar, and usually rigged up like a rustic charlatan. He is adorned with a long and dirty grey beard, and his hair is also long, dirty and grey".[11]
When his brother Ferdinand II died on 22 May 1859, Charles's hopes were raised. Ferdinand II bequeathed him a small amount of money, and the new King Francis II, his nephew, ordered the restoration of all of his income and property. However, Charles, who moved between
Charles was offered an allowance by King
Honours
- Knight of the Order of Saint Januarius
- Knight of the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece (1826)
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Ferdinand and of Merit
- Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit
Ancestry
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Notes
- ^ a b c Acton, The Last Bourbons of Naples, p. 90
- ^ Burke, Bernard (1879). A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. London, Harrison. p. 1486. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
- ^ Acton, The Last Bourbons of Naples, p. 91
- ^ The Times, 7 May 1836
- ^ The Times, 5 May 1836
- ^ The Times, 11 May 1836
- ^ Acton, The Last Bourbons of Naples, p. 93
- ^ Acton, The Last Bourbons of Naples, p. 94
- ^ Acton, The Last Bourbons of Naples, p. 117
- ^ a b Acton, The Last Bourbons of Naples, p. 340
- ^ a b Acton, The Last Bourbons of Naples, p. 341
- ^ a b Acton, The Last Bourbons of Naples, p. 468
- ^ Acton, The Last Bourbons of Naples, p. 469
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ a b Navarrete Martínez, Esperanza Navarrete Martínez. "María de la O Isabel de Borbón". Diccionario biográfico España (in Spanish). Real Academia de la Historia. Archived from the original on 2020-08-02. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
- ^ a b c d Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 9.
- ^ a b Genealogie ascendate, p. 1
- ^ a b Genealogie ascendate, p. 96
References
- Acton, Harold. The Last Bourbons of Naples (1825-1861). St Martin's Press. London, 1961. ASIN: B0007DKBAO
External links
Media related to Charles Ferdinand, Prince of Capua at Wikimedia Commons