Prince Alberto of Naples and Sicily

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Prince Alberto
Portrait of Prince Alberto by an unidentified artist
Born(1792-05-02)2 May 1792
Royal Palace, Naples
Died25 December 1798(1798-12-25) (aged 6)
On board HMS Vanguard
Burial
Palermo, Sicily
Names
Alberto Lodovico Maria Filipo Gaetano di Borbone
HouseBourbon-Two Sicilies
FatherFerdinand IV of Naples
MotherMaria Carolina of Austria

Prince Alberto of Naples and Sicily (Alberto Lodovico Maria Filipo Gaetano; 2 May 1792 – 25 December 1798) was a Prince of Naples and Sicily as the youngest son of King

Palermo, Sicily, during a storm on board HMS Vanguard, a British Royal Navy warship, whilst his family was fleeing, under the care of Admiral Lord Nelson
, from Napoleonic troops approaching Naples.

Origins

Alberto was a member of the

Empress Maria Theresa and thus a sister of Marie Antoinette. From his birth he was third in line to the Neapolitan throne after his brothers Prince Francis, Duke of Calabria (later King Francis I of the Two Sicilies), and Prince Leopold, Prince of Salerno, the other brother Prince Carlo, Duke of Calabria having died of smallpox[1]
in 1778.

His elder sisters included Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily (the future Holy Roman Empress), Princess Luisa of Naples and Sicily (Grand Duchess of Tuscany), Princess Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily (Queen of Sardinia), the wife of King Charles Felix of Sardinia; Maria Cristina's twin Princess Maria Cristina Amelia died in 1783 of smallpox. Another sister was the Queen of the French[2] and the last surviving daughter was the future Princess of Asturias.

His cousins included the

Duke of Parma, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Holy Roman Emperor, Queen of Portugal, King of Spain and a Duchess of Calabria, the first wife of his brother Francis.[3]

Death

Toulon depicting left: Vanguard, with blown off topmasts and foremast; right: Alexander
Lady Hamilton, Nelson's mistress, in whose arms the 6 year old Prince Alberto died on board the Vanguard approaching Palermo in a storm

On the outbreak of the

First Coalition
against France in 1793, a year after Alberto's birth.

Although peace was made with France in 1796, by 1798 conflict was again fierce. It was decided that the king and royal family should flee to the Kingdom of Sicily, to his secondary capital of

Maria Amalia of Austria
.

Letter from Admiral Nelson

On 28 December 1798 Nelson wrote concerning the voyage to Admiral John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, commander-in-chief of the fleet in the Mediterranean, including the following:[13]

Your Lordship will believe that my anxiety was not lessened by the great charge that was with me, but not a word of uneasiness escaped the lips of any of the Royal Family. On the 25th, at 9AM, Prince Albert their Majesties’ youngest child, having eat a hearty breakfast, was taken ill, and at 7PM, died in the arms of Lady Hamilton; and here it is my duty to tell your Lordship the obligations which the whole Royal Family as well as myself are under on this trying occasion to her Ladyship.

Ancestry

References and notes

  1. ^ Dyson. C.C, The Life of Marie Amelie Last Queen of the French, 1782–1866, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, p. 50.
  2. ^ a b c Dyson. C.C, The Life of Marie Amelie Last Queen of the French, 1782–1866, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, p. 50.
  3. duchesse de Berry
  4. ISBN 9780198207559
    .
  5. ^ Oman, Carola, Nelson, 1950 ed., p.291
  6. ^ Oman, Carola, Nelson, 1950 ed., p.292
  7. ^ Oman, Carola, Nelson, 1950 ed., p.293
  8. ^ Oman, Carola, Nelson, 1950 ed., p.294
  9. ^ Oman, Carola, Nelson, 1950 ed., p.294
  10. ^ Oman, Carola, Nelson, 1950 ed., p.294
  11. ^ Oman, Carola, Nelson, 1950 ed., pp.294-5
  12. ^ See image[1][2]
  13. ^ National Archives, ADM 1/399 (N7)[3]
  14. ^ 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. pp. 1, 9.
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