Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily

Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (14 December 1784 21 May 1806) was the youngest surviving daughter of Ferdinand, King of Naples and Sicily, and Maria Carolina of Austria. As the wife of the future Ferdinand VII of Spain, then heir apparent to the Spanish throne, she held the title of Princess of Asturias. It was rumoured that her mother-in-law, Maria Luisa of Parma, caused her death, but there is no evidence to prove this.

Early life Born at the Caserta Palace in Caserta, Italy, Maria Antonia was the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand IV/III of Naples and Sicily and his first wife, Maria Carolina of Austria. Named after her mother's favourite sister, her maternal aunt Queen Marie Antoinette of France, she was an intelligent girl, having learned several languages by the age of seventeen.

Marriage

In a series of dynastic alliances, a double marriage took place. Maria Antonia became engaged to her first cousin, Infante Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias (who later became King Ferdinand VII of Spain), while her eldest brother, Francis, became engaged to Infante Ferdinand's younger sister, Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain. On 4 October 1802, 13-year-old Maria Isabella married Francis, who was 25 years old, and two days later, on 6 October, Maria Antonia married Infante Ferdinand in Barcelona, Spain. Both of them were seventeen, with Ferdinand only being two months older than Maria Antonia, and the marriage took place the week before his eighteenth birthday. Their fathers were brothers.

Princess of Asturias Maria Antonia (fourth from left), together with the rest of the Spanish royal family, visits the University of Valencia in 1802, shortly after her wedding. Oil painting by Vicente López. The princess failed to provide the expected heir to the throne: her two pregnancies, in 1804 and 1805, ended in miscarriages. Her mother, Maria Carolina, was highly anti-French after the execution of her sister and brother-in-law during the French Revolution. She was also strongly opposed to the military expansion of the French Republic. As Spain became more easily dominated by Napoleon Bonaparte, there were rumours that Maria Carolina wanted her daughter to poison the Queen of Spain and Manuel Godoy, Spain's prime minister. However, as with most poison rumours of the period, it is unlikely to be true, not least because both women were devout Roman Catholics and secondly because the Spanish court's ties to France were in no way greater or lesser than most in Europe after Napoleon’s early victories. Maria Antonia's mother-in-law, Queen Maria Luisa, disliked her daughter-in-law and she encouraged rumours of a Habsburg poisoning plot, even subjecting her books and clothes to scrutiny in order to discredit her daughter-in-law further. In spite of all of this campaign of character assassination, Maria Antonia managed to gain considerable influence over her husband and created an opposition party against Queen Maria Luisa and Godoy.

Death Maria Antonia died of tuberculosis on 21 May 1806 at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Aranjuez, Spain, at the age of 21. It was rumoured that Maria Antonia had been poisoned by Queen Maria Luisa and Manuel Godoy but there is no evidence to support this claim. boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; 1= 1. Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily 2= 2. Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies 3= 3. Maria Carolina of Austria 4= 4. Charles III of Spain 5= 5. Maria Amalia of Saxony 6= 6. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor 7= 7. Maria Theresa of Austria 8= 8. Philip V of Spain 9= 9. Elisabeth Farnese 10= 10. Augustus III of Poland 11= 11. Maria Josepha of Austria 12= 12. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine 13= 13. Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans 14= 14. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor 15= 15. Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick