The Law of Separation of the Crowns of Spain and Two Sicilies
Before King Carlo departed Naples to ascend the Spanish Throne, he abdicated the Crowns of Naples and Sicily in favor of his third-born son, Prince Ferdinando. Shortly beforehand, King Carlo issued a Pragmatic declaring that henceforth any prince entitled to a place in the Spanish succession could not simultaneously lay claim the Crown of the Two Sicilies, or a place in the succession to that Crown. This law served to forever separate the dynasty of the Two Sicilies from that of Spain.

King Ferdinando IV of Naples and Sicily
King Ferdinando IV of Naples and Sicily ascended the Throne at the age of eight. A Regency was established and led by the country’s Prime Minister, Bernardo Tanucci and the young monarch’s uncle, the Prince of San Nicandro.

Born in Naples on 12 January 1751, the son of King Carlo of Bourbon and Queen Maria Amalia Walburga of Saxony, King Ferdinando went on to reign for 66 years.

Until his coming of age, the Regency of Prime Minister Tanucci ran the kingdom in close agreement and along the lines of the reformist policies of the now Madrid-based King Carlos III (formerly King Carlo of Naples and Sicily). King Ferdinando continued the decades of Bourbon reformism until the rise of the revolutionary movements.

In 1768 King Ferdinando married Archduchess Maria Carolina(right), daughter of Empress Maria Teresa of Austria, and therefore sister of Austrian Emperors Joseph II and Leopold II, and the ill-fated Queen Marie Antoinette of France.

His people adored King Ferdinando and whilst he was not exactly in tune with the cultural elite of Naples, he had Queen Maria Carolina by his side who was beautiful, vivacious, intelligent and highly educated. The kingdom was a happy place for the first three decades of their marriage. If the extremes of wealth and poverty were even greater in Naples than elsewhere in 18th century Europe, the work of improving and reforming the kingdom begun by the former King were carried out by King Ferdinando, his Prime Minister Tanucci and his successor, the English Catholic baronet, Sir John Acton. Sir John’s high-level influence at the Court also ensured that the once dominant Spanish influence in Naples was soon replaced with a decidedly English one.

Napoleon Bonaparte Invades the Kingdom
In 1796 the young Napoleon Bonaparte(left) began his invasion and gradual conquest of most of the territories belonging to the pre-unification Italian States. Napoleon was met just about everywhere by ferocious public resistance who rose up to defend the Church and their Catholic faith as well as their lawful sovereigns and governments.

In February 1798, the revolutionary armies invaded the Papal States forcing Pope Pius VI to seek the protection of King Ferdinando in Naples. In November of that same year, the King, aware that the Napoleonic army was marching towards Naples, and with a resolve to return the Pope to power in Rome, decided to declare war on the French.

The Austrian General Mack received the command of the Bourbon armed forces, but his decision to enter Rome without striking a decisive blow to the French, resulted in Mack and the Bourbon Army being forced to retreat. In turn the French, under the command of the Napoleonic General Championnet, now had an excuse to march on Naples.

On 8 December 1798, King Ferdinando issued a proclamation to all his subjects inviting them to resist the invaders. No other proclamation was ever taken as literally as this one. Tens of thousands of men from all social classes and ages, including women and the elderly, took up arms against the French and bravely fought for six months until January 1799 when the French succeeded in conquering Naples. To ensure total possession and control of Naples, the French massacred over 10,000 people who had risen up in the name of their king.

In December 1798, the Bourbon Court was forced off the mainland and retreated to Palermo, Sicily. A republic was declared in Naples which faced wholesale popular discontent. At the end of January 1799, Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo of the Princes of Sicilies went to Palermo and presented King Ferdinando with a plan to militarily re-conquer the Kingdom of Naples. The King granted the Cardinal one ship and seven men and prayed for the support of the population. This support came as a volunteer army, thousands strong, sprung up within weeks committed to defend the Bourbon cause and oust the French.

Cardinal Ruffo established "the Royal Catholic Army” (Armata Cattolica e Reale) in the name of King Ferdinando IV and succeeded in the span of only three months to oust the French and restore the Bourbon monarchy in Naples on 13 June 1799.

King Ferdinando IV and Queen Maria Carolina returned to Naples in triumph (right) yet they reigned in peace only until 1805, when the Napoleonic storm broke for a second time. At the beginning of 1806 French Emperor Napoleon re-conquered the Kingdom of Naples and placed his brother Joseph on the Throne. Once again, the King and Queen, together with their Court moved to Palermo, Sicily, where they remained under British protection. Another spontaneous guerrilla movement sprung up aimed at ousting the French again.

In 1808 Emperor Napoleon, having promoted his brother Joseph to Throne of Spain, put his brother-in-law Gioacchino Murat on the Throne of Naples. He remained on the Throne until 1815 when Bourbon forces landed in Calabria, and together with the local population, rose up against French rule. Murat was later executed.

The Amalgamation of Naples and Sicily into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
By the time of Emperor Napoleon’s final defeat and following the Congress of Vienna of 1815, the whole of Europe had began a new phase of its history known as the ‘Restoration’. In 1816, the Bourbon rule of the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily were amalgamated to form the new Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Thus King Ferdinando IV of Naples and Sicily became King Ferdinando I of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Yet all was not peaceful in the new kingdom. In 1820 King Ferdinando was faced with a military revolt led by General Gugliemo Pepe whose movement was demanding a constitution similar to that which the Spanish King had granted. King Ferdinando granted them a constitution, although the King knew that according to the principle of legitimacy set down by the Congress of Vienna, and the agreements decided upon by the Holy Alliance, Austrian Chancellor Metternich would soon take action. This support quickly followed when the revolutionaries were forcibly stopped in their tracks.

King Ferdinando achieved the restoration of absolutism and lived in peace until his death in 1825.