Caroline Ferdinande Louise, Duchess of Berry

Infobox Two Sicilies Royalty|princess
name =Princess Caroline Ferdinande Louise
full name = Maria Carolina Ferdinanda Luisa
title = Duchess of Berry
Duchess della Grazia


caption =The Duchesse de Berry, painted in 1828 by Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun.
reign =
coronation =
predecessor =
successor =
succession =
spouse =Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry
Ettore Carlo Lucchesi-Palli, 8th Duke della Grazia
issue =Princess Louise Isabelle
Prince Louis
Princess Louise Marie Thérèse
Prince Henri, Count of Chambord
Clementina Lucchesi-Palli
Francesca di Paola Lucchesi-Palli
Maria Isabella Lucchesi-Palli
Adinolfo Lucchesi-Palli, 9th Duke della Grazia
royal house =House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
House of Bourbon
royal anthem =
father =Francis I of the Two Sicilies
mother =Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria
date of birth =birth date|1798|11|05|df=y
place of birth = Naples, Kingdom of Naples
date of death =death date and age|1870|04|17|1798|11|05|df=y
place of death = Brünsee, Styria, Austria-Hungary
place of burial =Mureck Cemetery, Mureck|

Princess Maria "Carolina Ferdinanda Luisa" of Naples and Sicilycite web | url=http://thepeerage.com/p11377.htm#i113766| title=Maria Carolina Ferdinanda Louise di Borbone, Principessa delle Due Sicilie | date=09 March 2007 | accessdate=2008-10-03 | publisher= [http://thePeerage.com thePeerage.com] | author=Darryl Lundy] (born 5 November 1798 in Naples, Kingdom of Naples; died 17 April 1870 in Brünsee, Styria, Austria-Hungary) was the daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his first wife, Maria Clementina of Austria.

Caroline married King Louis XVIII of France's nephew, Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry on 24 April 1816 in Naples, following negotiations with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by the French ambassador Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas, thus becoming the "Duchesse de Berry." She became an important figure during the Bourbon Restoration after the assassination of her husband in 1820. Caroline's son, Henri, comte de Chambord, was named the "miracle child" because he was born after his father's death and continued the direct Bourbon line of King Louis XIV of France. (The Duke of Berry saw only one child born by Caroline, Louise). In 1824, King Louis XVIII died and was succeeded by Caroline's father-in-law, King Charles X.

In 1830, she was forced to flee France when Charles X was overthrown during the July Revolution. She returned to her family in Naples. Later, however, with the help of Emmanuel Louis Marie de Guignard, vicomte de Saint Priest, she unsuccessfully attempted to restore the Legitimist Bourbon dynasty during the reign of the Orléanist monarch, King Louis Philippe of the French (1830–1848).

Her failed rebellion in the Vendée in 1832 was followed by her arrest and imprisonment in November, 1832. She was released in June, 1833 after giving birth to a daughter and revealing her secret marriage to an Italian nobleman, Ettore Carlo Lucchesi-Palli, 8th Duke della Grazia. She returned to Sicily but was now ignored by other members of the House of Bourbon. She died in 1870.

French novelist Alexandre Dumas, père wrote two stories about her and her plotting.

Issue

Children with Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry:

*Princess Louise Élisabeth of France (13 July 1817 - 14 July 1817)
*Prince Louis of France (born and died 13 September 1818)
*Princess Louise Marie Thérèse of Bourbon (21 September 1819 - 1 February 1864)
*Prince Henri, Duke of Bordeaux and Count of Chambord (29 September 1820 - 24 August 1883)

Children with Ettore Carlo Lucchesi-Palli, 8th Duke della Grazia:

*Clementina Lucchesi-Palli (19 November 1835 - 22 March 1925)
*Francesca di Paola Lucchesi-Palli (12 October 1836 - 10 May 1923)
*Maria Isabella Lucchesi-Palli (18 March 1838 - 1 April 1873)
*Adinolfo Lucchesi-Palli, 9th Duke della Grazia (10 March 1840 - 4 February 1911)

References

*Nuttall

Further reading

*Cronin, Vincent. "Four Women in Pursuit of an Ideal". London: Collins, 1965; also published as "The Romantic Way". Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966.