On Thursday it was announced that Her Royal Highness Princess Maria del Carmen Carolina Antonia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies passed away on Wednesday, 21 November 2018. The sad news was published by the Princess’s nephew, His Royal Highness Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the Duke of Castro. Princess Maria del Carmen was 94-years-old.
Princess Maria del Carmen was born in the city of Podzamcze in today’s Poland on 13 July 1924 as the eldest child and only daughter of HRH Prince Ranieri of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the Duke of Castro and his wife HRH Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Maria del Carmen’s parents were first cousins. Princess Maria del Carmen never married and left no descendants.
Prince Ranieri of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was the fifth son of Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta and Princess Maria Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. For a time, the Prince served in the Royal Spanish Army.
HRH Prince Renier the Count of Caserta. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Following the death of his brother, Prince Ferdinand Pius, Duke of Calabria on the 7 January 1960, Prince Ranieri was declared Head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies by all relatives except for Infante Alfonso, Duke of Calabria and his children. He remained head of the house until his death on 13 January 1973 in Lacombe. He handed over the functions associated with the headship of the house to his son Prince Ferdinand in 1966.
Prince Ferdinand died in France on 20 March 2008. He was then followed by his son who is the current head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Prince Carlo.
The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a branch of the Spanish Royal Family and ruled parts of Southern Italy for more than a century in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was the largest of the states of Italy before the Italian unification. It was formed as a union of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies lasted from 1815 until 1860, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia to form the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
