Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies

Maria Antonia was born at the Royal Palace of Palermo on 19 December 1814, the daughter of Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his wife Maria Isabella of Spain. The girl was given the baptismal name Maria Antonia in honor of her great-aunt Marie Antoinette, the deceased sister of her paternal grandmother, Maria Carolina of Austria.

When she was born, the Neapolitan court had already moved to Sicily because Napoleonic troops had invaded the continental part of the realm. After a few months, the royal family returned to Naples, thanks to the Congress of Vienna. Maria Antonia was particularly close to her brother, the future Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, who affectionately dubbed her Totò.

In 1833, when she was eighteen, Maria Antonia married her first cousin Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who was seventeen years older than her. Maria Antonia and Leopold had ten children, only six of whom lived to adulthood:

• Archduchess Maria Isabella (21 May 1834 – 14 July 1901), who wed her maternal uncle Prince Francis, Count of Trapani, youngest son of Francis I of the Two Sicilies.
• Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (10 June 1835 – 17 January 1908).
• Archduchess Maria Theresa (29 June 1836 – 5 August 1838), died in childhood.
• Archduchess Maria Christina (5 February 1838 – 1 September 1849), died in childhood.
• Archduke Karl Salvator (30 April 1839 – 18 January 1892)
• Archduchess Maria Anna (9 June 1840 – 13 August 1841), died in childhood.
• Archduke Rainer (1 May 1842 – 14 August 1844), died in childhood.
• Archduchess Maria Luisa (31 October 1845 – 27 August 1917), who wed Karl, Prince of Isenburg-Büdingen.
• Archduke Ludwig Salvator (4 August 1847 – 12 October 1915).
• Archduke Johann Salvator (25 November 1852 – reported lost at sea in 1890, amidst speculation that he survived, subsequently using the alias "Johann Orth").

The Piazza Maria Antonia – today Piazza dell'Indipendeza, the railway line Maria Antonia and the Maria Antonia train station, now called Firenze Santa Maria Novella, were named in her honour.

On 27 April 1859, before the Franco-Austrian War, Leopold II proclaimed neutrality. On the afternoon of 27 April, Leopold II chose to leave Florence with his family in four carriages heading toward Bologna, rather than provoke any violence against what appeared to be a well orchestrated coup directed by the Piedmontese government. Shortly beforehand, Leopold II had refused to abdicate in favour of his son, Ferdinand IV, who then became the nominal Grand Duke of Tuscany after his father was forced to abdicate by the Austrian emperor Francis Joseph in July of the same year.

The grand ducal family then settled in Austria. In 1860, Leopold II bought the Bohemian chamber rule of Brandeis. After the political situation in Italy had calmed down to some extent, Leopold II and his wife traveled to Rome in November 1869, where he died in her arms on the night of 29 January 1870. After the death of her husband, Maria Antonia withdrew to Lake Traun and mostly stayed in Gmunden. Once a year, she went to the Eternal City, where she prayed at the place where her husband died and paid her respects to the Pope. As a widow, she by no means led a lonely life, and the sprightly lady went to visit her son Ludwig Salvator, who lived on Mallorca, when she was very old. The fact that her favorite son Johann Orth had been missing since 1890 shocked her and overshadowed her twilight years.

Maria Antonia died on 7 November 1898, at the age of 83, at Ort Castle in Gmunden. She was buried in the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna.

•  Austria-Hungary : Dame of the Order of the Starry Cross[2]
•  Two Sicilies : Dame of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
•  Spain : Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa
•  Russian Empire : Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Catherine