Francis II of the Two Sicilies
The final monarch of a doomed kingdom, whose short, tragic reign was crushed between the romantic forces of Italian unification and his own rigid conservatism.
1836–1894 (age 58)·King of the Two Sicilies from 1859 to 1861·Birthday: January 16
Biography
Francis II ascended the throne of the Two Sicilies in 1859, inheriting a sprawling southern kingdom already cracking under the weight of nationalist fervor and his father's repressive legacy. Young, deeply religious, and politically inexperienced, he was immediately besieged. The revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi landed in Sicily with his thousand volunteers, and the kingdom's support melted away, revealing deep popular discontent. Francis retreated to the fortress of Gaeta, where he and his young queen, Maria Sophie of Bavaria, endured a brutal, months-long siege, becoming reluctant symbols of a fading old world. His capitulation in 1861 marked not just a personal defeat but the extinction of a centuries-old sovereign state, its territories absorbed into the new Kingdom of Italy. In exile, he lived a life of pious regret, a ghost of the old order, forever remembered as the king who lost the south. His reign was less a failure of character than a collision with an unstoppable historical tide.
#1 When Francis Was Born
The biggest hits of 1836
Francis's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1836Born
1841Started school
1849Became a teenager
1852Could drive
1854Could vote
1857Turned 21
1866Turned 30
President: Andrew Johnson
1876Turned 40
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1886Turned 50
Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York Harbor
President: Grover Cleveland
1894Died at 58
President: Grover Cleveland
Key Achievements
- Was the last reigning King of the Two Sicilies, his deposition marking the end of the kingdom's independent existence.
- Led a staunch, months-long defense at the Siege of Gaeta against the forces of Italian unification.
- His defeat was a pivotal final step in the political unification of the Italian peninsula under Victor Emmanuel II.
Did You Know?
He was nicknamed 'Franceschiello' or 'King Bomba' by his critics, the latter a derogatory reference to his father's nickname.
His wife, Queen Maria Sophie, was the younger sister of the famous Empress Elisabeth ('Sisi') of Austria.
After his exile, he lived in Rome under the protection of the Pope, in the Palazzo Farnese.
He and his wife had one daughter, Maria Cristina Pia, who died in infancy, ending the direct line of the Bourbon-Two Sicilies dynasty.
“I defended my throne and my faith until Garibaldi's cannons were at the gates.”
