Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1822–1869)
| Princess Maria Carolina | |||||
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| Duchess of Aumale | |||||
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| Born |
26 April 1822 Vienna, Austrian Empire |
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| Died | 6 December 1869 (aged 47) Twickenham, London, England |
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| Burial | Chapelle royale de Dreux | ||||
| Spouse | Prince Henri, Duke of Aumale | ||||
| Issue |
Louis, Prince of Condé François Louis, Duke of Guise |
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| House | Bourbon-Two Sicilies | ||||
| Father | Leopold, Prince of Salerno | ||||
| Mother | Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||
| Signature | _Caroline_Auguste_of_the_Two_Sicilies,_Duchess_of_Aumale.png){kind=small} |
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| Full name | |
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| Italian: Maria Carolina Augusta |
Princess Maria Carolina Augusta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 26 April 1822 in Vienna, Austrian Empire; died 6 December 1869 in Twickenham, London, England,) was a Princess of Bourbon-Two Sicilies by birth and a princess of the House of Orléans through her marriage to Prince Henry of Orléans, Duke of Aumale.
Maria Carolina was born in Vienna on 26 April 1822, the only surviving child of Prince Leopold of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Prince of Salerno and his wife (and niece) Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor.
Nicknamed Lina since her birth, the princess spent the first years of her life under the supervision of her mother in the Austrian imperial court at Vienna and was also officially introduced there in society. As a teenager, she returned with her family to Naples.
In the 1830s and 1840s there were not many princesses from European nobility who were in a marriageable age, so Maria Carolina had several suitors for her hand. The choice finally fell on Prince Henry, Duke of Aumale, fifth and second youngest son of King Louis-Philippe I of France and his wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, who became impressed with her during a stay at her father's palace in Naples. The marriage negotiations began in late August 1844, and already on 17 September of the same year at the Revue de Paris, their engagement was officially announced. The union was anything but a love match. Henri d'Orléans described his wife in a letter to his teacher Alfred-Auguste de Cuvillier-Fleury as "not nice, but nothing unpleasant about herself". Cuvillier-Fleury agreed with him, adding that she also had an "exquisite appearance" ("[...] n'est pas jolie, mais c'est une miniature exquise."). Henry agreed with the marriage only after intense pressure from his parents after they rejected other candidates and finally opted for the small and graceful Maria Carolina to forestall any other marriage proposals to her from other European princes.
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Wikipedia