Princess Maria Felicita | |||||
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Born |
Royal Palace, Turin |
19 March 1730||||
Died | 13 May 1801 Rome, Papal States |
(aged 71)||||
Burial | Royal Baslica, Turin | ||||
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House | Savoy | ||||
Father | Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia | ||||
Mother | Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg |
Full name | |
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Maria Felicita di Savoia |
Princess Maria Felicita of Savoy (19 March 1730 – 13 May 1801)) was a princess of the House of Savoy, the third daughter of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia and his second wife, Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg.
Born at the Royal Palace of Turin, she was the third daughter of Charles Emmanuel III, King of Sardinia and his second wife Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg. Her mother died in 1735 when she was just four years old. Her father married again in 1737 to Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, the youngest sister of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Charles Emmanuel III and Elisabeth Therese went on to have three children, including the Duke of Chablais.
Her maternal cousins included Victor Amadeus, Prince of Carignan and his younger sister the future princesse de Lamballe, both of which were born at the court of Savoy. Her paternal cousins included Ferdinand VI of Spain, who was king of Spain at the time of her birth.
She was a very religious woman and never married. She founded, with Giovanni Battista Canaveri, a home in her native Turin for widows and destitute noble women "Convitto Principessa Maria Felicita di Savoia". Canaveri was the director. It was made possible due to an act she had her brother implement, Convitto per donne nubili e vedove, for women in the Kingdom of Sardinia.
On 6 December 1798, the French First Republic declared war on Sardinia.