H.R.H. Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta
H.R.H.
Prince Alfonso,
Count of Caserta
Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies – Count of Caserta, Duke of Castro – became the Head of the Royal Family of the Bourbon-Two Sicilies and the point of reference for Neapolitan Legitimists from 1894, following the death of his brother, King Francis II.
During his time as head of the dynasty, the Count of Caserta continued the Family’s protests against the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to the Kingdom of Italy. Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta, continued to be recognized by the Holy See as the Head of the Dynasty of an occupied Nation and continued to receive an accredited Ambassador on its behalf until 1902.
Prince Alfonso was born in Caserta on March 28, 1841, and married his cousin Princess Maria Antonietta of Bourbon. After taking part in the Carlist War in Spain as a commanding general, the Prince resided in Cannes.
He had twelve children with his Consort, many of whom married descendants of important European dynasties in Spain and France.
In 1897, his eldest son – Prince Ferdinand Pius, Duke of Calabria – after serving in the Spanish Army during the campaigns in Cuba and Morocco, married Princess Maria, daughter of King Ludwig III of Bavaria.
In 1900, his second son, Prince Don Carlos, renounced all his dynastic rights to the throne of the Two Sicilies for himself and his descendants, and consequently also the Grand Mastership of all the Dynastic Orders of the Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. This decision was necessary in order to become an Infante of Spain through his marriage to Infanta Maria Mercedes of Bourbon, daughter of King Alfonso XII of Spain.
The formal act of this renunciation was signed in Cannes in full compliance with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1759 of King Charles of Bourbon, which states that no crown prince of Spain can simultaneously claim the Crown of the Two Sicilies, or a place in the succession of that Crown. This is the law that served to forever separate the dynasty of the Two Sicilies from that of Spain.
All members of the Bourbon-Two Sicilies family, led by the Head, Prince Alfonso Count of Caserta, and all his children, witnessed the solemn and irrevocable renunciation, historically known as the Act of Cannes.
