Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies

King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (January 12, 1751 – January 4, 1825). He was the third son of King Carlo VII of Naples and Sicily by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony (November 24, 1724 - September 27, 1760). On August 10, 1759, his father became King Charles III of Spain. Diplomatic treaties made Charles unable to hold the titles of all three Kingdoms. On October 6, 1759 he resigned in favour of Ferdinand.

Childhood

Ferdinand was born in Naples. When his father ascended the Spanish throne in 1759, Ferdinand, in accordance with the treaties forbidding the union of the two crowns, succeeded him as king of Naples, under a regency presided over by the Tuscan Bernardo Tanucci. The latter, an able, ambitious man, wishing to keep the government as much as possible in his own hands, purposely neglected the young king's education, and encouraged him in his love of pleasure, his idleness and his excessive devotion to outdoor sports. Ferdinand grew up athletic, but ignorant, ill-bred, addicted to the lowest amusements; he delighted in the company of the lazzaroni (the most degraded class of the Neapolitan people), whose dialect and habits he affected, and he even sold fish in the market, haggling over the price.

Related Topics:
Naples - 1759 - Regency - Bernardo Tanucci

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