Descendants of Charles III of Spain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles III of Spain was the third surviving son of the first Bourbon King of Spain Philip V and Elisabeth Farnese. The descendants of Charles III of Spain, are numerous. Growing up in Madrid till he was 16, he was sent to the Italian Sovereign Duchy of Parma and Piacenza which, through his mother Elisabeth of Parma, was considered his birthright. Charles married only once, to the cultured Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony, with whom he had 13 children; 8 of these reached adulthood (most dying young of smallpox) and only 4 of these had issue.
A younger son of Charles would found the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, while his younger brother would found the House of Bourbon-Parma.[1] This article deals with the children of Charles III and in turn their senior descendants.
Maria Amalia of Saxony
The future Charles III (Real Alcázar de Madrid, Madrid, Kingdom of Spain, 20 January 1716 – Royal Palace of Madrid, Madrid, Kingdom of Spain, 14 December 1788) was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to his death in 1788.
Eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, Princess Elisabeth of Parma, he became the Duke of Parma and Piacenza under the name of Charles I (at the death of his great uncle Antonio Farnese); later on in 1734 while Duke of Parma he conquered the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and was thus created the King of Naples and Sicily due to a personal union; he ruled under the simple name of Charles with no specific numeration even though time has made him Charles VII of Naples and Charles V and Sicily. In Sicily, he was known as Charles III of Sicily and of Jerusalem; using the ordinal one III rather than V for the Sicilian people did not recognise as their sovereign legitimate one or Charles I of Naples (Charles d'Anjou), against whom they rebelled, nor the Emperor Charles, quickly discharged of the island. He was crowned King of Naples and Sicily at Palermo, Sicily on 3 July 1735.
After becoming the King of Spain by default, he left the Neapolitan and Sicilian kingdoms to his third surviving son who was later Ferdinand IV of Naples; Ferdinand III of Sicily; Ferdinand would see the creation of the future Kingdom of the Two Sicilies which would be ruled by Charles' descendants till 1861.
He was a proponent of enlightened absolutism.
| Family of Charles in 1743 |
|---|
.jpg) |
She was born at the Zwinger Palace in Dresden, the daughter of Augustus III of Poland, Elector of Saxony and Maria Josepha, herself daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her full name was Maria Amalia Christina Franziska Xaveria Flora Walburga von Sachsen. One of 15 children, she was the sister of Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony,
In 1737 Maria Amalia became engaged to the future Charles III of Spain. The marriage date was confirmed on 31 October 1737. In 1738, at the age of 14, Maria Amalia married Charles of Bourbon, then King of Naples and Sicily. Despite the fact that this was an arranged marriage, the couple was very close and had many children. Maria Amalia had a proxy ceremony at Dresden in May 1738 with her brother.
The couple met for the first time on 19 June 1738 at Portella.
At the end of 1758, Charles' half brother Ferdinand VI was displaying the same symptoms of depression that their father used to suffer from. Ferdinand lost his devoted wife, Infanta Barbara of Portugal in August 1758 and would fall into deep mourning for her. He named Charles his heir on 10 December 1758 before leaving Madrid to stay at Villaviciosa de Odón where he died on 10 August 1759. In September 1760, a year after arriving in Madrid, Maria Amalia died from tuberculosis at the Buen Retiro Palace outside the capital. She was buried at the Royal Crypt in El Escorial. She was joined by her devoted husband in 1788.
_-_Prado.jpg)
_cropped.jpg)
