House House of Bourbon Father Ferdinand IV of Naples | Name Princess Cristina | |
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Born 17 January 1779
Caserta Palace, Kingdom of Naples ( 1779-01-17 ) Died 26 February 1783(1783-02-26) (aged 4)
Caserta Palace, Kingdom of Naples Burial Basilica of Santa Chiara, Naples Mother Maria Carolina of Austria | ||
Maria Cristina Amelia of Naples and Sicily (17 January 1779 – 26 February 1783) was a Princess of Naples and Sicily and twin sister of the future Queen of Sardinia. She died of smallpox in 1783.
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Biography
Maria Cristina Amelia was born at the Caserta Palace in Naples. She was the youngest of twins born to Ferdinand IV of Naples and his Austrian consort Maria Carolina of Austria, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa.
A member of the House of Bourbon, she was a Princess of Naples and Sicily by birth. She was ineligiable to inherit the throne due to Salic Law, which forbade females from inheriting.
Her older sister Princess Maria Cristina, was the wife of the future Charles Felix of Sardinia. Her other sisters included a future Holy Roman Empress, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Queen of the French and Princess of Asturias. Her brothers included Francis (future King of the Two Sicilies) and Leopold, Prince of Salerno.
The infant princess and her twin sister were placed under the education of Vincenza D'Ambrogio. Her sister was her mother's favourite child. At the age of five, the princess caught smallpox, an illness which had previously killed her older brother, Prince Carlo, in 1777 and Prince Giuseppe (who died only a week before Maria Cristina Amelia). She died at the Caserta Palace and was buried at the Church of Santa Chiara in Naples.