IV.

Italian Bourbons

The Italian House of Bourbon was founded by two sons of Philip V of Spain. In 1734 Carlos de Borbón, later Charles III of Spain, conquered Naples and Sicily and became Charles IV, king of Naples and Sicily. Acceding to the Spanish throne in 1759, Charles made his younger son King Ferdinand IV of Naples. Ferdinand became king of Sicily in 1806, and, as Ferdinand I, king of the Two Sicilies in 1816. In successive generations the throne passed to Francis I, Ferdinand II, and Francis II. The latter abdicated in 1860, and his kingdom became part of the kingdom of Italy in 1861.

In 1748, at the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle assigned the duchies of Parma and Piacenza to Philip, younger brother of Charles III, king of Spain. Philip was succeeded by his son Ferdinand; Ferdinand's son Louis was made king of Etruria (Tuscany) in 1801 by Napoleon, who had appropriated the duchies of Parma and Piacenza. Louis's son, Charles Louis, was driven from Etruria by the French in 1807, but at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 he was given the duchy of Lucca. Napoleon's widow, Austrian archduchess Marie-Louise, was made Duchess of Parma. At her death Charles Louis regained the duchies of Parma and Piacenza as Charles II, Duke of Parma. He was succeeded by his son Charles III, Duke of Parma (1823-1854), and grandson Robert, who lost the duchy in 1859, shortly before it was annexed to Italy.