Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies

Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies (19 December 1814 – 7 November 1898) was the Grand Duchess of Tuscany from 1833 to 1859 as the consort of Leopold II. In her signature, she used Maria Antonietta. Biography Maria Antonia was born at the Royal Palace of Palermo on 19 December 1814, the daughter of Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his wife Maria Isabella of Spain. The girl was given the baptismal name Maria Antonia in honor of her great-aunt Marie Antoinette, the deceased sister of her paternal grandmother, Maria Carolina of Austria. When she was born, the Neapolitan court had already moved to Sicily because Napoleonic troops had invaded the continental part of the realm. After a few months, the royal family returned to Naples, thanks to the Congress of Vienna. Maria Antonia was particularly close to her brother, the future Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, who affectionately dubbed her Totò. Marriage and issue In 1833, when she was eighteen, Maria Antonia married her first cousin Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who was seventeen years older than her. Maria Antonia and Leopold had ten children, only six of whom lived to adulthood: