Ferdinand II (Italian: Ferdinando Carlo; Sicilian: Ferdinannu Carlu) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his early death in 1859. He was born in Palermo, to King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his wife (and first cousin) Maria Isabella of Spain.
His paternal grandparents were King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Queen Maria Carolina of Austria. His maternal grandparents were Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. Ferdinand I and Charles IV were brothers, both sons of Charles III of Spain and Maria Amalia of Saxony.
A soldier attempted to assassinate Ferdinand in 1856, and many believe that the infection he received from the soldier's bayonet led to his ultimate demise. He died on 22 May 1859, shortly after the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia had declared war against the Austrian Empire. This would later lead to the invasion of his Kingdom by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Italian unification in 1861. |