Ferdinand II (; ; ; 12 January 1810 – 22 May 1859) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his death in 1859.
Family
Ferdinand was born in Palermo to King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his second wife 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. His sister was Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, Empress of Brazil, wife of the last Brazilian emperor Pedro II.
Early reign
In his early years, he was fairly popular. Progressives credited him with Liberal ideas and, in addition, his free and easy manners endeared him to the so-called lazzaroni, the lower classes of Neapolitan society.
On succeeding to the throne in 1830, he published an edict in which he promised to give his most anxious attention to the impartial administration of justice, to reform the finances, and to use every effort to heal the wounds which had afflicted the Kingdom for so many years. The King had endeavoured to limit British influence, which had begun to cause tension. As Ferdinand ignored the advice of the British and French governments, those powers recalled their ambassadors in 1856.
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.
Honours
Issue
{| class="wikitable" align="center"
!<!--width="50%"|-->Name
!width="12%"|Birth
!width="12%"|Death
!<!--width="27%"|-->Notes
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|colspan=4|By Princess Maria Cristina of Savoy (married 21 November 1832 in Cagliari; b. 12 November 1812, d. 21 January 1836)
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|Francesco II of the Two Sicilies||16 January 1836||27 December 1894||succeeded as King of the Two Sicilies<br>married Duchess Maria Sophie in Bavaria. They had one daughter.
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|colspan=4|By Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (married 9 January 1837 in Vienna; b. 31 July 1816, d. 8 August 1867)
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|Luigi, Count of Trani||1 August 1838||8 June 1886||married Duchess Mathilde Ludovika in Bavaria; their only daughter, Princess Maria Teresa, married Prince Wilhelm of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
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|Alberto, Count of Castrogiovanni||17 September 1839||12 July 1844||died in childhood.
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|Alfonso, Count of Caserta||28 March 1841||26 May 1934||married his first cousin Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies. They had 12 children. The current lines of Bourbon-Sicily descend from him.
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|Maria Annunciata of the Two Sicilies||24 March 1843||4 May 1871||married Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. They had four children, including Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination sparked World War I.
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|Maria Immacolata Clementina of the Two Sicilies||14 April 1844||18 February 1899||married Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria. They had ten children.
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|Gaetano, Count of Girgenti||12 January 1846||26 November 1871||married Infanta Isabel of Spain (eldest daughter of Queen Isabella II of Spain) and was created Infante of Spain; no issue.
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|Giuseppe, Count of Lucera||4 March 1848||28 September 1851||died in childhood.
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|Maria Pia of the Two Sicilies||21 August 1849||29 September 1882||married Roberto I, Duke of Parma and Piacenza. They had 12 children.
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|Vincenzo, Count of Melazzo||26 April 1851||13 October 1854||died in childhood.
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|Pasquale, Count of Bari||15 September 1852||21 December 1904||married morganatically to Blanche Marconnay; no issue.
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|Maria Luisa of the Two Sicilies||21 January 1855||23 August 1874||married Prince Henry of Bourbon-Parma, Count of Bardi; no issue.
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|Gennaro, Count of Caltagirone||28 February 1857||13 August 1867|| died in childhood.
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