“Ferdinand II [1830-59] – known as ‘King Bomba’ by his enemies – was the greatest of his dynasty in Italy after Charles VII, a man of enormous personality and energy. History has been more than unjust in labelling this most Neapolitan of all rulers of Naples as ‘an unimaginative foreign tyrant’. He was the last of the benevolent despots, taking a keen interest in the industrialization of his country, which he made extremely prosperous. He was offered the crown of Italy and might have imposed his rule over the entire peninsula, but refused out of loyalty to the Pope. When revolution drove Pius IX from Rome in 1848 he took refuge with the King of the Two Sicilies.” [p.63]
“Ferdinand died unexpectedly in 1859 aged only forty-nine. It is curious to reflect that had so formidable and so devout a son of the Church lived out the normal span of years he might not only have saved the kingdom from conquest by the North but might also have preserved the Papel States and the Temporal Power of the Papacy. The new King – and Grand Master – was his ineffectual yet infinitely well intentioned eldest son, the twenty-three year old Frances II. Despite the support of his brave and beautiful young Bavarian wife, Maria Sophia, Francis was swept away by the Risorgimento. Garibaldi’s success in Sicily and the treachery of certain senior offices caused the King to abandon Naples in September 1860 to regroup his forces at the coastal fortress of Gaeta. So fervently did the new Grand Master believe in the story of the Labarum that he made his regiment carry the Constantinian cross on their colours. However, because of elderly and uninspired commanders his wholly loyal army was checked during the battles around the Volturno river the following month and before he could make a second attempt to recapture Naples the Piedmontese invaded his kingdom. During the ensuing siege of Gaeta, in the words of his latest biographer Pier Giusto Jaeger ‘the hesitant Francis II became a rousing orator and something of a hero’, while the courage of his Queen made her the most admired woman in Europe. On 13 February 1861 they reluctantly abandoned the hopeless struggle and left Gaeta and the Two Sicilies for ever in a French ship. Nevertheless, if its Grand Masters would henceforth live in exile the home of the Constantinian Order would continue to be Naples.” [p.63-64]
* Quoted from Italy’s Knights of St. George: The Constantinian Order by Desmond Seward, Van Duren Publishers Limited, 1986, p. 63-64
