The Late King of Naples.

Manawatu Herald, 21 February 1895, Page 3

The Late King of Naples.

The death of Francis 11, King of the Two Sicilies, took place at Arco in the South Tyrol on the 28th December. He was better known as the King of Naples. . . ■ . The career of the deceased was a remarkably romantic and somewhat sad one. He was born on January 21, 1888, and succeeded hi* father Ferdinand 11, sometimes called "Bothba" twenty-two years later, tn 1880 ail insurrection broke but in Sicily, and Palermo atid Messitia were bombarded. An expedition headed by Garibaldi, landed in Sicily, and defeated the Neapolitan arniy in every encounter; Naples was soon aftev occupied, and the king and queen (ne6 Caroline, daughter of Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria), were compelled to take refuge in the fortress of Gaeta, which, after an obstinate siege of six months, capitulated to the Sardinian troops on February 14, 1860. The king fled to Rome, where he resided at the Farnese Palace, which was his property and is now the French Embassy. In 1870 he left the eternal city and retired to Bavaria, ,where he had an estate. Later on he removed to Belgium, and in 1872 he asked Thiers to afford him the hospitality of France, which was readily extended. After a short residence at St. Mande he came to Paris and took a small fifth floor apartment at the Hdtel Touillemout, in the Rue Boissy d'Anglas, which he has since occupied in exceedingly modest style. He never accepted invitations except from Baron and Baronne Adolph de Rothschild, who were two of his oldest friends, and never entertained, except in a quiet way on the Sunday, when a few French and other Royalist intimates assembled in his salon -salle a" manger cureaux. The deceased was a familiar figure at the early morning mass at the Madeleine and also in ChampsElysees, where he regularly took a constitutional during the morning when in Paris. He was recommended to spend the present winter in the Tyrol and took an apartment at an Arco hotel. There he died in the arms of the Queen (whoa fort» night ago rejoined him), in the presence of the Count of Caserta, his brother and heir, and the Grand Dukes Albert and Ernest.

The will of the deceased has not yet been opened, but it is thought that his fortune was not above £100,000, as his personal estate, which is worth about 60,000,000fr. was sequestrated by the Italian Government.