First off, here's the background of Naples & Sicily's rise to power...
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(For the sake of my dislike for the name Ferdinand, the OTL future Ferdinand of the Sicilies is named Philip. Same person, different name.)
King Philip I of the Two Sicilies (January 12, 1759 – January 4, 1779). He was the third son of King Charles VII of Naples and Sicily by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony (November 24, 1724 - September 27, 1760). On August 10, 1759, his father became King Charles III of Spain. Diplomatic treaties made Charles unable to hold the titles of all three Kingdoms. On October 6, 1759 he resigned in favour of Philip.
Philip's minority ended in 1767, and his first act was the expulsion of the Jesuits. The following year he married Marie Caroline, daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. By the marriage contract the queen was to have a voice in the council of state after the birth of her first son, and she was not slow to avail herself of this means of political influence. Beautiful, clever and proud, like her mother, but cruel and treacherous, her ambition was to raise the Kingdom of Naples to the position of a great power; she soon came to exercise complete sway over her stupid and idle husband, and was the real ruler of the kingdom.
King Philip became king of un-united kingdoms, where new and old traditions were constantly fighting each other, and changes in the favor of the people was often. Shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Philip, in 1779, Marie Caroline secretly had her husband murdered. Their infant son, Crown Prince Philip, was declared Philip II of Naples and Sicily. Despising the Queen, the Councillors of State declared themselves the Regency Council. Soon, Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo was declared Regent. At midnight on the 6th of October 1779, with a few personal friends, including her physician, her chamberlain, her future husband, Prince Alexander of Spain, and two of the gentlemen of her household, she drove to the barracks of the Neapolitan Guards regiment, enlisted their sympathies by a stirring speech, and led them to the Neapolis Palace, where the Regent was reposing in absolute security. Having on the way thither had all the ministers arrested, she seized the regent and the infant King, and summoned all the notables, civil and ecclesiastical, to her presence. So swiftly and noiselessly indeed had the whole revolution proceeded that as late as eight o'clock the next morning very few people in the city were aware of it.
Thus, at the age of twenty-seven, this naturally indolent and self-indulgent woman, with much knowledge and experience of affairs, suddenly found herself at the head of all southern Italy. Fortunately for herself, and for Naples and Sicily,Marie Caroline, with all her shortcomings, had inherited much of her mother's genius for government. Her usually keen judgment and her diplomatic tact again and again recall Empress Maria Theresa. What in her sometimes seemed irresolution and procrastination, was, most often, a wise suspense of judgment under exceptionally difficult circumstances; and to this may be added that she was ever ready to sacrifice the prejudices of the woman to the duty of the sovereign.
The new government declared her Regent the next day, and Sovereign the next week. Based on Austrian rule of the kingdoms decades ago, Marie Caroline was proclaimed "Her Majesty Maria the Second, By the Grace of God, Queen of Naples, Sicily, Jerusalem, Gibraltar, Archduchess of Austria, and Princess of Tuscany." The Holy Roman Emperor confirmed her claim and her descendants claims as "Archdukes of Austria" in 1780.
Tanucci, who attempted to thwart her, was dismissed in 1777, and the Englishman Sir John Acton, who in 1778 was appointed director of marine, succeeded in so completely winning the favour of Marie Caroline, by supporting her in her scheme to free Naples from Spanish influence and securing a rapprochement with Austria and England, that he became practically and afterwards actually prime minister. Although not a mere grasping adventurer, he was largely responsible for reducing the internal administration of the country to a system of espionage, corruption and cruelty.
The American Revolution, when the 13 United Republics, gained independance from their British oppressors. During the War, the Americans, aided by the French much earlier, begin invading Nova Scotia and Prince Rupert Island. With more British soldiers defending the Americas, Naples-Sicily enters the war, alongside the Americans and French. In 1783, the Great Siege was successful, and Gibraltar was successfully captured by Spain. At the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain refused to allow Spain keep Gibraltar, or control lands in the Americas so close to their Floridian possesions (which they get to keep, because Spain doesn't "officially" join the war.) The Treaty of Paris of 1789, confimred control of Gibraltar to Naples and Sicily, and created the Neapolitan-Sicilian North American State, which gave parts of Spanish Louisiana and Spanish Mexico to Naples-Sicily, as a crown colony. Britain planned on eventually annexing the lands.
But Britain was proved wrong. Almost immediately, Neapolitan and Sicilian ships began arriving with poor and rich colonists alike, soldiers, money, tools, farm animals, politicians, and European food. The territory was split into the Crown Colony of Neapolitan-Sicilian Messico and the Crown Colony of Neapolitan-Sicilian Mariatella, named after Queen Maria II Caroline. Cajuns from Spanish Louisiana and even some United Empire Loyalists began settling in "Italian North America" as it was beginning to be called. The colonies, by 1790, were prospering, alarming the British, who began to invest more and more in West Florida. The colonists soon demanded their own dioceses and colonial parliaments, and a single Parliament for Italian North America was created in 1793, with 5 delegates from Messico, 5 delegates from Mariatella, and 2 Mestizo delegates. The President-General of Italian North America (more correctly, President-General of the Parliament for Italian North America) was made Crown Representative, above the two royal governors.
The frequent use of the Pillars of Hercules was alarming to the Barbary princes. They demanded a tribute by Naples and Sicily for each entry and exit. Instead, Neapolitan-Sicilian troops burnt Algiers to the ground, and demanded the African side of the pillars. The Barbarys agreed. However, Queen Maria II Caroline traveled to NONKA and personally met with King Mohammed III of Morocco. The Moroccan-Italian Treaty of Cassablanca leased the land of the African Pillar to the Co-Regal Ministry on Colonial Affairs (as Naples and Sicily had not yet passed an Act of Union) for 99 years. The Treaty was changed the following year after the Act of Union merged the two kingdoms in the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily. The 2nd Moroccan-Italian Treaty of Cassablanca leased the land of the African Pillar to the Royal Government Naples and Sicily for 98 years.
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(For the sake of my dislike for the name Ferdinand, the OTL future Ferdinand of the Sicilies is named Philip. Same person, different name.)
King Philip I of the Two Sicilies (January 12, 1759 – January 4, 1779). He was the third son of King Charles VII of Naples and Sicily by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony (November 24, 1724 - September 27, 1760). On August 10, 1759, his father became King Charles III of Spain. Diplomatic treaties made Charles unable to hold the titles of all three Kingdoms. On October 6, 1759 he resigned in favour of Philip.
Philip's minority ended in 1767, and his first act was the expulsion of the Jesuits. The following year he married Marie Caroline, daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. By the marriage contract the queen was to have a voice in the council of state after the birth of her first son, and she was not slow to avail herself of this means of political influence. Beautiful, clever and proud, like her mother, but cruel and treacherous, her ambition was to raise the Kingdom of Naples to the position of a great power; she soon came to exercise complete sway over her stupid and idle husband, and was the real ruler of the kingdom.
King Philip became king of un-united kingdoms, where new and old traditions were constantly fighting each other, and changes in the favor of the people was often. Shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Philip, in 1779, Marie Caroline secretly had her husband murdered. Their infant son, Crown Prince Philip, was declared Philip II of Naples and Sicily. Despising the Queen, the Councillors of State declared themselves the Regency Council. Soon, Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo was declared Regent. At midnight on the 6th of October 1779, with a few personal friends, including her physician, her chamberlain, her future husband, Prince Alexander of Spain, and two of the gentlemen of her household, she drove to the barracks of the Neapolitan Guards regiment, enlisted their sympathies by a stirring speech, and led them to the Neapolis Palace, where the Regent was reposing in absolute security. Having on the way thither had all the ministers arrested, she seized the regent and the infant King, and summoned all the notables, civil and ecclesiastical, to her presence. So swiftly and noiselessly indeed had the whole revolution proceeded that as late as eight o'clock the next morning very few people in the city were aware of it.
Thus, at the age of twenty-seven, this naturally indolent and self-indulgent woman, with much knowledge and experience of affairs, suddenly found herself at the head of all southern Italy. Fortunately for herself, and for Naples and Sicily,Marie Caroline, with all her shortcomings, had inherited much of her mother's genius for government. Her usually keen judgment and her diplomatic tact again and again recall Empress Maria Theresa. What in her sometimes seemed irresolution and procrastination, was, most often, a wise suspense of judgment under exceptionally difficult circumstances; and to this may be added that she was ever ready to sacrifice the prejudices of the woman to the duty of the sovereign.
The new government declared her Regent the next day, and Sovereign the next week. Based on Austrian rule of the kingdoms decades ago, Marie Caroline was proclaimed "Her Majesty Maria the Second, By the Grace of God, Queen of Naples, Sicily, Jerusalem, Gibraltar, Archduchess of Austria, and Princess of Tuscany." The Holy Roman Emperor confirmed her claim and her descendants claims as "Archdukes of Austria" in 1780.
Tanucci, who attempted to thwart her, was dismissed in 1777, and the Englishman Sir John Acton, who in 1778 was appointed director of marine, succeeded in so completely winning the favour of Marie Caroline, by supporting her in her scheme to free Naples from Spanish influence and securing a rapprochement with Austria and England, that he became practically and afterwards actually prime minister. Although not a mere grasping adventurer, he was largely responsible for reducing the internal administration of the country to a system of espionage, corruption and cruelty.
The American Revolution, when the 13 United Republics, gained independance from their British oppressors. During the War, the Americans, aided by the French much earlier, begin invading Nova Scotia and Prince Rupert Island. With more British soldiers defending the Americas, Naples-Sicily enters the war, alongside the Americans and French. In 1783, the Great Siege was successful, and Gibraltar was successfully captured by Spain. At the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain refused to allow Spain keep Gibraltar, or control lands in the Americas so close to their Floridian possesions (which they get to keep, because Spain doesn't "officially" join the war.) The Treaty of Paris of 1789, confimred control of Gibraltar to Naples and Sicily, and created the Neapolitan-Sicilian North American State, which gave parts of Spanish Louisiana and Spanish Mexico to Naples-Sicily, as a crown colony. Britain planned on eventually annexing the lands.
But Britain was proved wrong. Almost immediately, Neapolitan and Sicilian ships began arriving with poor and rich colonists alike, soldiers, money, tools, farm animals, politicians, and European food. The territory was split into the Crown Colony of Neapolitan-Sicilian Messico and the Crown Colony of Neapolitan-Sicilian Mariatella, named after Queen Maria II Caroline. Cajuns from Spanish Louisiana and even some United Empire Loyalists began settling in "Italian North America" as it was beginning to be called. The colonies, by 1790, were prospering, alarming the British, who began to invest more and more in West Florida. The colonists soon demanded their own dioceses and colonial parliaments, and a single Parliament for Italian North America was created in 1793, with 5 delegates from Messico, 5 delegates from Mariatella, and 2 Mestizo delegates. The President-General of Italian North America (more correctly, President-General of the Parliament for Italian North America) was made Crown Representative, above the two royal governors.
The frequent use of the Pillars of Hercules was alarming to the Barbary princes. They demanded a tribute by Naples and Sicily for each entry and exit. Instead, Neapolitan-Sicilian troops burnt Algiers to the ground, and demanded the African side of the pillars. The Barbarys agreed. However, Queen Maria II Caroline traveled to NONKA and personally met with King Mohammed III of Morocco. The Moroccan-Italian Treaty of Cassablanca leased the land of the African Pillar to the Co-Regal Ministry on Colonial Affairs (as Naples and Sicily had not yet passed an Act of Union) for 99 years. The Treaty was changed the following year after the Act of Union merged the two kingdoms in the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily. The 2nd Moroccan-Italian Treaty of Cassablanca leased the land of the African Pillar to the Royal Government Naples and Sicily for 98 years.
