List of spouses of the great counts and kings of Sicily

Coats of arms

Kingdom of Sicily

Kingdom of Both Sicilies

The list of spouses of the great counts and kings of Sicily is a chronological (by the time of wearing the title) list of names of consort wives ^{[K 1] [K 2] of the} great counts of Sicily, kings of Sicily and kings of both Sicilies. As an appendix, a list of the spouse of the heads of the royal house of the Two Sicilies is given, compiled on the same principle.

After Otvily won the Sicily from the Fatimids in January 1072, the Great County of Sicily was founded. The first great countess of Sicily was Judit d'Evreux , wife of the great Count Roger I ^[1] .

In 1127, the great counts of Sicily inherited the title of dukes of Puglia, and on December 25, 1130, both feuds were united into the kingdom of Sicily . The first queen of Sicily was Elvira of Castile , wife of King Roger II .

When the male line of the ruling family was suppressed, the throne of the monarchs of Sicily was inherited along the female line, and the spouse of the heiress became the new king. Three such cases are known in the history of the monarchy in Sicily: Constance I of Sicily (Otvili) ^[2] , Constance II of Sicily ( Hohenstaufen ) ^{[3] [4]} and Maria of Sicily ( Barcelona House ) ^[5] ). There is also a known case when the title of Queen of Sicily was worn simultaneously by two women - Sibylla di Acherra , the wife of King Tancred , and Irina Byzantine , the wife of King Roger III , son and co-ruler of Tancred.

Some consorted queen of Sicily were independent heads of other kingdoms - either after the loss of the title of queen consort of Sicily ( Blanca I of Navarre ), or simultaneously with the wearing of this title ( Isabella I of Castile , Mary I of England ).

From 1516 to 1713, the title of kings and queens of Sicily was held by the kings and queens of Spain (from 1516 to 1700 from the Habsburg Spanish Dynasty, from 1700 to 1713 from the Spanish Bourbon Dynasty). Following the results of the Utrecht peace of 1713, the title of kings of Sicily passed to the House of Savoy ^[6] . In 1720, the House of Savoy exchanged Sicily for Sardinia at the dynasty of the Austrian Habsburgs ^[6] . In 1735, the title of kings and queens of Sicily again passed to the dynasty of Spanish Bourbons, of which in 1759 the line of the Neapolitan Bourbons stood out ^[6] .

On December 8, 1816, the Neapolitan and Sicilian kingdoms were united into the kingdom of both Sicilies ^[7] . The title of King of Both Sicilies was established by the Bayonne Cortes on June 20, 1808 ^[8] , and the first queen to wear it was Carolina Bonaparte , wife of King Joachim Murat . However, before the creation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, this title had only formal significance, since, despite the loss of the Kingdom of Naples in 1806, control of the Kingdom of Sicily remained with the dynasty of the Neapolitan Bourbons ^{[K 3]} . The first legitimate queen of both Sicilies was Maria Isabella of Spain, wife of King Francesco I ^{[K 4]} .

The last queen of both Sicilies, Maria Sophia of Bavaria , wife of King Francesco II , was a consort queen from May 22, 1859 to March 20, 1861 ^[9] . After the unification of Italy and the deposition of the Sicilian Bourbon dynasty, from March 20, 1861 to the present, the wives of the applicants bear the title of wife of the head of the royal house of both Sicilies.

From January 7, 1960, the main line of applicants was divided into the line of the Dukes of Castro and the line of the Dukes of Calabria.