Prince Ferdinand Pius, Duke of Castro


Prince Ferdinand Pius, Duke of Calabria and Castro, was head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and pretender to the throne of the extinct Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1934 to 1960. Professionally, he was an officer in the Spanish and Bavarian armies.

Family

Ferdinand was the eldest child of Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta and his wife Princess Maria Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. He was a grandson of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and an older brother of Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Maria Immaculata, Princess Johann Georg of Saxony, Maria Cristina, Archduchess Peter Ferdinand of Austria, Maria di Grazia, Princess Imperial of Brazil, Prince Ranieri, Duke of Castro, Prince Philip of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and Prince Gabriel of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Marriage

Ferdinand married Princess Maria Ludwiga Theresia of Bavaria, daughter of King Ludwig III of Bavaria on 31 May 1897. They had six children:
Ferdinand and Maria lived for many years at Villa Amsee, Lindau. It was there that he died in 1960.

Disputed succession

Following Ferdinand's death, the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was claimed by both his nephew Infante Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, and his brother Prince Ranieri, Duke of Castro, and remains disputed between their descendants. The basis of Alfonso’s claim was that his late father, Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, had been Ferdinand's next oldest brother. But Henri, Count of Paris, upheld the claim of Ferdinand's younger brother, Prince Ranieri, Duke of Castro, contending that Carlos had renounced his rights of succession for himself and his descendants in 1901 when he married the Spanish heiress presumptive María de las Mercedes, Princess of Asturias. The Count of Paris was well aware that his own claim to the French throne depended on the validity of the renunciation in 1713 of Philip V of Spain, in favor of the junior House of Orléans.
In 1900, Prince Carlos had executed the Act of Cannes, in anticipation of his marriage to María de las Mercedes, and in 1901 he became a Spanish subject and accepted the title of Infante. The position of Ranieri was that by so doing Carlos had renounced any claim to the throne of the Two Sicilies. But Alfonso had a different interpretation, which was that the Act of Cannes would have taken effect only if Mercedes and Carlos had succeeded to the Spanish throne. He also argued that the Act of Cannes was invalid under the succession rules of the house of Two Sicilies. The dispute remains unresolved.

Military service

Ferdinand initially served in the Spanish Army, and after leaving service held the honorary rank of Comandante of the General Staff of the Spanish Army. On 1 March 1911, he was named Inhaber of the Royal Bavarian 6th Field Artillery Regiment, which was renamed in honor of him. He held the rank of Oberstleutnant ''à la suite of the Bavarian Army.
In World War I, he saw action initially in 1914 on the Western Front at Arras and La Bassée. On 27 May 1915, he was promoted to Oberst à la suite of the Army and on 6 June 1915 he was named Ordonnanzoffizier'' on the staff of the newly-formed 11th Bavarian Infantry Division. The division saw action on the Eastern and Western Fronts, and in Serbia and Romania.

Honours