Chapter Page I The House of Wittelsbach 11 II Life at Munich and Possenhofen 17 III Political Disturbances in Bavaria 24 IV The Wittelsbach Sisters 31 V The Neapolitan Royal Family 37 VI Maria Sophia’s Arrival 44 VII A Strange Honeymoon 50 VIII Accession of Francis II and Maria Sophia 57 IX Garibaldi 63 X The Flight from Naples 70 XI Siege of Gaeta 81 XII Capitulation 90 XIII After the Fall of Gaeta 98 XIV Royalty in Exile 105 XV Conclusion 112 Appendix 121 Illustrations Maria Sophia, Queen of Naples _Frontispiece_ Maria Sophia at the Time of Accession 48 Francis the Second, King of Naples 58 Francis the Second, in his Sixtieth Year 114 Queen Maria Sophia of Naples Chapter I The House of Wittelsbach The house of Wittelsbach, one of the most ancient of the royal families of Europe, was divided, toward the end of the eighteenth century, into three branches. The old Elector, Karl Theodore, who died in 1799, was without issue, and his successor, Maximilian of the Pfalz-Zweibrücken line, became the founder of a new dynasty. Being the third son, there had seemed little prospect of succeeding to the throne in his earlier years, most of which were spent in the strictest seclusion at Mannheim and Zweibrücken. Later, he entered the French army and until the outbreak of the French Revolution was stationed as colonel at Strassburg, where the jovial warrior made himself most popular, not only in military but in social circles.