The Flight of the Last Stuart King by Margaret Stenhouse

Author:Margaret Stenhouse
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Published: 2019-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

Messina to Palermo

Spring 1799

They had been less than a month in Messina when a messenger arrived with summons to attend the Queen at Palermo. Henry was not keen to undertake the journey. He disliked being singled out in this way, fearing it could arouse suspicion and resentment among his brother cardinals. However, after some thought he decided that he could hardly refuse since his Family had enjoyed the generosity and protection of the Bourbon court for many months in Naples.

Leaving most of his entourage in Messina, he took Moretto as his personal servant and Garani and Annibale as his escorts, as well as a grumbling Don Angelo Cesarini, who said he had heard of the dangers of bandits and highway robbers on the road and since, purely by the grace of God, they had managed to avoid attacks on the road to Velletri, they should not tempt God’s providence yet another time.

The journey to Palermo was long, uncomfortable and tedious. Over a hundred miles separated Messina from Palermo and much of it was over mountainous terrain. They were obliged to use mules rather than horses on the roughest tracts. There were sixteen staging posts between the two cities, but they found some of them closed and others without inns. However, they were able to find hospitality at religious houses near the towns of Tindaro, Santo Stefano di Carnastra and Cefalù where they could stop for a night’s rest. It was a slow, exhausting journey that took them almost five days, due to delays at border points where bored officials took their time studying their documents, passes and the contents of their baggage. Fortunately, they did not come across any brigands on the road and they progressed without mishap.

Their hearts lifted when at last the towers and domes of Palermo appeared on the horizon and they were able to make their way to the Benedictine monastery where they had rented lodgings near the Cathedral. Henry hoped that their sojourn would not last more than a couple of weeks.

The arrival of the Bourbon court, along with some two thousand high-ranking refugees with their servants, goods and paraphernalia, had given the sleepy provincial city of Palermo an unaccustomed boost. The streets were suddenly filled with courtiers, diplomats, merchants, soldiers and members of the exiled clergy. A babel of tongues in Russian, German, Spanish and English filled the streets and piazzas. Within a short time, various nations had installed their official representatives in the Sicilian capital, along with their merchants and spies. As a result, the city was booming. Trade was brisk. Work opportunities abounded. The number of beggars at the church doors dwindled.

While Naples, meanwhile, was being transformed into the Parthenopean Republic, another of France’s ‘sister’ republics, the Bourbon royal family set about creating their new court in Sicily. Suitable quarters for a royal household, however, were limited in this remote and hitherto neglected province of the great Kingdom of Naples. To make matters more difficult, it was an unusually cold winter, with snow and ice lying over the city.

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