1861 | Page 5

Interview to Ferdinando II

December, 1860.

A few days ago we decided to go to court to interview the sovereign Ferdinando Carlo Maria Di Borbone.

Ferdinando Carlo Maria Di Borbone is the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, he was crowned on November 8th 1830.

His ascent to the throne occurred at a young age, but despite this he immediately wanted to start a process of reorganization of the finances of the Kingdom, for this reason we decided to interview him.

After having warmly welcomed us to court we started with our questions

Below we report the contents of the interview:

Q: Mr. Sovereign, why did you decide to start this economic policy immediately?

A: I've always wanted to differentiate my Kingdom, I think we have the potential to do it!

Q: What does to differentiate mean?

A: I would like the Kingdom to become more industrialized, this is the reason why we are investing in the industry and the tertiary sector.

Q: Many bourgeois speak of protectionist politics, could you tell us something about it?

A: It's a protectionist policy because I want to limit imports; for our needs we must count only on ourselves!

Q: And for what reasons many believe that yours is a policy of paternalism?

A: Because I care a lot to have the consent of the people, especially that of the upper classes. I'm really interested in the public good, but of course I ask for a high consensus around my person.

The Bridge - 1861 - Erasmus+

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