things would be more secure for his son. Reigning Duke On 24 March 1849 the abdication of Charles II was announced. Ferdinando Carlo, still living in England, succeeded to the title of Duke of Parma, Piacenza, and the Annexed States taking the name Charles III. On 18 May 1849 he re-entered Parma, but left again two days later for Olmutz to secure Austrian support. He did not take over the administration of the duchy until 25 August when he made a solemn entry into Parma as its new Duke. Although Charles III was an authoritarian ruler, his reign was less reactionary than those of his cousins in Naples and Tuscany. He was very anticlerical and an opponent of capital punishment. No death sentences were carried out during his five-year reign. He loved England, which he visited once more after his ascension to the ducal throne, but he had no sympathies for Austria even though he was closely related to the Hapsburgs and owed his throne to the Austrian intervention. Charles III, in spite of his personal charms, was not loved by his subjects. The nobility treated him warily while the bourgeois was as contemptuous of him as he was of them. He got on best with the popular classes. He was very fond of the ballet, and he was well liked by dancers, soldiers, peasants and ordinary citizens. Though conscious at all time of his rank—he used his walking stick on anyone who he deemed disrespectful towards him—he was simple in his manners, very approachable and he had great personal charm. However, his arbitrary decisions destroyed the respect that his subjects had for him and his dynasty and he became unpopular. By 1853 there were rumors of plots to remove him from power. His personal life was also in turmoil. He grew apart from his wife, who became exceedingly fat. The Duchess was a sharp-tongued woman who liked having her way through intrigues and the force of her personality. The rift between husband and wife grew when Charles III openly began an affair with Countess Emma Guadagni (1829–1866), a sister-in-law of the Austrian general governor of Trento. They met in Florence in February 1852, while Charles III was a guest of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In a semi-official visit to Queen Isabella II of Spain in December 1853, Charles III took his mistress with him, bringing about the