Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili

Pamphili was born in Naples on 21 February 1622. His uncle, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphili, was papal nuncio to the Kingdom of Naples and his father, Pamphilio Pamphili, had moved there with his wife Olimpia Maidalchini. As a young man Pamphili studied humanistic topics such as poetry, philosophy, mathematics and architecture.[1]

When Camillo's father died, in 1639, the prospect of a marriage to perpetuate the lineage was explored. This remained the intention after his uncle's election to the papacy. After negotiations had begun for the wedding of his sister Costanza to Niccolò Ludovisi, belonging to the pro-Spanish faction, a potential bride for the young Pamphili was sought in the pro-French faction. Olimpia Maidalchini advocated for the candidacy of Taddeo Barberini's daughter, Lucrezia, then twelve years old.[2] The move was designed to mend the rift between the Pamphili and the Barberini which had developed after Pope Innocent's election (he had the Barberini investigated for misappropriation of funds during the First War of Castro).[3]

On 15 September 1644, Giovanni Battista Pamphili was elected to the papal throne as Pope Innocent X. Shortly thereafter Camillo was appointed General of the Papal Army. This post was usually assigned to the lay-nephew of the Pope, but shortly afterwards Camillo Pamphili expressed his wish to become Cardinal-nephew.[4] Camillo was created Cardinal Deacon in the consistory of 14 November 1644, and Cardinal-nephew a month later.[1] Though he was described as a happy young man, pleasant to friends and staff, contemporary records of his cardinalate suggest he lost interest in his new-found piety fairly quickly,[3] leading a lazy life, sometimes not rising from bed until 7:00 pm.

The role of cardinal-nephew had become by the second half of the sixteenth century a significant position in the administration of the Papal States, but Innocent X distributed much of the responsibilities. Some of the duties were shared with the Secretary of State Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli. Military tasks were delegated to his two brothers-in-law, Niccolò Ludovisi and Andrea Giustiniani, husband of his older sister Maria Flaminia. According to Theodoro Ameyden, by 1646 the pope was again thinking of marrying his nephew, the only male heir of the Roman Pamphili, and at this stage there reappeared on the horizon the possibility of a marriage alliance with the Barberini.[2]

However, Camillo developed a particular interest in a young noblewoman who had been in attendance at the Palazzo Pamphili the day after his uncle's coronation. Olimpia Aldobrandini was clever, and beautiful; a grand-niece and later sole heir of Pope Clement VIII. However she was married to powerful nobleman Paolo Borghese and Pamphili, according to his contemporaries, was not one to indulge in an illicit affair.[3] When Borghese died in 1646, Pamphili made his intentions clear. The two families were already close; Aldobrandini's maternal uncle, Niccolò Ludovisi, had married Camillo's sister, Costanza.

Against his mother's wishes he resigned the cardinalate on 21 January 1647[1] and a few weeks later (10 February 1647) the two were married. The choice of the bride so displeased the Pope and his mother, who both favored a union with the Barberini, that neither of them took part in the wedding.[2] His cousin, Francesco Maidalchini, was appointed Cardinal-nephew.

Aldobrandini's dowry included a collection of paintings (including masterpieces removed from the Duke of Ferrara's "Camerino d’Alabastro"), villas in Montemagnanapoli and Frascati, the great Albodrandini estates in Romagna on the Corso in Rome and the Palazzo Aldobrandini. These estates and property thus passed to the Pamphili family and became the nucleus for the Galleria Doria Pamphilj.[5] So furious was Olympia that she banished them from Rome and the Palazzo Pamphili and they did not return until her death ten years later in 1657.[3]

Camillo and Aldobrandini had five children including Giovan Battista Pamphili, Benedetto Pamphili and Anna Pamphili who married the Genoese nobleman Giovanni Andrea III Doria Landi in 1671. When the Roman branch of the Pamphlili family ended in 1760, Anna and Giovanni inherited the palazzo in Rome. Benedetto Pamphili became Grand prior in Rome of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and in 1681 was named a cardinal.[6]

Camillo Pamphili commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to build the baroque Church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale (in 1658). The church was not completed until 1670, after Pamphili's death. He died at his Palazzo Pamphili on the via Lata, Rome, on 26 July 1666.

Pamphili and Olimpia Maidalchini had the following children:

• Flaminia Pamphili (died 1709) married (1) Bernardino Savelli, Duke of Castelgandolfo and had no children; married (2) Niccolo Francesco Pallavicini, Prince of Civitella and had no children.
• Teresa Pamphili (1650–1704) married Carlo II Cybo-Malaspina, Duke of Massa and had children.
• Anna Pamphili (1652–1728) married Giannandrea Doria, Prince of Melfi and founded the Doria-Pamphili-Landi line.
• Giambattista Pamphili, Prince of Carpinetti & of Belvedere (died 1717) married Violante Facchinetti and a daughter Olimpia (1672–1731) who married Filippo Colonna, Prince of Paliano, son of Marie Mancini

• Marble bust by Alessandro Algardi (Hermitage Museum)
• Painting by Giusto Sustermans (Palazzo Pitti)

• Catholic Hierarchy: Camillo Francesco Maria Cardinal Pamphili ^{[self-published]}