Of King Jan III Sobieski's sons, only Aleksander renounced the Polish crown in favour of his elder brother Jakub. He himself settled in Rome, where, towards the end of his life, he joined the Capuchin order. Despite his request for a modest funeral, Pope Clement XI organised for him a ceremony worthy of an administrator of the Holy See's property (a cardinal butler). He also funded a tombstone in the Capuchin church in Rome.

Aleksander Sobieski and his brothers
Aleksander Benedykt Stanisław was born in Gdańsk on 9 September 1677 as the second son of King John III and Marie Kazimiera d'Arquien, the first born after Sobieski took the crown.

Alexander was widely regarded as his parents' favourite and the handsomest of the royals. He enjoyed great popularity, which he won especially in the army after his father took him with him on an expedition to Wallachia. However, the young prince was not interested in politics, preferring court life and romance.

After the death of Jan III Sobieski (1696), Queen Marysieńka sent Aleksander and his younger brother Konstanty to Paris, to Louis XIV, with a substantial sum of money. However, she did not receive French support for the election of her first-born James as king. Alexander, on the other hand, got into political tussles and became captain of the guard of Augustus II. Having quarrelled with the king, he left the service and then publicly accused him of an attempt on his life.

When, in 1704 August II arrested Jakub and Konstanty Sobieski, Alexander went to Sweden, to Charles XII, with a plan for an armed attack on Saxony. He rejected the Polish crown offered to him by the Swedes, recognising the precedence of his elder brother. After the Peace of Altranstädt (1706), Alexander signed a settlement with his brothers and relinquished his hereditary estates in exchange for a percentage paid to him.

Alexander Sobieski's Roman asylum
From 1708, Prince Alexander Sobieski lived in Rome, at his mother's court. As in the Republic, he was very popular in the Eternal City, quickly winning the favour of the elite, enjoying the delights of life and indulging in numerous love affairs.

Alexander, under the pseudonym Armonte Calidio, was from 1709 a member of Rome's Arcadia, an academy founded by Tuscan writers and scholars. He actively and willingly took part in the cultural life of Rome. One of his passions was the theatre and in this field he made the greatest contributions. Among other things, he contributed to the organisation of the famous theatre at the Roman court of Maria Kazimiera.

Even before his arrival in Rome, Alexander had suffered from health problems, which worsened in the Eternal City. From numerous descriptions from the period, researchers have concluded that the prince suffered from gout, or rheumatoid arthritis. After the departure of Maria Kazimiera's court from Rome, the prince remained in the capital and his health rapidly deteriorated. Sensing his impending death, he joined the Capuchin order, which was seen by his contemporaries as an attempt to redeem his boisterous life. Before his death, in accordance with the Pope's wishes, he was watched over by two cardinals and the Capuchins. Alexander Sobieski died on 19 November 1714.

Funeral ceremony of Alexander Sobieski
Although Alexander wished for a modest burial in the Capuchin habit, by order of Pope Clement XI, the corpse was embalmed, and on 27 November 1714 a rich and solemn funeral ceremony was organised in the Capuchin church, which, according to descriptions, was modelled on the funerals of the Camerillian cardinals (administrators of the temporal possessions of the Holy See). The procession with the prince's body, which was covered with the mantle of the Order of the Holy Spirit that he had received from Louis XIV back in 1698, was observed by the Pope from the Quirinal. Alexander was laid to rest in the Capuchin temple, in the famous crypt decorated with the skulls and bones of more than 3,500 dead monks.

The tomb of the king in the Capuchin church
. Clement XI also founded the tomb that stands in the church of Santa Maria della Concezione in via Vittorio Veneto, just at the exit of the street to Piazza Barberini. He entrusted its execution to one of the most eminent sculptors of Rome at the time, Camillo Rusconi (1658-1728). The ceremonial unveiling of the monument took place in 1728.

The King's tombstone is located in a prominent position to the left of the church's rainbow wall. A sarcophagus on lion's legs is set on a double pedestal. It is supported by a crowned eagle holding in its claws the serpent Uroboros (symbol of infinity and eternal return). On the age of the tombstone, at the sides, squatted putti plunged in despair. One points to the portrait and holds a torch in its hand. The other, resigned, supports its cheek with its hand and holds an extinguished torch, a symbol of an end of life. Between the putti is a cushion on which a crown rests.

Above, in an architectural frame of pseudo-pillars, decorated on the shaft with sequins, hangs a bas-relief bust portrait of Alexander Sobieski in princely robes, surmounted by tracery and a helmet with a plume.

On the front of the sarcophagus, cast in bronze and gilded letters proclaim: "ALEXANDER PRINCEPS REGIUS IOANNIS III. REGIS POLONIAE FILIUS. OB. DIE XIX. NOV. MDCCXIV" [Prince Alexander, son of the Polish King John III. He died on 19 November 1714]. The entire tombstone was made of white marble, only the first band of the pedestal, resting on the church floor, is made of grey stone.

The tombstone of Prince Alexander is considered to be one of Rusconi's better and hand-crafted works. Experts emphasise the excellent technique and freedom in the depiction of the putti. The play with the texture of the marble used by the sculptor, who either polished or left individual parts in the rough marble (e.g. the eagle's feathers, the wings of the putti, the drapery of their headdresses), adds to the plasticity of the work. As a result, the individual parts reflect the light rays differently and intensify the chiaroscuro effects. The form of the tomb is similar to that of the monument to Pope Gregory XIII, also carved by Rusconi five years earlier.