By permitting himself to do this, he showed that he had never loved Lucretia.[57] Alexander had dissolved his daughter's marriage for political reasons.
It was his purpose to marry Lucretia and Caesar into the royal house of Naples.

This dynasty had reestablished itself there after the expulsion of the French, but its position had been so profoundly shaken that its fall was imminent; and it was this very fact that made Alexander hope to be able to place his son Caesar on the throne of Naples.

The most terrible of the Borgias now appropriated the place left vacant by the Duke of Gandia, to which he had long aspired, and only for the sake of appearances did he postpone casting aside the cardinal's robe.

The Pope, however, was already scheming for his son's marriage; for him he asked King Federico for the hand of his daughter Carlotta, who had been educated at the court of France as a princess of the house of Savoy.

The king, an upright man, firmly refused, and the young princess in horror rejected the Pope's insulting offer.