Victor Emmanuel II was born at Turin on the 14th of March 1820, and was the son of Charles Albert, prince of Savoy- Carignano, who became king of Sardinia in 1831.
In 1842 he was married to Adelaide, daughter of the Austrian Archduke Rainer, as the king desired at that time to improve his relations with Austria.
He played no part in politics during his father's lifetime, but took an active interest in military matters.
Brought up in the bigoted and chilling atmosphere of the Piedmontese court, Victor Emmanuel II received a rigid military and religious training, but little intellectual education.
At Goito Victor Emmanuel II was slightly wounded and displayed great bravery, and after Custozza defended the rearguard to the last (25th of July 1848).
In the campaign of March 1849 he commanded the same division.
After the disastrous defeat at Novara on the 23rd of March, Charles Albert, having rejected the peace terms offered by the Austrian field-marshal Radetzky, abdicated in favour of his son, and withdrew to a monastery in Portugal, where he died a few months later.
Victor Emmanuel repaired to Radetzky's camp, where he was received with every sign of respect, and the field-marshal offered not only to waive the claim that Austria should occupy a part of Piedmont, but to give him an extension of territory, provided he revoked the constitution and substituted the old blue Piedmontese flag for the Italian tricolour, which savoured too much of revolution.
Parliament having rejected the peace treaty, the king dissolved the assembly; in the famous proclamation from Moncalieri he appealed to the people's loyalty, and the new Chamber ratified the treaty (9th of January 1850).
The years from 1850 to 1859 were devoted to restoring the shattered finances of Sardinia, reorganizing the army and modernizing the antiquated institutions of the kingdom.
Among other reforms the abolition of the foro ecclesiastico (privileged ecclesiastical courts) brought down a storm of hostility from the Church both on the king and on Cavour, but both remained firm in sustaining the prerogatives of the civil power.
When the Crimean War broke out, the king strongly supported Cavour in the proposal that Piedmont should join France and England against Russia so as to secure a place in the councils of the great Powers and establish a claim on them for eventual assistance in Italian affairs (1854).
He was in communication with some of the conspirators, especially with La Farina, the leader of the Societd, Nazionale, an association the object of which was to unite Italy under the king of Sardinia, and he even com1- municatcd with Mazzini and the republicans, both in Italy and abroad, whenever he thought that they could help in the expulsion of the Austrians from Italy.
Even then Napoleon would not decide on immediate hostilities, and it required all Cavour's genius to bring him to the point and lead Austria into a declaration of war (April 1859).
Although the Franco-Sardinian forces were successful in, the field, Napoloon, fearing an attack by Prussia and disliking the idea of a too powerful Italian kingdom on the frontiers of France, insisted on making peace with Austria, while Venetia still remained to be freed.
Victor Emmanuel, realizing that he could not continue the campaign alone, agreed most unwillingly to the armistice of Villafranca.
But the king on this occasion showed more political insight than his great minister and saw that by adopting the heroic course proposed by the latter he ran the risk of finding Napoleon on the side of the enemy, whereas by waiting all might be gained.
On the 29th of October he met Garibaldi, who handed over his conquests to the king.
The whole peninsula, except Rome and Venice, was now annexed to Piedmont, and on the 18th of February 1861 the parliament proclaimed Victor Emmanuel king of united Italy. The next few years were occupied with preparations for the liberation of Venice, and the king corresponded with Mazzini, Klapka, Tiirr and other conspirators against Austria in Venetia itself, Hungary, Poland and elsewhere, keeping his activity secret even from his own ministers.
The alliance with Prussia and the war with Austria of 1866, although fortune did not favour Italian arms, added Venetia to his dominions. The Roman question yet remained unsolved, for Napoleon, although he.
had assisted Piedmont in 1859 and had reluctantly consented to the annexation of the central and southern provinces, and of part of the Papal States, would not permit Rome to be occupied, and maintained a French garrison there to protect the pope.
When war with Prussia appeared imminent he tried to obtain Italian assistance, and Victor Emmanuel was very anxious to fly to the assistance of the man who had helped him to expel the Austrians from Italy, but he could not do so unless Napoleon gave him a free hand in Rome.
This the emperor would not do until it was too late.
Victor Emmanuel devoted himself to his duties as a constitutional king with great conscientiousness, but he took more interest in foreign than in domestic politics and contributed not a little to improving Italy's international position.
In 1873 he visited the emperor Francis Joseph at Vienna and the emperor William at Berlin.
He received an enthusiastic welcome in both capitals, but the visit to Vienna was never returned in Rome, for Francis Joseph as a Catholic sovereign feared to offend the pope, a circumstancewhich served to embitter Austro-ItaJian relations.
He was succeeded by his son Humbert. Bluff, hearty, good-natured and simple in his habits, yet he always had a high idea of his own kingly dignity, and his really statesmanlike qualities often surprised foreign diplomats, who were deceived by his homely exterior.
He always used the dialect of Piedmont when conversing with natives of that country, and he had a vast fund of humorous anecdotes and proverbs with which to illustrate his arguments.
(L. V. *)
Victor Emmanuel II had considerable influence with Garibaldi, who, although in theory a republican, was greatly attached to the bluff soldier-king, and on several occasions restrained him from too foolhardy courses.
As a soldier he was very brave, but he did not show great qualities as a military leader in the campaign of 1S66.
In 1842 Victor Emmanuel II married his first cousin once removed Adelaide of Austria (1822–1855). By her he had eight children.
In 1869 he married morganatically his principal mistress Rosa Vercellana (3 June 1833 – 26 December 1885). Popularly known in Piedmontese as "Bela Rosin", she was born a commoner but made Countess of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda in 1858.
In addition to his morganatic second wife, Victor Emmanuel II had several other mistresses:
—Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione, who when as the mistress of Napoleon III pleaded the case for Italian unification.
—Laura Bon at Stupinigi, who bore him two children.
—Virginia Rho at Turin, mother of two children.
—Unknown Mistress at Mondovì
—Baroness Vittoria Duplessis
The following year Victor Emmanuel was stricken with a threefold family misfortune; for his mother, the Queen Dowager Maria Teresa, his wife, Queen Adelaide, and his brother Ferdinand, duke of Genoa, died within a few weeks of each other.
(3 June 1833 – 26 December 1885)
