Victor Emmanuel III was the King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. In addition, he claimed the thrones of Ethiopia and Albania as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–41) and King of the Albanians (1939–43), claims not recognised by all the great powers.
Background
Victor Emmanuel was born in Naples, Italy. He was the only child of Umberto I, King of Italy, and his consort (his first cousin through descent from his grandfather Charles Albert of Sardinia), Princess Margherita of Savoy. Margherita was the daughter of the Duke of Genoa.
Education
On 29 July 1900, at the age of 30, Victor Emmanuel acceded to the throne upon his father's assassination. The only advice that his father Umberto ever gave his heir was "Remember: to be a king, all you need to know is how to sign your name, read a newspaper, and mount a horse". His early years showed evidence that, by the standards of the Savoy monarchy, he was a man committed to constitutional government. Indeed, even though his father was killed by an anarchist, the new King showed a commitment to constitutional freedoms.
The son of King Humbert (or Umberto) I, Victor Emmanuel was educated by military tutors and entered the army as a lieutenant in 1886.
Career
His rise was predictably meteoric, and, by the age of twenty-eight, he was at least in name the commander of an army corps. In 1896 the young prince married the daughter of King Nicholas of Montenegro. Four years later, an anarchist's bullet cut down King Humbert and elevated Victor Emmanuel to the throne.
The young monarch played a comparatively minor role in national affairs over the next fourteen years, an era of relatively peaceful domestic politics and rising prosperity dominated by Liberal political leader Giovanni Giolitti. The king was apparently comfortable in a constitutional monarchy, despite his family's traditional interest in the nation's foreign and military affairs. He was thought by some to be an ardent irredentist, anxious to reclaim from Austria-Hungary lands inhabited by Italians. But his warlike instincts, if any, were muted. In 1911 it was Giolitti and Foreign Minister San Giuliano who led the nation into war with the Ottoman Empire.
The outbreak of World War I and the question of Italian intervention made the king's wishes and influence matters of national importance. Once Italy had refused to honor its alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, Premier Salandra and Foreign Minister Sonnino, the latter having replaced the deceased San Giuliano in November 1914, negotiated carefully over the next five months, expecting to join the Entente if Austria-Hungary failed to satisfy Italy's territorial demands. The king, along with a few senior officials in the Foreign Office, were aware of the negotiations and the resulting Treaty of London (April 26, 1915). His influence rose to decisive importance in May. On May 4 Italy denounced its alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. But Salandra found he lacked a parliamentary majority willing to vote for war, and he resigned on May 13. As massive demonstrations rocked Italy's major cities, especially in the north, led by such flamboyant interventionists as Gabriele D'Annunzid, the king looked for a new premier. But his own desire to uphold the Treaty of London and to bring Salandra back to office was clear. Perhaps aware that such street speakers and warmongering journalists as young Benito Mussolini were threatening revolution if Italy failed to strike at Austria, the king spoke of abdicating if the nation did not keep its word to its new allies. On May 16, after other candidates had refused the call to form a new government, the monarch enthusiastically summoned Salandra back. War was declared on May 24.
The king spent most of the war years near the front, as nominal commander in chief. His cousin, the duke of Genoa, remained in Rome as regent. In general, Victor Emmanuel's direct intervention in leading the nation remained rare. Some bones of contention between the military High Command, led by General Cadorna, and the government had to go to the king for his mediation. Such was the case in the spring of 1916 when Cadorna quarreled with Sonnino's growing involvement in Albania. Sonnino used the king's name to fend off Anglo-French moves to work for a separate peace with Vienna; this meant, he said, the renunciation of territorial gains pledged to Italy and that would besmirch the royal honor. In the tumultuous weeks after the enemy breakthrough at Caporetto (October 1917), the king consulted with Premier Vittorio Orlando to help choose General Diaz to replace the discredited Cadorna. The king also urged that the army retreat go no further than the Piave; and his speech reassuring English and French diplomats that this would be the limit of the Italian withdrawal probably helped sway London and Paris to send troops from the western front to prop up the Italians.
Victor Emmanuel had over twenty-eight years left on the throne when World War I ended. He presided passively over Italy's drift into Fascist dictatorship, and he saw his own role diminished by Mussolini. Then, in 1943, anti-Fascist groups like the army rallied to him in a vain effort to oust Mussolini. The post-World War II years put the fate of the monarchy itself in doubt. Facing a plebiscite on the question of keeping the monarchy or establishing a republic, the old king tried to make the first alternative more attractive to the voters by abdicating in favor of his son in May 1946. The next month's elections saw the monarchy defeated by a narrow margin. The last king of Italy went into exile and died in Alexandria, Egypt, on December 28, 1947.
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
Unlike his paternal first cousin's son, the 1.98 m (6-foot 6") tall Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, Victor Emmanuel was short of stature even by 19th-century standards, to the point that today he would appear diminutive. He was just 1.53 m tall (just over 5 feet). From birth until his accession, Victor Emmanuel was known by the title of the Prince of Naples.
Connections
In 1896 he married princess Elena of Montenegro (1873–1952), daughter of Nicholas I, King of Montenegro. Their issue included:
Yolanda Margherita Milena Elisabetta Romana Maria (1901–1986), married to Giorgio Carlo Calvi, Count of Bergolo, (1887–1977);
Mafalda Maria Elisabetta Anna Romana (1902–1944), married to Prince Philipp of Hesse (1896–1980) with issue; she died in the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald;
Umberto Nicola Tommaso Giovanni Maria, later Umberto II, King of Italy (1904–1983) married to Princess Marie José of Belgium (1906–2001), with issue.
Giovanna Elisabetta Antonia Romana Maria (1907–2000), married to King Boris III of Bulgaria (1894–1943), and mother of Simeon II, King and later Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
Maria Francesca Anna Romana (1914–2001), who married Prince Luigi of Bourbon–Parma (1899–1967), with issue.
From 1860 to 1946, the following titles were used by the King of Italy:
Victor Emmanuel III, by the Grace of God and the Will of the Nation, King of Italy, King of Sardinia, Cyprus, Jerusalem, Armenia, Duke of Savoy, count of Maurienne, Marquis (of the Holy Roman Empire) in Italy; Prince of Piedmont, Carignano, Oneglia, Poirino, Trino; Prince and Perpetual vicar of the Holy Roman Empire; prince of Carmagnola, Montmellian with Arbin and Francin, prince bailliff of the Duchy of Aosta, Prince of Chieri, Dronero, Crescentino, Riva di Chieri and Banna, Busca, Bene, Brà, Duke of Genoa, Monferrat, Aosta, Duke of Chablais, Genevois, Duke of Piacenza, Marquis of Saluzzo (Saluces), Ivrea, Susa, of Maro, Oristano, Cesana, Savona, Tarantasia, Borgomanero and Cureggio, Caselle, Rivoli, Pianezza, Govone, Salussola, Racconigi with Tegerone, Migliabruna and Motturone, Cavallermaggiore, Marene, Modane and Lanslebourg, Livorno Ferraris, Santhià Agliè, Centallo and Demonte, Desana, Ghemme, Vigone, Count of Barge, Villafranca, Ginevra, Nizza, Tenda, Romont, Asti, Alessandria, del Goceano, Novara, Tortona, Bobbio, Soissons, Sant'Antioco, Pollenzo, Roccabruna, Tricerro, Bairo, Ozegna, of Apertole, Baron of Vaud and of Faucigni, Lord of Vercelli, Pinerolo, of Lomellina, of Valle Sesia, of Ceva Marquisate, Overlord of Monaco, Roccabruna and 11/12th of Menton, Noble patrician of Venice, patrician of Ferrara.