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Having fought in the War of the Spanish Succession, he became king of Sicily in 1713, but he was forced to exchange this title and instead became king of Sardinia.
Victor Amadeus left a considerable cultural influence in Turin, remodeling the Royal Palace of Turin, Palace of Venaria, Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi, as well as building the Basilica of Superga where he rests.
Victor Amadeus was born in Turin to Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy and his second wife Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Nemours. Named after his paternal grandfather Victor Amadeus I he was their only child. As an infant he was styled as the "Prince of Piedmont", traditional title of the heir apparent to the duchy of Savoy. A weak child, his health was greatly monitored. As an infant he had a passion for soldiers and was noted as being very intelligent.
The news of these rebellions soon reached a wider scope and it became clear that soon the whole of Piedmont was on the verge of revolt. Power at this point still being with Victor Amadeus' mother, she ordered representatives of the town of Mondovì to go to Turin to conclude treaties and were cordially welcomed by the young Victor Amadeus, who agreed to the treaties. The event had allowed Victor Amadeus a chance to exert some power.
Having succeeded in ending his mother's power in Savoy, Victor Amadeus looked to his oncoming marriage with the youngest child of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (brother of Louis XIV) and Henrietta of England. The contract of marriage between Anne Marie and the Duke of Savoy was signed at Versailles on 9 April; On 10 April 1684, Anne Marie was married at Versailles, by proxy, to Victor Amadeus. The couple were married in person on 6 May 1684.
At the urging of Louis, Victor Amadeus II began a large-scale persecution of the Vaudois (Piedmontese and Savoyard Protestants) in 1685. The state had been bankrupted due to various conflicts and a famine in 1679 which had used all last resources. Due to his alliances with England and the Dutch Republic during the Nine Years' War, he was forced to cease this practice from 1688, and in 1694 granted an Edict of Toleration. However, in 1698 Louis XIV forced him to expel all Protestant immigrants from Savoy in accordance with a treaty of 1696.
During this period he became anxious to free himself of domination by Louis, and his first sign of independence was his independent visit to Venice in 1687, where he conferred with Prince Eugene of Savoy and others. Louis discovered this and demanded that Victor Amadeus launch another expedition against the Vaudois; he grudgingly complied, but as described below soon chose the allies countering France.
Victor Amadeus II undertook sweeping administrative reforms within Savoy. In 1696 he established a system of intendants, based on the French model, responsible for collecting taxes and law enforcement. In 1697 he began a land survey which was largely completed by 1711, the Perequazione, to examine the land holdings and privileges of the Church and nobility. In 1717 he reformed the secretariat system in Turin establishing individual secretaries for war, internal affairs and foreign affairs. From the 1670s he also had a new administrative zone built in Turin, around the ducal palace. This zone included a military academy, the ministry of war, a mint, and a customs house. This work was still ongoing upon his death.
Victor Amadeus also undertook a number of military reforms. Often when one of his key fortresses was under attack, he would replace its commanding officer with one of his most reliable and trusted leaders. In 1690 he established a select militia within his territories, and he later overhauled the militia system in 1714 and strictly codified it. This included an obligation for each region under his rule to provide a number of men for the militia based on population. From 1713 he also began to establish his own navy based on the limited Sicilian naval forces he had been granted.
Victor Amadeus was able to use the experienced armies he developed in foreign wars to establish more firm control within his own territories. Faced with rebellion by Mondovì at the end of the century, he brought a force of veterans from the Nine Years War there and re-established his authority. He employed a similar strategy against an anti-tax riot in Cigliano in 1724.
Under his mother's regency Savoy, despite being a state of the Holy Roman Empire, was closely linked to and heavily dependent upon France, essentially becoming a French satellite. Victor Amadeus II broke this link by joining alliances against France in both the Nine Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession. Savoy was considered a valuable ally in both wars due to its geographical position, enabling a second front to be opened against France in the south. Savoy relied heavily on foreign subsidies, particularly from England and the Dutch Republic, in both wars to maintain its armies.
England and Austria ignored his claim, the latter of which had a candidate in the person of Archduke Charles, who immediately proclaimed himself King of Spain. The Grand Duke of Tuscany also ignored his claims. In the meantime he pursued the expansion of Savoy and bought various fiefdoms of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1703, Victor Amadeus switched sides, joining the Grand Alliance as he had in the Nine Years War. Savoy fared particularly badly against the larger French forces resulting in a siege of Turin in 1706. Anne Marie's uncle, Louis XIV (along with Spanish forces from Anne Marie's second cousin Philip V of Spain), besieged Turin during the "Battle of Turin". French troops were under the control of Anne Marie's half brother, the Duke of Orléans. She and her sons were forced to flee Turin with the grandmother for the safety of Genoa. Turin was saved by the combined forces of Victor Amadeus and Prince Eugene of Savoy in September 1706.
As a result of his aid in the War of the Spanish Succession, Victor Amadeus II gained the Kingdom of Sicily in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht which ended the war. Being crowned King of Sicily in Palermo in December 1713, he returned to Turin in September 1714.
As ruler of an independent kingdom and a key player in the recent war, Victor Amadeus significantly expanded his foreign relations. As a duke, he had envoys and embassies in France, the Empire, and Rome. In 1717, he established his own foreign office.
Victor Amadeus in 1720 was forced to exchange Sicily for the less important kingdom of Sardinia after objections from an alliance of four nations, including several of his former allies. The duke was a marquis and Prince and Perpetual Vicar in the Holy Roman Empire.
Taking the style of "King Victor Amadeus", he and Anna moved into the château de Chambéry outside the capital. The couple took a small retinue of servants and Victor Amadeus was kept informed of matters of state. He insisted on having a Louis XIV-style wig with him at all times as his only luxury.
Under the influence of Anna, in 1731 having suffered a stroke, Victor Amadeus decided he wanted to resume his tenure on the throne and informed his son of his decision. Arrested by his son, he was transported to the Castle of Moncalieri and Anna was taken to a house for reformed prostitutes at the Castle of Ceva but was later allowed to return to the Castle of Rivoli where her husband was moved. She was returned to him on 12 April. The stroke seemed to have affected Victor Amadeus in a way which caused him to later turn violent towards his wife, blaming her for his misfortunes.
King Victor Amadeus died in September 1732 and was buried in the Convent of San Giuseppe di Carignano. His son decided not to bury him in the Basilica of Superga which Victor Amadeus had built and where he asked to be buried, as his son did not want to remind the public of the scandal which his abdication had caused. Anna was moved to the Convent of the Visitation in Pinerolo where she died aged 88.
Despite his political reforms and his passion for trying to increase the importance of Savoy in Europe, Victor Amadeus left a considerable cultural legacy in the city of his birth. In 1697 Victor Amadeus commissioned Le Notre to lay out large gardens at the Palace of Turin where he had previously commissioned the Viennese Daniel Seiter to paint a famous gallery which exists to this day. Victor Amadeus subsequently had Seiter knighted. He also encouraged musical patronage in Savoy and the court became a centre for various musicians of the period.
Being crowned King of Sicily in Palermo in December 1713, he returned to Turin in September 1714. From Palermo he brought back Filippo Juvarra, an Italian architect who had spent many years in Rome. Juvarra was patronised by Victor Amadeus and was the mind behind the remodelling of the Royal Palace of Turin, Palace of Venaria, Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi as well as building the Basilica of Superga. The architect was also responsible for various roads and piazza's in Turin. Victor Amadeus' mother also used Juvarra for the famous staircase within the Palazzo Madama where she lived after being banished.
In 1997 the "UNESCO" added a group of buildings which were connected to Victor Amadeus and his family to be added to have World Heritage status. These buildings including the Royal Palace, the Palazzo Madama, the Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi and his wife's "Villa della Regina" were grouped as the "Residences of the Royal House of Savoy".
Anne Marie would remain a devoted wife. She quietly accepted his extramarital affairs; the longest one being with the famed beauty Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes by whom he had two children. Jeanne Baptiste was his mistress for eleven years and eventually fled Savoy due to Victor Amadeus' obsession with her. Victor Amadeus subsequently had his daughter with Jeanne Baptiste, Maria Vittoria, marry the Prince of Carignano from which the present Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples is a direct descendant. His favourite child was Victor Amadeus born in 1699 and given the title Prince of Piedmont as heir apparent. The Prince of Piedmont later died in 1715 from smallpox. Anne Marie died in 1728 after a series of heart attacks.
His relationship with his younger son and eventual successor Charles Emmanuel was a cold one and the two were never close. Victor Amadeus organised the first two marriages of Charles Emmanuel, the first one being to Anne Christine of Sulzbach, daughter of the Count Palatine of Sulzbach, which produced a son who died in infancy. The second marriage was to Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg, a first cousin of Anne Christine and mother of six children, including the future Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia.
Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Naples ("Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria di Savoia"; born 12 February 1937) is the only son of Umberto II, the last King of Italy and his wife Queen Marie-José of Belgium. Vittorio Emanuele also uses the title Duke of Savoy and claims the headship of the House of Savoy. These claims are disputed by supporters of his third cousin, Prince Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta.
Vittorio Emanuele was born 12 February 1937 in Naples to Umberto, Prince of Piedmont, who would later become the last King of Italy as Umberto II, and Princess Marie-José of Belgium. When Umberto II left Italy after the monarchy was abolished by the Italian constitutional referendum, 1946, the remaining members of the House of Savoy lived in exile, mostly in Switzerland and on the Portuguese Riviera, though the former king Victor Emmanuel III, grandfather to Vittorio Emanuele, lived in Egypt until his death in 1947. Following the separation of the exiled ex-King and ex-Queen, Prince Vittorio Emanuele lived with his mother in an estate in Merlinge, Switzerland. Vittorio Emanuele and his family currently reside in Geneva.
After an 11-year relationship, Vittorio Emanuele married Swiss biscuit heiress and world-ranked water skier Marina Ricolfi-Doria in Tehran on 7 October 1971, at the occasion of the 2,500 year celebration of Iran's monarchy. Coincidentally, Vittorio Emanuele and his wife Marina share a birthday (12 February) but Vittorio Emanuele is two years younger than Marina (she was born in 1935).
Vittorio Emanuele has worked as a banker and an aircraft salesman, and then an arms dealer.
Vittorio Emanuele has one son, Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice, born on 22 June 1972, who has two daughters.
On 7 July 2006 Vittorio Emanuele's kinsman and dynastic rival, Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta declared himself to be the head of the House of Savoy and Duke of Savoy, claiming that Vittorio Emanuele had lost his dynastic rights when he married without the permission of Umberto II in 1971. Amedeo has received the support of the President of the "Council of the Senators of the Kingdom" Aldo Alessandro Mola.
Vittorio Emanuele and his son have applied for a judicial injunction to forbid Amedeo from using the title "Duke of Savoy". In February 2010, the court of Arezzo ruled that the Duke of Aosta and his son must pay damages totalling €50,000 to their cousins and cease using the surname "Savoy" instead of "Savoy-Aosta".
In line with certain other countries that were formerly monarchies, the Italian Constitution required all male members of the House of Savoy to leave Italy and barred them from ever returning to Italian soil again. This was enacted as a "temporary disposition" enacted when the constitution was promulgated in 1948. The constitution also forbade any amendment that would change the republican form of government, effectively foreclosing any effort to restore the monarchy short of adopting a new constitution.
Vittorio Emanuele lobbied the Parliament of Italy over the years in which the law prohibiting his return was in force, to be allowed to return to his homeland after 56 years in exile. In 1999, he filed a case at the European Court of Human Rights, in which the Prince charged that his lengthy exile violated his human rights. In September 2001, the court decided to hold a hearing on the case at a date later to be fixed.
In order to achieve a return to his homeland, he renounced any claim to the defunct throne and to Italy's crown jewels. He publicly assured the Italian government that the nation and the crown properties, confiscated by the State in 1946, "are no longer ours", referring to the House of Savoy. "For that matter we have no claim on the Crown jewels", he said. "We have nothing in Italy and we are not asking for anything". Vittorio Emanuele also dropped his case at the European Court of Human Rights. In February 2002, Vittorio Emanuele and his son Emanuele Filiberto wrote a signed letter, published through a law firm, in which they formally expressed their loyalty to the Constitution of Italy.
On 23 October 2002, the provision in the constitution that barred male members of the former royal house from returning to Italy was repealed. As part of a deal with the government, Vittorio Emanuele signed an agreement renouncing all claims to the defunct throne and recognizing the Republic as the only lawful government of Italy. Vittorio Emanuele was permitted to re-enter the country from 10 November 2002. On 23 December 2002, he made his first trip home in over half a century. On the one-day visit he, his wife and his son had a 20-minute audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
Upon their first visit in 2003 to Naples, where Vittorio Emanuele was born, and from where his family sailed into exile in 1946, the reception of the Savoys was mixed; most people were indifferent to them, some hostile, a few supportive. The media reported that many in Naples were not happy to see the return of the family, when hundreds of noisy demonstrators chanted negative slogans as they progressed through the city. Demonstrations were staged by two traditionally opposing factions: anti-monarchists on one hand, and supporters of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the royal house deposed when Italy was united in 1861 under the House of Savoy.
Vittorio Emanuele unilaterally declared himself King of Italy on 15 December 1969. He argued that by agreeing to submit to a referendum on his place as head of state, his father had thereby abdicated. Vittorio Emanuele took this action after his father allegedly called for Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta to visit him in Portugal to name him his heir. Under his self-assumed powers as King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele conferred the title of Duchess of Sant'Anna di Valdieri on his then fiancée, Marina Doria.
On the night of 17 August or the morning of 18 August 1978, on the island of Cavallo (which lies off the south coast of Corsica), Vittorio Emanuele discovered his yacht's rubber dinghy had been taken and attached to another nearby yacht. Arming himself with a rifle, he attempted to board the vessel. He shot at a passenger he had awakened; the shot missed the passenger but mortally wounded Dirk Hamer (the 19-year-old son of Ryke Geerd Hamer), a passenger sleeping on the deck of another adjacent yacht. The prince admitted civil liability for the death in a letter dated 28 August 1978. Dirk Hamer died of his wounds on 7 December 1978, and Vittorio Emanuele was arrested.
On 11 October 1989, Vittorio Emanuele was indicted on charges of inflicting lethal injury and possession of a dangerous weapon. But on 18 November 1991, after thirteen years of legal proceedings, the Paris Assize Court acquitted him of the fatal wounding and unintentional homicide charges, finding him guilty only of unauthorised possession of an M1 Garand rifle. He received a six-month suspended prison sentence.
When incarcerated in June 2006, on unconnected charges of corruption (see below, "Arrest and imprisonment"), Vittorio Emanuele was recorded admitting that "I was in the wrong, [...] but I must say I fooled them [the French judges]", leading to a call from Dirk Hamer's sister Birgit for Vittorio Emanuele to be retried in Italy for killing her brother.
Vittorio Emanuele also said in 2003 that the anti-Semitic laws passed under Mussolini's regime were "not that terrible".
"I'm not saying it was he who signed the racial laws in 1938. But, as a Savoy heir, Victor Emmanuel has never distanced himself from them," the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Amos Luzzatto, said in an interview with "Il Corriere della Sera" newspaper.
On 27 January 2005, in a letter published by "Il Corriere della Sera", Vittorio Emanuele issued an apology to Italy's Jewish leadership asking forgiveness from the Italian Jewish community, and declaring that it was an error for the Italian Royal Family to have signed the racial laws of 1938.
On 21 May 2004, following a dinner held by King Juan Carlos I of Spain at the Zarzuela Palace on the eve of the wedding of his son Felipe, Prince of Asturias, Vittorio Emanuele punched his third cousin and arch-rival Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, twice in the face, causing him to fall down the steps. Former Queen Anne-Marie of Greece caught Amedeo to prevent him further injuring himself and helped him indoors, staunching his bleeding face until first aid could be administered. Upon learning of the incident, Juan Carlos reportedly declared that "never again" would an opportunity to abuse his hospitality be afforded to the competing pretenders.
On 16 June 2006 he was arrested in Varenna and imprisoned in Potenza on charges of corruption and recruitment of prostitutes for clients of the Casinò di Campione of Campione d'Italia.
The enquiry was conducted by Italian magistrate John Woodcock, of British ancestry, famous for other VIPs' arrests.
After several days, Vittorio Emanuele was released and placed under house-arrest instead. He was released from house-arrest on 20 July 2006, but he had to stay within the borders of Italy.
Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia was acquitted of all charges in the years 2007 and 2010.
"La Repubblica" reported in 2006 that Emanuele Filiberto had distanced himself from his father.
In 2007, Vittorio Emanuele and his son Emanuele Filiberto requested formally that the state pay financial damages of 260 million euros and initiate full restitution of all properties and belongings that had been confiscated from the royal house after the abolition of the monarchy. The financial damages claim is based on having suffered moral injustice during the exile. The Italian government has rejected the request and, in response, indicated that it may seek damages for historic grievances.
Vittorio Emanuele's patriline is the line from which he is descended father to son.
Patrilineal descent is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations, which means that Vittorio Emanuele is a member of the House of Savoy.
Charles Emmanuel IV (Carlo Emanuele Ferdinando Maria; 24 May 1751 – 6 October 1819) was King of Sardinia from 1796 to 1802. He abdicated in favour of his brother Victor Emmanuel I.
Carlo Emanuele Ferdinando Maria di Savoia was born in Turin, the eldest son of Victor Amadeus III, King of Sardinia and of his wife Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain.
From his birth to his own succession to the throne of Sardinia in 1796, Charles Emmanuel was styled "Prince of Piedmont".
In 1775, Charles Emmanuel married Marie Clotilde of France, the daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France and Princess Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, and sister of King Louis XVI of France. Although the union was arranged for political reasons, Charles Emmanuel and his wife became devoted to each other. Their attempts to have children, however, were unsuccessful.
At the death of his father (14 October 1796), Charles Emmanuel succeeded as King of Sardinia. The kingdom included not only the island of Sardinia but also significant territories in northwest Italy including all of Piedmont.
At his succession to the throne in 1796, Sardinia had been forced to conclude the disadvantageous Treaty of Paris (1796) with the French Republic, giving the French army free passage through Piedmont. On December 6, 1798, the French under Joubert occupied Turin and forced Charles Emanuel to abdicate all his territories on the Italian mainland and to withdraw to the island of Sardinia, which stayed out of the reach of the French army. The following year he tried unsuccessfully to regain Piedmont. He and his wife lived in Rome and in Naples as guests of the wealthy Colonna family.
On 7 March 1802, Charles Emmanuel's wife Marie Clothilde died. He was so moved by her death that he decided to abdicate, June 4, 1802, in favour of his brother Victor Emmanuel. Charles Emmanuel retained the personal title of King. He lived in Rome and in the nearby town of Frascati.
In Frascati he was a frequent guest of Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York, last member of the Royal House of Stuart, who was his cousin. Charles was descended from Henrietta Anne Stuart, the youngest daughter of Charles I, whereas Henry Benedict Stuart was descended from James II who was the second son of Charles I.
When Henry died in 1807, Charles Emmanuel became the senior heir-general of King Charles I of England and Scotland.
Indeed, in 1815 at the age of sixty-four Charles Emmanuel took simple vows in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). He was never ordained to the priesthood but lived the rest of his life at the Jesuit novitiate in Rome.
Charles Emmanuel died at the Palazzo Colonna in Rome on 6 October 1819. He is buried in the Church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale.
Emanuel Filibert of Savoy (16 April 1588 – 4 August 1624) was the third son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, and was Viceroy of Sicily between 1622 and 1624.
Born in Turin, Emanuel Filibert of Savoy was the third son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain.
He was destined for a career in the Church and entered at the age of 12 in the Order of the Knights Hospitaller, but later he pursued a military career. In 1603 he and his elder brothers, Philip Emanuel and Victor Amadeus, traveled to Madrid, to complete their education. After the death of Philip Emanuel, they returned to Savoy in 1606, where the second brother Victor Amadeus became hereditary prince.
In 1610, Emanuel Filibert returned to Madrid, and entered in the service of King Philip III of Spain, who made him Grand Admiral of Spain. Under the next King Philip IV of Spain, Emanuel Filibert was appointed in 1622 viceroy of Sicily. His reign came to an end when he died at the age of 36 in the Plague epidemic of 1624. He was buried in the crypt of the lower church of the palatine chapel of the Norman Palace in Palermo.
Anthony van Dyck made a painting of him in 1623, after being invited by the Viceroy to Palermo. The painting is now conserved in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.
Charles Emmanuel II (); 20 June 1634 – 12 June 1675) was the Duke of Savoy from 1638 to 1675 and under regency of his mother Christine of France until 1648. He was also Marquis of Saluzzo, Count of Aosta, Geneva, Moriana and Nice, as well as claimant king of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia. At his death in 1675 his second wife Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours acted as Regent for their nine-year-old son.
He was born in Turin to Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, and Christine of France. His maternal grandparents were Henry IV of France and his second wife Marie de' Medici. In 1638 at the death of his older brother Francis Hyacinth, Duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel succeeded to the duchy of Savoy at the age of 4. His mother governed in his place, and even after reaching adulthood in 1648, he invited her to continue to rule. Charles Emmanuel continued a life of pleasure, far away from the affairs of state.
Only after the death of his mother in 1663, did he really assume power. He was not successful in gaining a passage to the sea at the expense of Genoa (Second Genoese–Savoyard War, 1672–1673), and had difficulties in retaining the influence of his powerful neighbour France.
But he greatly improved commerce and wealth in the Duchy, developing the port of Nice and building a road through the Alps towards France. He also reformed the army, which until then was mostly composed of mercenaries: he formed instead five Piedmontese regiments and recreated cavalry, as well as introducing uniforms. He also restored fortifications. He constructed many beautiful buildings in Turin, for instance the Palazzo Reale.
He died on 12 June 1675, leaving his second wife as regent for his son. He is buried at Turin Cathedral.
Charles Emmanuel first met Marie Jeanne of Savoy in 1659 and fell in love with her. However, his mother disagreed with the pairing, and encouraged him to marry Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans, daughter of his maternal uncle Gaston, Duke of Orléans, the younger brother of his mother Christine Marie. They were married 3 April 1663. The couple had no issue. His mother died at the end of 1663, and his first wife died at the start of 1664. This left him free to get married on 20 May 1665 to Marie Jeanne of Savoy. They had one son:
Charles Emmanuel II also recognized five of his illegitimate children by three different mistresses.
Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy-Aosta, Infante of Spain, Count of Turin (24 November 1870 – 10 October 1946) was a grandchild of King Victor Emmanuel II and a member of the House of Savoy. He was a cousin of Victor Emmanuel III.
Vittorio Emanuele was born in Turin just before his father Prince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta was about to leave for Spain where he had been elected king. His mother was Maria Vittoria del Pozzo della Cisterna. With his father's accession to the Spanish throne he gained the additional title Infante of Spain.
In 1897 Vittorio Emanuele challenged Prince Henri of Orléans to a duel, after Henri described, in several articles in the newspaper "Le Figaro", the Italian soldiers being held captive in Ethiopia during the First Italo–Ethiopian War as cowards. The dispute was widely echoed in Italy and Europe. It was agreed on the use of the sword as weapon of choice, as the Italians thought duels with pistols, favored by the French, were worthy of betrayed husbands, not of princes of royal blood.
The duel with swords, directed by the Count Leontieff and the Count Avogadro, lasting 26 minutes, took place at 5:00 am on 15 August 1897 in the Bois de Marechaux at Vaucresson, France. Vittorio Emanuele defeated Henri after five reprises. Henri received a serious wound to his right abdomen, and the doctors of both parties considered the injury serious enough to put him in a state of obvious inferiority, causing the end of the duel and making Vittorio Emanuele famous in Europe.
The public response for Vittorio Emanuele in Italy was triumphant. In Turin King Umberto I welcomed him saying, "I want to be the first to congratulate you with all my heart on the example you set and the success you scored".
In April 1898 Vittorio Emanuele set out on a tour of world. His first stop was New York City in the United States of America. After spending a day at the Newport Country Club he presented the club with a silver cup which is presented to the winner of the annual Count of Turin golf tournament. After his stay in the United States he visited China and Japan on the next leg of his world tour.
Vittorio Emanuele pursued a career in the Royal Italian Army and became the Commander in Chief of the Italian Cavalry. He held this position during the First World War. Following the armistice he was awarded the Croix de guerre by France.
Vittorio Emanuele died in Brussels four months after the proclamation of the Italian Republic. He was the last surviving son of Amedeo I.
Prince Eugenio of Savoy, 5th Duke of Genoa (Eugenio Alfonso Carlo Maria Giuseppe; 13 March 1906 – 8 December 1996) was a member of the House of Savoy, Duke of Ancona from birth, and the 5th and final Duke of Genoa. Prince Eugenio was the sixth and youngest child of Prince Thomas of Savoy, 2nd Duke of Genoa and his wife Princess Isabella of Bavaria.
Prince Eugenio married Princess Lucia of the Two Sicilies, fifth child and fourth-eldest daughter of Prince Ferdinand Pius of the Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria and his wife Princess Maria Ludwiga Theresia of Bavaria, on 29 October 1938 at Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, Germany. The bride and groom were second cousins once removed in descent from King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Prince Eugenio and Princess Lucia had one daughter:
After the dissolution of the Kingdom of Italy in 1946, Prince Eugenio and his family relocated to Brazil where the Duke ran a farm. Upon his death on 8 December 1996, the male line of the Genoa branch of the House of Savoy became extinct as did the Royal Dukedom of Genoa. In 2006, the ashes of the Duke and Duchess of Genoa were transferred to the Royal Crypt of Superga near Turin.
Victor Emmanuel II (; full name: "Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di Savoia"; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title of King of Italy and became the first king of a united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878. Borrowing from the old Latin title "Pater Patriae" of the Roman emperors, the Italians gave him the epithet of "Father of the Fatherland" ().
Victor Emmanuel supported the Expedition of the Thousand (1860–1861) led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, which resulted in the rapid fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in southern Italy. However, Victor Emmanuel halted Garibaldi when he appeared ready to attack Rome, still under the Papal States, as it was under French protection. In 1860, Tuscany, Modena, Parma and Romagna decided to side with Sardinia-Piedmont, and Victor Emmanuel then marched victoriously in the Marche and Umbria after the victorious battle of Castelfidardo over the Papal forces. He subsequently met Garibaldi at Teano, receiving from him the control of southern Italy and becoming the first King of Italy on 17 March 1861.
In 1866, the Third Italian War of Independence allowed Italy to annex Veneto. In 1870, Victor Emmanuel also took advantage of the Prussian victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War to conquer the Papal States after the French withdrew. He entered Rome on 20 September 1870 and set up the new capital there on 2 July 1871. He died in Rome in 1878, and was buried in the Pantheon.
The Italian national Victor Emmanuel II monument in Rome, containing the Altare della Patria, was built in his honor.
Victor Emmanuel was born as the eldest son of Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano, and Maria Theresa of Austria. His father succeeded a distant cousin as King of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1831. He lived for some years of his youth in Florence and showed an early interest in politics, the military, and sports. In 1842, he married his cousin, Adelaide of Austria. He was styled as the "Duke of Savoy" prior to becoming King of Sardinia-Piedmont.
He took part in the First Italian War of Independence (1848–1849) under his father, King Charles Albert, fighting in the front line at the battles of Pastrengo, Santa Lucia, Goito and Custoza.
He became King of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1849 when his father abdicated the throne, after being defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Novara. Victor Emmanuel was immediately able to obtain a rather favorable armistice at Vignale by the Austrian imperial army commander, Radetzky. The treaty, however, was not ratified by the Piedmontese lower parliamentary house, the Chamber of Deputies, and Victor Emmanuel retaliated by firing his Prime Minister, Claudio Gabriele de Launay, replacing him with Massimo D'Azeglio. After new elections, the peace with Austria was accepted by the new Chamber of Deputies. In 1849, Victor Emmanuel also fiercely suppressed a revolt in Genoa, defining the rebels as a "vile and infected race of canailles."
In 1852, he appointed Count Camillo Benso of Cavour ("Count Cavour") as Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia. This turned out to be a wise choice, since Cavour was a political mastermind and a major player in the Italian unification in his own right. Victor Emmanuel II soon became the symbol of the "Risorgimento", the Italian unification movement of the 1850s and early 60s. He was especially popular in the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont because of his respect for the new constitution and his liberal reforms.
Following Victor Emmanuel's advice, Cavour joined Britain and France in the Crimean War against Russia. Cavour was reluctant to go to war due to the power of Russia at the time and the expense of doing so. Victor Emmanuel, however, was convinced of the rewards to be gained from the alliance created with Britain and, more importantly, France.
After successfully seeking British support and ingratiating himself with France and Napoleon III at the Congress of Paris in 1856 at the end of the war, Count Cavour arranged a secret meeting with the French emperor. In 1858, they met at Plombières-les-Bains (in Lorraine), where they agreed that if the French were to help Piedmont combat Austria, which still reigned over the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia in northern Italy, France would be awarded Nice and Savoy.
Later that same year, Victor Emmanuel II sent his forces to fight the papal army at Castelfidardo and drove the Pope into Vatican City. His success at these goals led him to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Then, Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered Sicily and Naples, and Sardinia-Piedmont grew even larger. On 17 March 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was officially established and Victor Emmanuel II became its king.
Victor Emmanuel supported Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand (1860–1861), which resulted in the rapid fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in southern Italy. However, the king halted Garibaldi when he appeared ready to attack Rome, still under the Papal States, as it was under French protection. In 1860, through local plebiscites, Tuscany, Modena, Parma and Romagna decided to side with Sardinia-Piedmont. Victor Emmanuel then marched victoriously in the Marche and Umbria after the victorious battle of Castelfidardo (1860) over the Papal forces.
The king subsequently met with Garibaldi at Teano, receiving from him the control of southern Italy. Another series of plebiscites in the occupied lands resulted in the proclamation of Victor Emmanuel as the first King of Italy by the new Parliament of unified Italy, on 17 March 1861. He did not renumber himself after assuming the new royal title, however. Turin became the capital of the new state. Only Rome, Veneto, and Trentino remained to be conquered.
Victor Emmanuel died in Rome in 1878, after meeting with Pope Pius IX's envoys, who had reversed the excommunication, and received last rites. He was buried in the Pantheon. His successor was his son Umberto I.