Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin

Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin was born in Turin on November 24, 1870 to Prince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta and Maria Victoria al Pozzo della Cisterna. King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy was his grandfather. Shortly before his birth the Duke of Aosta had been elected King Amadeo I of Spain and shortly after his arrival the family departed for Madrid where the little prince was given the title of Infante of Spain. That, as we know, did not last long and the vision of his grandfather the King of Italy to place royals of the House of Savoy on as many Mediterranean thrones as possible came to nothing when the (rather reluctant) King Amadeo I declared Spain to be ungovernable and abdicated, after which the First Spanish Republic was established (Boo! Hiss!). Being only a baby at the time, it is doubtful these major world events made much of an impression on the little former Infante of Spain. Back home in Italy with his family, he had a relatively normal childhood for a prince of the House of Savoy. As was usual, he was given an education that took for granted a military career and which emphasized dynastic duty and the long history and past glories of the House of Savoy.

The Count of Savoy took all of that very much to heart and grew into a dashing young man who determined to become a cavalry officer. Toward that end, he studied at the Military Academy of Modena, graduating in 1889 with the rank of second lieutenant. He was first assigned to the Nice Cavalry regiment of the Royal Italian Army and then served as a lieutenant in the “Piemonte Reale Cavalleria”. The Italians, as most know, have a reputation for being a proud and somewhat emotional people and the Count of Turin certainly seems to have inherited those traits, combined with his education about his family history and the role of the Savoy as the guardians of Italian honor. All of this set the stage for the incident in his life he was to become most famous for. It all came about in France where Prince Henri of Orleans, son of the Duke of Chartres had written a number of articles in “Le Figaro” concerning the recent Italo-Abyssinian War and the devastating Italian loss at the battle of Adowa. A little background is in order.

During this battle, unfamiliarity with the terrain and misinformation provided by guides in the pay of the enemy, led a small Italian colonial column of 18,000 troops (mostly African natives with Italian officers) to become separated and then attacked piecemeal and overwhelmed by a massive Ethiopian army of well over 100,000. In the aftermath, many of the survivors on the Italian side were massacred and/or tortured and mutilated. Those who were taken prisoner were not released at the close of hostilities but held for ransom (which was paid secretly by King Umberto I of Italy to the Ethiopian Emperor). It horrified public opinion in Italy and brought down the government of the long-time political powerhouse Francesco Crispi (a proud and ambitious veteran of “The Thousand”). Now, enter Prince Henri of Orleans. Throughout his life Prince Henri had proven himself to be a bold and intrepid traveler as well as a condescending man. He was most known for being an inveterate Anglophobe, writing and uttering many a diatribe insulting and condemning Great Britain in the harshest terms. Yet, oddly enough, the British seemed to celebrate him in spite of that. He would learn that Italians responded quite differently to being insulted.

In his articles about the Italo-Abyssinian War and its aftermath, particularly regarding the Italians who had been taken prisoner, Prince Henri essentially dismissed them all as being so many cowards. In doing so he also, probably inadvertently, insulted the Ethiopians as well by taking the attitude that only inept cowards could have possibly lost a battle to Africans, no matter how vastly outnumbered they were. The Count of Turin happened to read these rather explosive articles and was thoroughly outraged. The honor of Italian soldiers had been thoroughly insulted by this French prince and if no one else was prepared to do anything about it; he would. The British might have tolerated this sort of thing, but the Count of Turin would not and accepted the role of champion on the part of Italian soldiers everywhere. He demanded satisfaction and demanded Prince Henri retract his insults and apologize. The proud Frenchman of course refused and the Count of Turin immediately challenged him to a good, old fashioned duel.

The time and place were decided; August 15, 1897 in Vaucresson at Versailles. The weapon chosen was the sword since, even though the French preferred to duel with pistols, the Italians felt this unworthy of princes deciding a matter of honor. In Italy, pistols were used by cuckolded husbands while nobles and the high born settled differences with the saber. So, at five o’clock in the morning, it began with the duel being supervised by Count Leontieff and Count Avogadro in the Bois de Marchechaux. The two had at each other and after five reprises the Count of Turin was victorious, inflicting a wound on Prince Henri’s abdomen that the doctors of both parties deemed serious enough to put the Prince at a disadvantage and so the match was awarded to the Count of Turin. All of Europe was rather enthralled by this showdown that seemed like a throwback to centuries past. In Italy, however, the Count of Turin became a national hero instantly and was celebrated across the country for his victory and for standing up for Italian honor. When he returned to his homeland he was met in Turin by King Umberto I who said, “I want to be the first to congratulate you with all my heart on the example you set and the success you scored.”

Prince Vittorio Emanuele would be a celebrity for the rest of his life thanks to that famous duel but, of course, it was not the sort of thing he made a habit of. The famous Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Pascoli even penned a little poem about the contest. The following year the Count of Turin went on a world tour, visiting New York in the United States, presenting the silver cup to the winner of the Count of Turin golf tournament at the Newport Country Club and went on to visit the Empire of Japan and the Qing Empire of China. He also continued in his military career, eventually rising to the position of commander-in-chief of all Italian cavalry. He commanded the Italian cavalry in World War I, which was rather the ‘last hurrah’ for that particular branch of service and, ironically enough, when it was over was awarded the Croix de guerre by the French Republic. Later, he retired from active duty and left Italy after the monarchy was abolished following World War II. He died in Brussels, four months after the proclamation of the Italian Republic, on November 24, 1946 at the age of 76. He had accomplished a lot in his life but he will always be most remembered as the Savoy royal who fought a duel in 1897 for the honor of the Italian army.

Prince Ferdinando, 1st Duke of Genoa

HRH Prince Ferdinando di Savoia, first Duke of Genoa, lived a short life but one filled with promise. He is another one of the “might have beens” that appears in royal history on occasion and during his time he was one of the most respected and admired royal figures in Italy. He was born Prince Ferdinando Maria Alberto Amedeo Filiberto Vincenzo on November 15, 1822 in Florence, the second son of Prince Carlo Alberto of Carignan and Princess Maria Teresa of Tuscany. Only two years later Prince Carlo Alberto was recognized as heir to the throne by King Vittorio Emanuele I of Piedmont-Sardinia. This raised the profile of the young family and soon brought to the forefront the ideas of Prince Carlo Alberto in favor of constitutional monarchy. In 1831 King Carlo Felice died and Prince Carlo Alberto became King of Piedmont-Sardinia and, with his own promotion, he named Prince Ferdinand the Duke of Genoa. Like the other sons of the House of Savoy, Prince Ferdinand grew up being trained to be a soldier and inculcated with the long history the royal family. As a second son, it was expected that he would have a military career.

The Duke of Genoa embarked on such a career, becoming a general in the army and admiral of the Sardinian navy. He gained considerable respect for his role in the First Italian War of Independence (1848-1849) in which he commanded a division of the Piedmontese army. During the course of the conflict his heroism earned him the Gold Medal of Military Valor for his service. He was tall, very similar in appearance to King Carlo Alberto and always led from the front. His soldiers admired him greatly as an intelligent commander and one who would not hesitate to expose himself to danger. Like both of his parents he was also a devoutly religious man as well as a man of high ideals. Many others, evidently, thought the same and agreed with his vision of what a modern monarchy could or should be. In this regard, it is difficult not to underestimate the influence of the British model of constitutional monarchy among the moderate people who were unhappy with their political situation but too traditional to favor something with so poor a record as republicanism. Many people hoped to find success as well as political freedom equal to that of Great Britain by emulating the British model of mixed government with power divided between the people, nobility and monarchy rather than being concentrated at the top.

In 1848, starting in Palermo, the Sicilians rose up in revolt against the House of Bourbon. The nobles of Sicily had, during the Napoleonic Wars, (with British encouragement) forced King Ferdinando III of Sicily and IV of Naples to enact a constitution which gave the Kingdom of Sicily a more British-style government. However, this constitution was later revoked and discontent had spread. On January 11, 1848 rebellion erupted again and in a more violent fashion. The old constitution was restored, establishing a representative government with the central role being given to an elected parliament. Rebel forces took control of almost the whole island (not the Bourbon bastion of Messina) and even talked of establishing a pan-Italian confederation. They also began looking around for an appropriate prince to be the new sovereign of their new constitutional monarchy and, given the leadership shown by King Carlo Alberto in Piedmont-Sardinia, quickly turned to his son the Duke of Genoa. Knowing his temperament and background, the representatives of the British government were pleased with such a choice and encouraged the Duke to accept the offer, with the British ambassador in Turin promising that Britain would immediately recognize Sicilian independence once he did so.

By the summer everyone was well enough convinced and the Sicilian secessionist government voted unanimously to offer the throne to the Duke of Genoa. Since having another king named Ferdinand would have aroused some resentment, it was expected that he would reign as King Alberto Amedeo I of Sicily. However, when the Sicilian delegation came to Turin to make their formal offer, the Duke of Genoa was at the front with his troops and reluctant to leave them. King Ferdinand II of Naples had joined in the war against Austria alongside King Carlo Alberto, the Grand Duke of Tuscany and (for a time) even the Pope, but when he learned that the Duke of Genoa was being considered as his possible replacement on the throne of Sicily, he immediately broke off the alliance and recalled his troops. When the war ended in victory for the Austrians and defeat for the Piedmontese, the Duke of Genoa respectfully declined the offer of the Sicilian throne. Things also began to fall apart back in Sicily where the Neapolitan navy shelled Messina, killing many people, following by a massive campaign by Bourbon troops to retake the island. It took about nine months and was a very bloody affair but finally the rebel government was subdued and their leader forced to flee to the protection of the British on Malta.

That ended any chance of the Duke of Genoa becoming the King of Sicily. However, he proved his worth well enough on the field of battle with the Piedmontese army. At the disastrous battle of Novara, the Duke of Genoa fought like a lion and had four horses shot out from under him. But, in the end, the Piedmontese were defeated and King Carlo Alberto abdicated in favor of his son, King Vittorio Emanuele II. After the war, the Duke of Genoa was put in command of the Piedmontese royal artillery, a branch of the service he set about reorganizing and modernizing. The following year he also achieved some domestic happiness with his marriage to Princess Elizabeth of Saxony, daughter of King Johann and Queen Amalie Auguste of Bavaria. They married on April 22, 1850 in Dresden and the following year had their first child, Princess Margherita, who would go on to one day marry her cousin King Umberto I and become Queen consort of a united Italy. Their second child, Prince Tommaso, was born in 1854 and would go on to preside over the Italian government during the First World War. The Duke of Genoa remained a very respected military figure and when Piedmont-Sardinia joined in the Crimean War alongside the United Kingdom and Imperial France, he was to take command of the reserve corps in the expeditionary force being dispatched to Russia. However, despite being a young man still, he had fallen ill and was growing increasingly frail. He died on February 10, 1855 at the age of only 32 in Turin and was buried in the royal crypt, succeeded by his son Prince Tommaso who became the second Duke of Genoa.

Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi

Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi is one of those royal figures who seems out of time, as if he would fit in better in a more adventurous, colorful period of distant history than the era he was actually born into. He was born Luigi Amedeo Giuseppe Maria Ferdinando Francesco di Savoia-Aosta, at the time a prince of Spain, on January 29, 1873 in Madrid to HM King Amedeo I of Spain (previously and subsequently Duke of Aosta) and his queen Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, the last of three sons born to the couple. His grandfather was King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy. Not long after his birth he much put-upon father declared Spain ungovernable and abdicated, happily returning to Italy where the prince became known as the Duke of the Abruzzi. Even in his youth he was a world traveler and it is tempting to think that his visits to places as far flung as Eritrea in east Africa and Vancouver, Canada might have put him on the path he would follow for the rest of his life, conquering mountain peaks, hostile seas, arctic ice fields and burning deserts.

Exploring the most remote and rugged corners of the earth became his passion and in 1882 he began training as a mountain climber on Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa in the Italian Alps. In 1897 he set off on an epic adventure to the mountainous U.S.-Canadian border to climb Mt St Elias in search of a native legend known as the Silent City of Alaska which was said to appear over a mountaintop glacier. Prince Luigi and his party conquered the mountain and did indeed see the “city” which was actually a mirage but, by all accounts, one that had to be seen to be believed such was the magnificence of the sight of it. The trek had paid off, the accounts each member gave to the papers afterward were more fantastic than the one before. However, the Duke of the Abruzzi was only getting started. In 1899 he organized an expedition to reach the North Pole. As with most of his expeditions, the story reads like something out of an adventure novel.

First the Prince and his party traveled to Oslo, Norway (then called Christiania -this was when Norway was united with Sweden) where he bought a whaling ship which he named the ‘Polar Star’. The Duke was an accomplished sailor as well and they braved the icy seas to reach Archangel in northern Russia. Donning their best finery they were welcomed by the local Tsarist governor, civil officials and a colorful collection of foreign representatives present at the frosty port of call. Special celebrations were held in honor of the royal visitor and the international gathering in the Russian port were treated to a special performance of a play set in the Middle East followed by the orchestra striking up the Italian royal anthem in honor of their guest. Before departing the Catholic Italians were invited to attend an Orthodox Divine Liturgy and finally they set sail for Franz Joseph Land where they planned to wait out the worst of winter before going by dog sled to the North Pole. Unfortunately, the Prince lost two fingers to frost-bite during the grueling winter which made him unable to handle a dog sled, forcing him to leave the last leg of the expedition in the hands of his subordinate Captain Umberto Cagni.

Although denied his prize of reaching the pole himself, Prince Luigi was still eager to boldly go where no man, or at least very few men, had gone before. With visions of Henry Morton Stanley dancing in his head, in 1906 he set out on a trek across the remote African wilderness of what is now Uganda to explore the Ruwenzori Mountain Range. In doing so he reached the top of some sixteen mountains one of which was named Mount Luigi di Savoia in his honor. Buoyed by his African adventure, only two years later in 1909 he gathered another expedition and set off to climb K2, aka “Savage Mountain” the second-highest peak on earth in the Karakoram Range on the Pakistan-Chinese border. They were ultimately unable to reach the very top, attaining a top elevation of 6,666 meters with their route known forever after as the Abruzzi Spur. In 1910 Prince Luigi and his team took on Chogolisa (Bride Peak) in the same overall mountain range, some of the most rugged and dangerous terrain on earth. Again, they did not reach the summit but set a new world record for the elevation they did reach. He was celebrated across the world, nowhere more than in Italy of course, and was a celebrity to intrepid explorers everywhere.

Prince Luigi had also trained with the Royal Italian Navy and by 1911 held the rank of vice-admiral and from 1911 to 1912 was given the post of Inspector of Torpedo Craft. This was more significant than it probably seemed at the time as free-swimming torpedoes were a recent innovation and would not actually sink a ship until a German u-boat did the job for the first time in 1914. However, this was an area that the Italians would later excel at and would achieve some stunning successes against the formidable British Royal Navy using tactics that began with those first torpedo craft developed under the Duke of the Abruzzi. When World War I broke out in 1914, Italy joining the fight a year later, the Duke was given command of the Italian Adriatic Fleet at Taranto with the formidable battleship Conte di Cavour as his flagship. As in the North Sea though, there was little combat between the main battle fleets of Italy and Austria-Hungary, each being content to keep the other side as inactive as possible while small-scale raids probed for weakness. However, Prince Luigi and his ships performed one of the great missions of the war when the rescued the long-suffering Serbian army which, in a combined German-Austrian-Bulgarian offensive, had been driven from their homeland. Were it not for the timely arrival of the Duke and his Italian fleet the Serbs would have been wiped out completely. Their rescue enabled them to rejoin the fight at the new Allied front in Greece and ultimately go on to see Serbia liberated from Austrian occupation.

After the war, with all of his accomplishments, Prince Luigi was one of the most popular members of the Italian Royal Family. Even the previously zealous republican Benito Mussolini was quick to avail himself of the Duke’s experience in Africa when it came to negotiating a new friendship treaty with Ethiopia in 1928. Prince Luigi journeyed to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to present gifts of friendship to Haile Selassie, including a Fiat 3000 tank which he later used in thwarting a coup led by forces loyal to the reigning Empress Zewditu. One can imagine that Mussolini probably later regretted such generosity. In 1932 Prince Luigi tried his hand at running the new Italian shipping line which had formed from a merger of all the previous transatlantic lines. However, it did not work out will as the Prince had nothing of the businessman about him and found dealing with company executives impossibly frustrating. Instead, he moved to the Italian colony of Somalia where he established his own model plantation. The African wilderness was far more to his liking than a desk in an office building.

The Duke of the Abruzzi had led a life most men would only dream about. The only thing lacking was a romantic interest he could carry off into the African sunset. There had been an earlier romance with an American woman named “Kitty” Elkins, the daughter of a wealthy West Virginia Senator. She was likely the one great love of his life but his cousin King Vittorio Emanuele III was adamant that no prince of the House of Savoy could marry a commoner. Prince Luigi was frustrated by this but, since the relationship could go nowhere, his brother, Prince Emanuele Filiberto Duke of Aosta (a hero of the Great War) convinced him to give the girl up and move on. This he did, only finally marrying a Somali woman named Faduma Ali toward the end of his life when he was no longer concerned with the consequences. He died in Jowhar, Somalia on March 18, 1933 at the age of 60 and, as per his wishes, was buried near a local river. Missing no opportunity to put himself forward, Benito Mussolini presided at his funeral, hailing the Duke of the Abruzzi as the last in a long line of great Italian explorers history would never forget.

This may have been an exaggeration, but if so, it was only a slight one. Prince Luigi-Amedeo simply had the misfortune to be born into a time when there were not many untouched corners of the world left for mankind to conquer. Had he been born earlier it is certainly easy to imagine him being counted among the great Italian explorers of history such as Marco Polo, Giovanni Caboto, Amerigo Vespucci or Christopher Columbus. It was simply his nature to strive for the seemingly unobtainable, to go to the places most difficult to reach and to prove that he was equal to any challenge the land or the sea could throw at him. Hopefully, in the end, he finally found what he was looking for in all his travels to the farthest reaches of the earth.

Princess Maria Felicita of Savoy

One of the little known but personally outstanding royals of the House of Savoy was Princess Maria Felicita. In political terms she had little to know impact. She was never married, had no children and yet she was an outstanding figure of charity and piety who was beloved by many. She was born in Turin, in the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, on March 19, 1730 the third daughter of King Charles Emanuel III. Her mother, Princess Polyxena von Hesse-Rotenburg died in 1735 when Maria Felicita was only four. Two years later King Charles Emanuel married a third time to Princess Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine (sister of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I) who acted as mother to Princess Maria Felicita until she died after a traumatic childbirth in 1741. Although she was deprived of a mother figure and her father was most known for his military exploits, Princess Maria Felicita grew up in very religious surroundings. Her older sister, Princess Maria Luisa, became a nun and all three of the sisters were very devoted to their faith.

There were, of course, efforts to arrange suitable marriages for the girls but none ever worked out and Princess Maria Felicita grew up unmarried and remained single throughout her life. In the absence of a husband or children she devoted herself almost totally to the service of God and her countrymen. She became widely known for her humble piety and staunch support of the Church. She sought to be the best Christian she could be and sought to surround herself with holy people. One priest who was gaining a great reputation for his preaching skills and zeal for the faith was Father Giovanni Battista Canavera. Princess Maria Felicita chose him to be her confessor and the devout priest helped to guide her toward ways in which she could be of the most help, in ways suited to her particular talents. Charity was always important to the Princess and, with the advice of her father confessor, she began to take a particular interest in the widows and unmarried ladies who were in need, whether impoverished aristocrats or from the middle class.

Inspired by the call to charity of her Catholic faith, Princess Maria Felicita decided to take action and establish an institution where these women could be cared for and better themselves under the protection of the Royal House of Savoy. So, in 1786, she founded the “Convitto per donne nubili e vedove”, a boarding school for widows and unmarried ladies in Turin which is still in operation today (now sometimes called the ‘Happiness School Princess Savoy’). Some sources refer to this as a convent but it is not a religious house even though religion, of course, has always played a large part in the life of the women staying there. The French Revolution had produced many widows and women in need and many refugees had fled to Piedmont for safety. Princess Maria Felicita did what she could for these unfortunates but the Savoy themselves were soon engulfed in conflict when the First French Republic declared war on Piedmont-Sardinia on December 6, 1798. By this time her nephew, Charles Emanuel IV, was King who was also a very religious man and bitter opposed to the French Revolution.

Naturally, the Princess was also horrified by the events in France, particularly the war against the Catholic Church and the revolution soon came to Piedmont-Sardinia. The Royal Family was forced to evacuate Turin and relocate, first to Sardinia and then to the Italian peninsula. Princess Maria Felicita traveled with her nephew and the rest of the Royal Family during these troubled times and she continued to do what she could to ease the suffering of the victims of the upheaval and to support the Church. She had lived long enough to lose all of her siblings save the Duke of Chablais before she herself died in Rome on May 13, 1801. She was buried in Turin, unattached, but loved and respected as a woman of prayer, charity and deep and devoted faith.