King Carlo Emanuele III

Only the second king of the House of Savoy, Carlo Emanuele III was undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and military-minded of the family. That he was to prove an astute and formidable monarch is all the more noteworthy inasmuch as he was not raised with the expectation of taking on such a responsibility and had been neither very well liked or well prepared by his father. Carlo Emanuele di Savoia was the second son of King Vittorio Amedeo II by his wife Queen Anne Marie d’Orleans. He was born in Turin on April 27, 1701, well before his father was King of Sardinia and was thus only Duke of Savoy. He was nicknamed “Carlino” as a boy for being rather frail and not the strapping, handsome son all fathers wish for. In time, however, his people would give him a more praiseworthy nickname; “the Hardworking” king. As his father became involved in the War of the Spanish Succession and because of the long military tradition of the family, young Carlo Emanuele was given a more thorough education on the subject of warfare though other subjects were neglected.

In 1713 his father became King of Sicily as part of the peace following the War of Spanish Succession but this aroused the jealousy and opposition of other powers so that the first reign of the Savoy over Sicily would be a relatively short one. At the same time tragedy struck the family when Carlo Emanuele’s older brother, Prince Vittorio Amedeo of Piedmont, died from smallpox at the age of only fifteen. His father had adored and doted on the boy, even making him regent during his year long absence from 1713-14 despite his young age. It was a devastating blow for the King and also thrust Prince Carlo Emanuele, Duke of Aosta, into the position of heir to the throne. The throne he would be heir to soon changed though as in 1720 his father finally came to an agreement to appease the other crowned heads of Europe by trading the Kingdom of Sicily for the Kingdom of Sardinia. In previous times, this might have aroused some opposition on the part of the German Emperor as there were supposed to be no other kings in the empire besides himself, however, the Hohenzollern rulers of Prussia had already set a precedent for princes within the empire to be kings of territories outside the empire.

Nonetheless, Vittorio Amedeo II would not rule for long as his life was being overtaken by grief and sadness. His eldest daughter (mother of King Louis XV of France) died in 1712, his second daughter did not survive childhood, his third daughter (wife of King Felipe V of Spain) died in 1714 and his eldest son died in 1715. In 1728 his grief-stricken wife Queen Anne Marie also passed away from heart failure. Trying to flee from his depression, in August of 1730 the King secretly married an old girlfriend with special permission from Pope Clement XII. The following month they made their marriage public and shortly thereafter the King announced his abdication, signing over his powers to his son on September 3, 1730 who then became King Carlo Emanuele III. The whole affair over the new wife and the abdication caused quite a scandal and King Carlo Emanuele III, who had never been his father’s favorite, was less than pleased with having to deal with it. He did his best to keep the former monarch out of sight and out of mind.

After so much gloom and grief, King Carlo Emanuele III tried to restore a more festive atmosphere to his court and Piedmont as a whole. However, his father was soon giving him trouble as, after recovering from a stroke, he tried to reassert himself and possibly retake the throne. This was potentially disastrous as not only had the whole abdication fiasco made Vittorio Amedeo II rather unpopular but father and son had never been on very good terms. For one thing, Carlo Emanuele had never been as good as his older brother as far as his father was concerned, he was not as strong, not as attractive, he did not measure up in the eyes of his father in any way. The new King had also had plenty of heartaches of his own. His father had arranged both of his marriages, the first to a German countess who died in childbirth at only 19 and the second to the Hessian Princess Polyxena with whom he had a successful marriage and six children. However, their domestic life was upset by the King who decided that his wife was too distracting and took up too much of his son’s time so he ordered them to sleep in separate beds.

Although she had only a few more years to live herself, Queen Polyxena was adamant that her husband be firm in dealing with his father. King Carlo Emanuele III gained the support of the Crown Council and managed to have his father arrested and confined to Rivoli castle and probably just in the nick of time as he had been rumored to be plotting an invasion Lombardy with the aim of conquering Milan, which would surely have sparked a war. In any event, that crisis was averted, his father had been dealt with and would trouble him no more and King Carlo Emanuele III could get on with the business of ruling his country. He did not have long to wait before an actual war broke out, once again over a disputed royal succession. The monarchy in dispute was that of Poland with France, Spain and Parma (so the Bourbon family basically) supporting Stanislas I and Russia, Austria, Prussia and Saxony supporting Augustus III. Rather than backing the empire, King Carlo Emanuele III joined the French and quickly led a very successful invasion of Lombardy, conquering Milan with little difficulty.

Unfortunately, the Spanish demanded Milan and Mantua as their reward for joining the coalition and the last thing King Carlo Emanuele wanted was for northern Italy to fall back under Spanish control again. He had ambitions to unite Italy which, though a tall order, he famously said the Savoy could accomplish the same way one eats an artichoke; one layer at a time. In any event, while the diplomats argued, King Carlo Emanuele III proved himself a skillful military leader as the commander of the combined Franco-Spanish-Italian forces in Italy. However, suspecting that the French would take away his gains and hand them over to Spain, he purposely botched the campaign to take Mantua. He did, however, prove himself in command of Franco-Piedmontese forces in victories at the Battle of Crocetta and the Battle of Guastalla. When France and Austria finally came to terms, as expected, the Piedmontese were obliged to withdraw from Lombardy rather than retain their conquests, however, King Carlo Emanuele III did gain Langhe, Tortona and Novara in the final settlement. In the end, the House of Bourbon gained territory but the candidate preferred by Russia, Austria and Prussia, Augustus III, became King of Poland (though he would not have a happy time of it).

This war over the Polish throne had a few significant results for the Savoy monarchy. First, it had secured the reputation of King Carlo Emanuele III as a capable military leader with his campaign which secured several battlefield victories and showed his skill at maneuver in preventing the union of the armies from Austria and Naples. Secondly, it showed that the hope for greater gains to be had by allying with the French were not to be taken for granted. It caused no small amount of frustration in Turin that so much territory which the Piedmontese had fought for and won would be so quickly handed over to another power. Another conflict was soon on the horizon and King Carlo Emanuele III would certainly not be taking the side of the French again. That conflict, the War of Austrian Succession, was the next great crisis of his reign.

The War of Austrian Succession (known as King George’s War in America) was basically an effort by the French and the Prussians to prevent the Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary Maria Theresa from inheriting the Habsburg monarchy. Her father had spent all but his last thaler trying to buy the support of the crowned heads of Europe to ensure a peaceful succession for his daughter but, as soon as he was gone, most opposed her anyway. King Carlo Emanuele III threw his support behind Empress Maria Theresa and the Habsburgs. He brought his own skills and a small but proficient army, however, his small state could not sustain the effort it would take to fight what was effectively a world war. However, the British, who also backed the Austrians as a way of opposing the power of the Bourbon French and Spanish, provided economic support for the House of Savoy, effectively funding their war effort. The war began in 1740 when King Frederick the Great of Prussia invaded Silesia, however Piedmont-Sardinia was not immediately involved.

In 1741 the Spanish and their Neapolitan proxies made a fast and aggressive invasion north with the aim, once again, of taking control of Milan and northern Italy for Spain. Empress Maria Theresa sent her people to talk to King Carlo Emanuele III’s people and work out an alliance. 1742 saw these negotiations concluded and combat begin, though the Habsburg-Savoy alliance was directed at Spain rather than France. At first, the Austrians did well enough and seemed to need no help, however, by early 1743 the Spanish got the better of them. More troops were rushed in from Germany and the Spanish retreated but the scare was enough to involve the French were drawn into a frustrating conflict in the Alps against the Piedmontese troops of the House of Savoy. 1744 promised to be decisive with a major Franco-Spanish invasion planned for the conquest of northern Italy. The French, Spanish and Neapolitan troops, led by the King of Naples who would later be King Carlos III of Spain, won the Battle of Nemi (or First Battle of Velletri) and then a second by thwarting an Austrian raid that intended to capture the future Spanish monarch.

After this, the Austrians wrote off Naples and focused on supporting their Savoy ally in the north against the French forces under the Prince of Conti. King Carlo Emanuele III fought the French as best he could but, though he suffered several defeats, still managed to prevent the French and Spanish forces from uniting against him in battles throughout the summer of 1744. The successful defense of Cuneo was critical to that. The following year, the Republic of Genoa joined the Bourbon side and declared war on Piedmont-Sardinia. The French launched a renewed offensive in 1745 with a combined force of 80,000 men which managed to draw the Austrians away and then pounce upon the small, isolated Piedmontese army at the Battle of Bassignano on September 27, 1745. However, by that time, Prussia had made peace with Austria and more Austrian troops could be committed to Italy. The French and Spanish still fought ferociously and took a huge toll on the Austrians, the Genoese also holding their own surprisingly well against the Habsburg armies.

King Carlo Emanuele III lost a succession of battles against a Franco-Spanish army that outnumbered his roughly 3-to-1, however, in 1746 he was given some Austrian reinforcements to make good his losses and began to turn the situation around. Alessandria and Asti were recaptured from the enemy and in 1747 he won a stunning and decisive victory over the French at the Battle of Assietta. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Italians defeated the French and inflicted 5,300 losses on them while losing only 299 of their own. It was such an overwhelming victory that the Bourbon forces gave up on the Italian front and shifted their main war effort to the Franco-German border and the Netherlands. King Frederick the Great of Prussia famously said that if he had an army like the Piedmontese, he would make himself King of Italy in quick order. King Carlo Emanuele III was not without at least some such aspirations but, as his remark about the artichoke demonstrates, he knew that he would have to play the long game. As it was, he showed his remarkable skill as a negotiator when both sides of the war finally determined to come to terms for peace. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle might not have fulfilled every aspiration but it considerably expanded Savoy territory and recovered all that had been lost at the hands of the French.

When the Seven Years’ War (French & Indian War to Americans) broke out not long after, King Carlo Emanuele III remained neutral. His country had been stretched to the breaking point, invaded, occupied and needed a period of peace to recover its strength. He worked on improving the government, developing Sardinia, making the army more efficient, his fortresses stronger and improving higher education. He was also able to take time to indulge in his love of great works of art, enlarging the Savoy family collection and even establishing a tapestry workshop in Turin. Happiness in his private life continued to be short-lived. In 1737 he had married Princess Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine but, sadly, their life together was to be dominated by heartache. They had three children together, the first two dying in childhood with only their third, a son, surviving to adulthood and Elisabeth Therese died of fever shortly after this third childbirth. King Carlo Emanuele III could only busy himself with his duties, improving his military defenses, strengthening the army and so on, which he did until his death on February 20, 1773.

Royal Monograms

Vittorio Emanuele II

Umberto I

Vittorio Emanuele III

Umberto II

Amedeo VIII di Savoia / Antipapa Felice V

Once upon a time in Europe there was a major Catholic embarrassment known as “the Great Schism”. It came as a result of what is known as “the Babylonian Captivity” or the “Avignon Papacy” when the papal court moved from Rome to Avignon in France which produced a succession of French pontiffs who were seen as little more than the tools of the French Crown. That ended with Pope Gregory XI and when he died the people of Rome were determined to have a Roman pontiff rather than a French one. They were quite forceful about it and so the cardinals elected a rather unpleasant fellow (not exactly a Roman but a southern Italian deemed ‘close enough’) who took the name Pope Urban VI. The French, however, did not like that and so declared his election invalid, the cardinals electing another pope, a warrior-cardinal (Robert of Geneva), who took the name Pope Clement VII. He is what is known as an “Anti-Pope” or an invalid pope. This was the beginning of the “Great Schism” which saw Catholic Europe split into feuding factions, at one point with three different men all claiming to be the “true” Pope at the same time. It was a major embarrassment and it is not surprising that anti-Popes tend to be viewed as ‘bad guys’ in Catholic history.

However, that is not necessarily true. Pope Urban VI, for example, while undoubtedly the valid, legitimate pontiff, was a rather unsavory character and most who had to deal with him found him a rather vindictive, bullying jerk. Pope Clement VII, on the other hand, though nicknamed “the butcher” in his earlier, military career just because of a trifling incident involving the massacre of a few thousand people, was widely considered the much better man, a very nice fellow who treated people well, was forgiving toward his enemies and genuinely considered himself the valid pontiff. Practically any Catholic history will, in fact, relate that while Urban VI was the correct pope, Clement VII would have made a better one. Not every anti-Pope was an ambitious usurper, thirsty for power but rather were sometimes men of sincere piety who, in a confusing and tumultuous time, were prevailed upon to accept the papal crown as a duty to the Church and Christendom. The “Great Schism” was, thankfully, mostly ended with the election of Pope Martin V in 1417, however one rival remained and there would be a couple more before it was all over. The man regarded by history as the last of the anti-Popes is an illustration of a good, devout man being caught up in a situation not of his making which left him on the wrong side of Church history but still with a good reputation.

That man was Amadeus VIII, Count and later Duke of Savoy. He was born on September 4, 1383 to Count Amadeus VII of Savoy and Bonne of Berry (granddaughter of King Jean II of France). His father died in 1391 leaving him Count of Savoy at an early age but his mother acted as his regent until he was old enough to rule in his own right. As the Count of Savoy he was quite a successful ruler. He enlarged his domains, oversaw economic prosperity, earned a reputation for being mild-mannered and just as well as being quite religious. With the Hundred Years War still raging between England and France, he tried several times to arrange a negotiated end to the conflict though to no avail. When the “Great Schism” broke out, he was very troubled by it, more so than most because of his pious nature. He had been such a success and had such a great reputation that, in 1416, Sigismund of Luxembourg, the Holy Roman (German) Emperor gave him an aristocratic promotion, raising him to the status of Duke of Savoy. Later, he also conferred on him the title of Count of Geneva. Earlier he had married Mary of Burgundy and had a happy home life, fathering nine children. However, his world fell apart when his beloved wife died in 1422 and Duke Amadeus VIII turned his back on the world.

Amadeus VIII retired, though he retained his title, handing power over to his son Louis, to live a contemplative life as a hermit in Ripaille on the shores of Lake Geneva. He took five knights with him to live by a monastic code he devised as the Order of St Maurice, which, combined with another, is still one of the senior chivalric orders of the Italian Royal Family today. He was thus mostly out of touch from that time on though he had kept up with the events of the Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence. It was this council, in opposition to Pope Eugene IV, which elected him (Anti-)Pope on October 30, 1439. It was not a position he had sought for himself and it took a period of negotiations before he could be prevailed upon to accept the papal crown. The primary motivation of the electors seems to have been the wealth and prestige they thought Amadeus would bring with him to their cause. He finally accepted and was duly installed as Pope Felix V on November 5, 1439.

Anti-Pope Felix V renounced his secular titles and was crowned by Cardinal d’Allamand in 1440. For the first few years of his pontificate his secretary was Aeneas Sylvinus Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II. The actual pope, Eugene IV, excommunicated him of course and he found no widespread popular support for his position beyond his own lands in Savoy and across Switzerland. Those who did acknowledge him as the rightful pope included the Dukes of Austria, Tyrol, Bavaria-Munich, the Count-Palatine of Simmern, the Teutonic Order and a handful of religious orders and universities in Germany. Most of those who appointed cardinals refused to take their places and as Pope Eugene IV gave way to Pope Nicholas V support for Felix V fell away further. He was also frequently at odds with the Council of Basel over financial matters which is the one area that tends to taint his reputation. Still, no one could find that he had acted in bad faith or could show any evidence of serious defects in his character. His position continued to deteriorate though through 1442 and 1443 after which he increasingly became isolated and ignored. Efforts to establish a papal court and control over the Church bureaucracy ended in frustration and finally the pretense came to an end in 1449 when he submitted to the authority of Pope Nicholas V on April 7.

Nonetheless, it was not all that bad an end for anti-Pope Felix V. Because of his good name and recognition that he had been misled rather than acting purposely malicious, Pope Nicholas V was inclined to be forgiving. He appointed Amadeus of Savoy Cardinal of St Sabina and made him his permanent Apostolic vicar-general for the lands of the House of Savoy as well as the dioceses of Basel, Strasbourg, Chur and others. The papal schism had ended and there seemed to be few hard feelings about it, so a happy ending all in all. Amadeus VIII carried on in ecclesiastical office, under the legitimate pontiffs, until his death on January 7, 1451 at the age of 67.

Savoy Family Foreign Policy

The original focus of foreign policy for the newly born (or newly restored) Kingdom of Italy was, naturally, first on the recovery of the remaining Italian territory still under foreign rule and, as part of that drive, the recovery of the historic capital of Rome which was occupied by French troops. However, King Victor Emmanuel II was a man of restless energy, grand aspirations and ambition. Naturally, he wanted to restore all of “unredeemed Italy” but he also looked beyond the Italian borders towards the creation of a dynastic alliance of Mediterranean countries linked by the House of Savoy. To the end of his life he was also yearning for military adventure such as in the Balkans against the tottering Ottoman Empire of Turkey and, like many Italians, sympathized with the Greeks who were fighting for their independence from centuries of Turkish domination. That never came to be but he was able to at least make an effort to advance his goal of a dynastic alliance across the nations of the former Roman Empire through the lives of his children. This was a game royal houses had played since time immemorial.

In 1859 the King, in what was a great sacrifice, arranged the marriage of his daughter Princess Maria Clotilde to Prince Napoleon Joseph Bonaparte. This, combined with ceding certain territories, including the Savoy heartland, to France in exchange for the assistance of Napoleon III in the war to reclaim northern Italy from Austrian rule. Yet, there was also more long-term goals in mind with this marriage. Ultimately, Prince Napoleon Joseph would become the senior member of the Bonaparte family and Princess Maria Clotilde would have been placed to cement Franco-Italian ties and Savoy influence in Paris. However, as we know, it all came to nothing as the French Second Empire ultimately fell and Napoleon III himself disinherited Prince Napoleon Joseph. There were also growing tensions between France and Italy over their stopping short in the campaign against Austria and the occupation of Rome with French troops. In the end, King Victor Emmanuel II would send Crispi to try to arrange a war alliance with Germany against Austria and France so Italy could regain territories lost to the French and lands still held by Austria populated by Italians but Bismarck rejected the proposal.

In 1862 the King arranged the marriage of his daughter Princess Maria Pia to King Luis I of Portugal. This was a match that worked out very well. The two were much in love at first, though the King’s numerous infidelities later alienated him from his Italian wife. However, Queen Maria Pia was very popular in Portugal, known for her great care of the poor and the Savoy queen consort, later queen dowager, was the basis of a lasting, informal, friendship between Italy and Portugal. With the long-standing alliance of Great Britain and Portugal, combined with the Italian policy of maintaining good relations with the British Empire for security in the Mediterranean, this fit together quite well. In the person of Queen Maria Pia, the House of Savoy maintained a beloved presence at the court in Lisbon for as long as the Portuguese monarchy existed. When the Kingdom of Portugal was overthrown in 1910 the Queen Dowager Maria Pia was forced to go into exile with the rest of the Portuguese Royal Family and died the following year in Italy.

The same year that Princess Maria Pia was married to the King of Portugal, a prince of the House of Savoy was in the running for the throne of another country. Italian volunteers had long given assistance to the struggling Greeks in their fight for independence from Muslim domination. When an independent Greece was finally restored, it was originally a republic, which did not last long and later, with the intervention of the Great Powers in favor of the Greeks, it was decided that the country would be a monarchy. King Victor Emmanuel II thought his second son, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, would make a fine King of Greece and could play an important part in this dynastic alliance of countries with prominent Savoy royals. A referendum was held in November of 1862 and the Duke of Aosta was in the running but did not win. In the end, none of the top choices were acceptable to the Great Powers and so the Greek crown finally passed to Prince William of Denmark.

However, King Victor Emmanuel II was not done trying to find a throne for the Duke of Aosta. In 1868 the Spanish overthrew Queen Isabella II and sent her into exile after which they began to shop around for a new monarch. It was this search which helped spark the Franco-Prussian War. With another French or German monarch off the table, the King of Italy pushed his second son to step forward as a candidate. The Duke of Genoa was the first that the Spanish showed interest in but his mother refused to allow that and so later their attention fell on the Duke of Aosta. King Victor Emmanuel II was pleased but his son rather less so. At the end of 1870 the Duke of Aosta was elected King of Spain, taking the oath the following year. However, the hoped for family ties came undone rapidly, to the consternation of the King. The Franco-Prussian War saw the downfall of Emperor Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel II sent a courtier to bring his beloved daughter home, rescuing her from the chaos of the communards. However, this was overshadowed by the withdrawal of the last foreign troops on Italian soil, the French garrison in Rome, and the Eternal City once more became the capital of a united Italian peninsula. But, over in Spain, King Amadeo I was finding nothing but frustration.

In some ways, the brief Savoy reign over the “Land of the Setting Sun” was the decisive period in determining whether any vestige of the once vast Spanish empire remained in the world. A short time earlier, in 1868, the first uprising in Cuba in favor of independence was launched, starting the conflict that would eventually attract the sympathy of the United States and end in the Spanish-American War and the sale of Cuba, Puerto Rico and other colonial outposts to the USA. This was the time to stop such separatist movements before they got out of hand and King Amadeo I tried to do so but, as in the past, republican conspiracies and another Carlist uprising at home prevented the hard-pressed Spanish army from focusing fully on defending what was left of the empire (the Third Carlist War of 1872). With his own supporters turning against each other and a growing republican movement that benefited from the many Spaniards who were tired of the bickering royalists and their seemingly endless civil wars, King Amadeo became a source of unity only in that everyone seemed to be opposed to him for one reason or another. In February of 1873 he finally declared Spain ungovernable and abdicated, returning to a much happier life in Italy. With France and Spain having rejected monarchy and embraced republicanism, the only remnant of King Victor Emmanuel’s dynastic foreign policy was the Queen of Portugal.

To the very end of his life, the restless King hoped to achieve some greater glory and embellishment for his country. He is said to have told Paget, the British ambassador, that he had proposed to the Austrian and German emperors that he be given a free hand to invade Turkey, overthrow the Sultan and deport him back to his ancestral lands in Central Asia after which all the major powers could join in the partition of the Ottoman Empire, with everyone, happily, being given all they wanted. Paget did not take this seriously but the King continued to bring it up, saying that with 200,000 Italian soldiers he could solve all the ‘eastern problems’ with a single blow and Britain could benefit by annexing Egypt in the process. He became positively alarmed when he found that the King of Italy had mentioned such plans to the Russians who seemed rather positive about the idea, at a time when Britain and Russia had a fairly heavy rivalry going on. However, such aspirations were thwarted, ultimately by Bismarck and the Germans who began to put together what became the “Central Powers” of Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary but in what would be a defensive alliance only. So, there would be no Balkan adventure for King Victor Emmanuel II who finally ceased his restlessness with his death in 1878.

First Savoy Reign Over Sicily

The island Kingdom of Sicily was first under the reign of the House of Savoy from 1713 to 1720 during the reign of King Vittorio Amedeo II. It came about as a result of Piedmontese participation in the War of Spanish Succession alongside Great Britain and Austria. At first, it was proposed to give the House of Savoy both Naples and Sicily (at the time separate kingdoms) but as the Hapsburgs still ruled in Naples this was finally dropped. King Vittorio Amedeo II was more interested in gaining Milan which the Savoy had been reaching for over many years but his Dutch and Austrian allies objected to this. The British, under Queen Anne, finally took decisive action and, being in command of the Mediterranean thanks to the success of the Royal Navy, announced that Sicily would be given to the House of Savoy and King Felipe V of Spain had little choice but to agree and renounce his claim on the island. The British tried to maintain a commanding influence but King Vittorio Amedeo II refused to grant British merchants any additional favors than they had known previously under the Spanish. Still, Britain was convinced that Sicily would be better off and the region more stable under the Savoy.

The King & Queen depart for Sicily

King Vittorio Amedeo II and Queen Marie d’Orleans arrived in October of 1713 to formally take possession of their new kingdom and were given a joyous welcome from the local population when they were delivered to Palermo by a British naval squadron. Early the next year the Sicilian parliament was assembled to officially swear their allegiance to the new king and the Savoy Crown. The Kingdom of Sicily was to remain legally separate from the continental realms of the House of Savoy but in personal union through King Vittorio Amedeo II. However, there did arise some complaints that the King was putting Piedmontese officials in positions of importance after being less than impressed with the state of affairs that he found on the island with widespread waste and corruption. Still, the Sicilians could not complain too much since financial aid also poured in from Turin to allow Sicily to balance its budget. A census was taken of all people and livestock and the King introduced beneficial reforms to the tax system and the customs office which had been riddled with corruption. Still, many groaned at the additional ‘special taxes’ that had to be implemented to carry out these changes.

The Hapsburgs did not recognize the treaty, the Treaty of Utrecht, by which the Savoy gained the Kingdom of Sicily and so, being just across the straights in Naples, King Vittorio Amedeo II placed priority on improving the coastal defenses of Sicily and raising a new army which consisted of two regiments of volunteers and a unit of royal guards. When King George I came to the British throne and the Royal Navy was withdrawn from the Mediterranean, King Vittorio Amedeo II also took care to expand the Sicilian navy to pick up the slack. The King, of course, ultimately had to return to Turin but left behind a Viceroy to rule in his place. The Viceroys had plenty of problems to deal with as, despite the renunciation of Felipe V, the Spanish maintained agents on the island who spread pro-Spanish and anti-Savoy propaganda and encourage resistance. The reconciliation between France and Austria also posed a potential threat. There was also a ridiculous and frustrating dispute with the Holy See over Savoy rule of the island.

King Vittorio Amedeo II

Problems with the Church came about when a local bishop objected to having to pay an import duty on chickpeas. He excommunicated the local customs officials, which some might call just a slight overreaction, but the Tribunal of the Monarchy, which was set up to exercise the special ecclesiastical authority traditionally given to the kings of Sicily since the Norman era, nullified the excommunications. The bishop then placed his entire diocese under the interdict and left to ask help from Rome. The issue was further complicated by the fact that the Pope, Clement XI, did not recognize the authority of the tribunal because he did not recognize the right of King Vittorio Amedeo II to the throne of Sicily because, claiming it as a papal fief and the King of Sicily his vassal, the change in royal leadership had happened without his approval. The King sent agents to Rome to reach an amicable agreement but the Pope refused to consent to the clergy paying any taxes or import duties and ordered the tribunal abolished. The King refused to disband the tribunal and refused to be invested as a vassal of the Pope, on the grounds that Sicily was a sovereign kingdom. The Pope then re-issued the excommunications and interdict as well as placing spiritual restrictions on the local clergy who were loyal to the King while the King had pro-papal clergy arrested. Finally, the Pope did consent to the existence of the tribunal if he could control it but as he still refused to recognize the King, there was no agreement.

The era of Savoy rule over Sicily started to come to an end in 1717 when the Spanish attacked Sardinia which was then ruled by the Hapsburgs. This set off the War of the Quadruple Alliance with Spain on one side and the British, French, Dutch, House of Hapsburg and House of Savoy on the other. The following year the Spanish also invaded Sicily. The British navy won a victory that stranded the Spanish forces and the Austrians sent troops in from Naples. Spain was finally forced to concede defeat but Savoy rule over Sicily would not be restored. Instead, the allied powers essentially forced King Vittorio Amedeo II to take the Kingdom of Sardinia in exchange for Sicily. Although his forces had held no control over the island since 1718, the official hand-over did not occur until 1720 and the King did not relinquish his title as ‘King of Sicily’ until 1723 and was still seeking compensation for the loss as late as the autumn of 1729. Of course, the Crown of Savoy did eventually return to Sicily in 1860/61 with the Expedition of the Thousand under Giuseppe Garibaldi in the name of King Vittorio Emanuele II.

Bourbon-Savoy Reconciliation

In response to a question from a concerned reader, I will be addressing here the relationship between the House of Savoy and the House of Bourbon Two-Sicilies. Evidently, some anti-Italian, anti-Savoy people have been spreading some misinformation on this subject, suggesting that there was never any reconciliation between the Bourbons and Savoys and that nothing improved for the Bourbon Two-Sicilies family until the unlawful creation of the republic when they (unlike the Savoy) were allowed to return to Italy to promote their interests and the regional history of Sicily and southern Italy. These people then actually make the case that it was better that the republic be forced on the Italian people as they can see no farther than their own narrow interests and not recognize the wider damage to the monarchist cause this did. They seem to be doing this in an effort to carry on a quarrel that no one else is fighting, indeed that no longer exists. I want to be clear about this point because, while such alleged partisans of the House of Bourbon Two-Sicilies miss no opportunity to slander and defame the venerable House of Savoy, I will not be responding in kind. I have too much respect and admiration for the Bourbon Two-Sicilies to sink to that level, I do not like monarchists "shooting inside the tent" and because I see no reason to carry on such bitterness.

This is a point I want to make clear: such vitriol and misinformation is not coming from the actual members of the House of Bourbon Two-Sicilies but rather from some of their misguided supporters who seem to want to tear Italy apart and go back to the days of the country being a patchwork of feuding states ruled by foreign powers. Let there be no misunderstanding and no misguided ill-will on this issue: neither of the two royals claiming leadership of the House of Bourbon Two-Sicilies have ever called for the break-up of Italy, the secession of the south or the restoration of the pre-1860 Kingdom of the Two-Sicilies. No member of the family alive has ever done such a thing and it is completely untrue that the Bourbon Two-Sicilies only ever recognized Italy after the victory of a republic, in effect, recognizing a united Italy only so they could be free to try to divide it. On the contrary, the Houses of Savoy and Bourbon were reconciled years before the republican ascendency when the country was still the Kingdom of Italy as it had been originally founded.

It was something many had hoped for to further cement national unity, especially at a time when the Kingdom of Italy seemed to be moving up to the top tier of the great powers. Appropriately enough, the reconciliation started with a romance, a romance between a member of the House of Savoy and a child of the head of the House of Bourbon Two-Sicilies. The couple in question was HRH Prince Eugenio, Duke of Ancona (son of the Duke of Genoa) and HRH Princess Lucia Maria Raniera of Bourbon Two-Sicilies (daughter of Prince Fernando Pio, Duke of Calabria -the last undisputed head of the House of Bourbon Two-Sicilies). The couple obtained the permission of their parents to be married in 1938 in Munich, Germany (the mother of the bride was Bavarian). Prior to this happy occasion, Prince Fernando Pio came to Rome and was received by HM King Vittorio Emanuele III. He recognized the place of the House of Savoy and the authority of the Kingdom of Italy at that time. What did happen later, after the republican victory, was a further show of reconciliation between the two families when, in 1948, HM King Umberto II bestowed on the Duke of Calabria the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, the oldest and most prestigious chivalric order of the House of Savoy. The Duke later reciprocated by bestowing on the exiled King of Italy the collar of the Constantinian Order. their most prestigious order of chivalry.

Obviously, these are not the actions of a man holding a grudge about things that happened in 1860 or a man who preferred a republic to the Kingdom of Italy. The House of Bourbon Two-Sicilies, under Prince Fernando Pio, Duke of Calabria, recognized the unified Kingdom of Italy, the authority of King Vittorio Emanuele III and later King Umberto II in their exchange of honors. The two families were reconciled and no member of the Bourbon Two-Sicilies family since has called for the break-up of Italy or wished for any internal strife for the Italian nation. That should be remembered by people on both sides of the issue. I hope that these facts will clarify the situation and allow for all Italian monarchists to come together in common cause against the republic that has shackled the Italian people in mediocrity for far too long. The past should be remembered, the past should be honored but it should not be used as a weapon to do damage to the present and future. Viva l'Italia!

Palaces of the Savoy

Chateau de Chambery

(residents of the Dukes of Savoy, in what is now in France)

Palazzo Madama, Turin

(residence of Queen Christine Marie of France, regent for King

Carlo Emanuele II, later used by the Senate & High Court)

Palazzo Reale, Turin

(primary residence of the Kings of Piedmont-Sardinia)

Palazzo Carignano, Turin

(residence of the Savoy-Carignano branch of the Royal House)

Castello del Valentino, Turin

(former residence of Queen Marie Christine of France)

Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome

(primary residence of the Kings of Italy)

Italian Kings of Jerusalem

Today, the only reigning monarch who still includes “King of Jerusalem” among their list of titles is the King of Spain. In the past, however, the long dormant succession dispute over the former Kingdom of Jerusalem was carried on, nominally, by a number of monarchs each claiming the title, including the King of Italy and the Emperor of Austria. After the overthrow of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, for a time the King of Italy was the only reigning monarch who included among his titles that of King of Jerusalem. How did this come about? How did the House of Savoy come to have a claim on the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem? It all goes back to the marriage of Queen Charlotte I of Cyprus to her cousin Ludovico of Savoy who reigned alongside her as King of Cyprus. Charlotte was only fourteen when she became Queen of Cyprus and she was quite a forceful character. By that time she was also already on her second husband, her first, John of Portugal, passing away in 1457. In 1459 she married Ludovico of Savoy, Count of Geneva as a way of strengthening her throne against the schemes of her illegitimate half-brother who was constantly trying to take her kingdom from her.

Queen Charlotte I

The Kings of Cyprus had held the title of King of Jerusalem ever since Hugh III seized it upon the death of King Conrad III, last of the Hohenstaufen line that started with Emperor Friedrich II and his pilgrimage/crusade. The title to the kingship of Jerusalem was then passed down by the monarchs of Cyprus to the person of Queen Charlotte who died at the age of 43 in 1487. She and King Ludovico had no children and her husband had predeceased her, Ludovico having died in 1482 in France. However, before her death she ceded her titles to the next legitimate successor Duke Carlo I of Savoy, also known as ‘Carlo the Warrior’ who inherited the titles to Armenia, Cyprus and Jerusalem. Queen Charlotte I was given a lavish funeral, paid for by Pope Innocent III and buried in St Peter’s Cathedral. However, at the end of her life, she had been driven from her lands and had only the titles to pass on, not the actual control of the territory they represented. Her primary kingdom was being held by the Republic of Venice when Duke Carlo I inherited the title to it. Rather than provoke a war, the House of Savoy chose not to press their claim to the throne of Jerusalem (or Cyprus or Armenia) but still maintained the titles for the principle that they believed these were rightfully their own and, perhaps, in the hope that one day they could be restored in fact as well as in name.

The Italian King of Croatia

Ever since the end of World War II, during which it was created, lived and died, everything about the Independent State of Croatia is subject to controversy and that has extended to the nominal King of the newly freed Croatia; the Italian Duke of Spoleto who was, on paper at least, His Majesty Tomislav II. He has been accused of being a puppet for puppets, a fascist (what a surprise) and probably more than anything else that he was an uninterested playboy who was a never a real king. However, because he is not often remembered, and when he is it is mostly as the nominal King of Croatia during World War II, it is easy to allow opinion to overtake the facts and much of what is assumed about the last King of the Croats may not be anywhere near the truth at all. He was born Prince Aimone Roberto Margherita Maria Giuseppe Torino of the Italian royal house of Savoy on March 9, 1900 in Turin. He was the second son of Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta and Princess Helene. His paternal grandparents were the controversial King Amadeus I of Spain and Princess Maria Vittoria and his maternal grandparents were Prince Philippe of Orleans and the Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain. King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy was his great grandfather and, as such, on September 22, 1904 he was given the title of Duke of Spoleto to be held for the rest of his life.

An avid outdoorsman, the Duke of Spoleto made the news when he tried to climb K2 in Karakorum in the Himalayas, the second highest mountain on earth in 1929. His uncle, the Duke of the Abruzzi had tried twenty years before and Prince Aimone decided to focus his efforts purely on scientific research rather than a race for the top. He also became known, in his adulthood, as something of a ladies man. The tall, handsome prince was considered quite a prize by most women and there were numerous rumors about him, especially concerning a relationship with the daughter of King Alfonso XIII of Spain the Infanta Beatriz. However, he did finally settle down when he married Princess Irene of Greece on July 1, 1939 in Florence. This brought about some new family connections for the House of Savoy as Princess Irene was the daughter of the Greek King Constantine I and Princess Sophie of the German Imperial Family of Prussia. The couple eventually had one son, Prince Amedeo, who was born on September 27, 1942. Little did he know on his wedding day in 1939 that in a few years he would be declared the reigning monarch of a new country.

In April of 1941 the Axis forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy invaded and conquered the Serbian dominated Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Of the many minority nationalities who had been handed over to Serbia after the Allied victory in World War I none were so eager for liberation as the Croatians and they quickly set up the Independent State of Croatia under the leadership of the Ustashe party of Head Man Ante Pavelic. A new government was quickly established under Italian supervision as southern Europe was considered by the Axis to be within the sphere of the Kingdom of Italy and the new Roman Empire Benito Mussolini dreamed of creating around the Mediterranean. The following month Ante Pavelic went to the Quirinal Palace in Rome to meet with His Majesty Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, Albania and Emperor of Ethiopia, to request that he appoint a member of the House of Savoy to be the king over the new Croatian State recently established. On May 18, 1941 the ceremony was held in which the Italian monarch named his cousin Prince Aimone as the new King over Croatia, which also included what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This is where the story becomes really interesting since many enemies of Croatia, especially enemies of the Ustashe but really enemies of a free Croatia period, like to state that Aimone was never really a true Croatian monarch. However, that argument is obviously false and these people contradict their claim by their own arguments as we shall see. The ancient Crown of Zvonimir was solemnly given to Prince Aimone who took as his reigning name King Tomislav II in honor of the heroic Tomislav who was the first King of an independent Croatia in ancient times. This in itself shows that Aimone or Tomislav II was serious about his new position. Enemies like to repeat the story that when Aimone first heard of the appointment he thought his cousin the King was playing a joke on him, implying that he never considered the job anything more than that himself, but such an implication is obviously false. By taking the name of an honored hero from Croatian history Tomislav II was obviously making an effort to adopt the culture of his land and illustrate that a new period of greatness was upon them again and that free Croatia had been reborn.

The enemies of Tomislav II and Croatia also like to point out that the reigning monarch never actually set foot in Croatia, trying to make the case that his reign was never more than a matter of titles which he nor anyone else gave the slightest thought to. This is an argument that is a lot like rat poison; mostly good food but just enough strychnine to kill you. It is true that Tomislav II never resided in Croatia yet it was specifically because he took his job so seriously and was committed to being a truly Croatian monarch for his people and not simply an Axis puppet for Italy. Everything was set up for him to be given a formal Catholic coronation in Duvansko Polje in Bosnia but he refused to do so out of protest to the seizure of certain coastal areas of Dalmatia by Italy. He refused on the grounds of the sovereignty and national integrity of the country over which he was king! Tomislav II stated that this land was never going to be able to be fully integrated into Italy and by the Italian seizure of the territory it only served as an obstacle to better Italian and Croatian friendship. His refusal to enter the country was well thought out and based on a principled stand of putting his new country first, even before Italy.

This was based on agreement by which Mussolini would support Pavelic in restoring Croatian independence, in exchange for which the Italians would receive territorial concessions on the coast, basically consisting of Dalmatia. As compensation, the new Croatia was to include all of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it did. And, actually, Italian and Croatian nationalist collaboration actually had a history behind, united as they were by a shared opposition to Yugoslavia and the extensive territorial concessions to Serbia after World War I. When Gabriele D’Annunzio and his Italian nationalists had seized Fiume, on the Dalmatian coast, they gave their moral support to the Croatian nationalists of the region, encouraging them to rise up against the Serbs to reclaim their independence. It is also true that, in the past, even under the Empire of Austria-Hungary (Croatia being a part of the Kingdom of Hungary) that Dalmatia and Croatia were always identified separately. So, there was certainly grounds for a legitimate difference of opinion over who Dalmatia should belong to. However, King Tomislav II, an Italian by birth and by blood a member of the proud Italian House of Savoy, took his new title seriously and refused to automatically take the Italian point of view and instead insisted that Dalmatia was Croatian and would not just be instantly turned over to Italy.

Enemies of the Croatian King also like to say that Tomislav II was simply a powerless figurehead who had nothing to do with Croatian life, cared nothing about it and was only a symbol of the Ustashe regime of Ante Pavelic which held the real power in the country (and which has the worst reputation). An easy response to that allegation is simple: Well So What?! Was King George VI of the UK and the British Empire no less a real monarch because he reigned while a government ruled in his name? What other monarch in any European country at the time actually ruled his country personally in an absolutist manner during World War II? He reigned but did not rule and this was the accepted practice of all monarchs of his time and still is today. He was, like any monarch then or now, a symbol of Croatian unity and tradition and was never meant to be a political administrator. However, that does not mean he did nothing or took no interest in his country. In the areas for which the monarchy was responsible he was quite active. For instance, while King he granted 60 titles of nobility such as duke, marquis, count, viscount and baron for Croatia; something he certainly would not have done if he considered his position purely honorary and nothing more than an additional title. He had enough of those anyway as one year after becoming King his full title was extended to: His Majesty Tomislav II (or Zvonimir II) King of Croatia, Prince of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Voivode of Dalmatia, Tuzla and Temun, Duke of Aosta, Prince of Cisterna and of Belriguardo, Marquess of Voghera and Count of Ponderano.

The final change came on March 3, 1942 when he inherited the title of Duke of Aosta from his elder brother Prince Amedeo, Third Duke of Aosta who died in Tanzania as a British prisoner of war after having been taken in the fighting in Italian East Africa. His time as King of Croatia came to an end the following year though when the fortunes of war forced the Italians to seek an armistice and King Tomislav II abdicated the throne on July 31, 1943. One of the absurd things about the enemies of the King and Croatia is that they will claim he was never really king and yet know by heart and openly talk about the date of his abdication. They never care to explain how someone who was never really a king can abdicate his throne. In any event, Prince Aimone, now Fourth Duke of Aosta, went on doing his duty as best he could for his native land. Before World War II ended he took command of the important Italian naval base at Taranto however he was soon labeled as “too fascist” by the new powers that be when he expressed his disapproval of the judges who had handed a guilty verdict to General Mario Roatta. The Duke of Aosta, by then a Squadron Admiral in the Royal Italian Navy, was dismissed and at the end of the war pressure forced him to move to South America. He died in Buenos Aires in 1948. As far as Axis military figures go he was mostly forgotten but he is still widely remembered today as the last King of the Croatian people and their first (and so far only) independent monarch of modern times.

The Italian Family Feud, In Brief

At least one problem with succession disputes is that die-hard monarchists tend to obsess over them while the general public couldn’t care less and for the most part is totally unaware that they even exist. They divide what is already a minority opinion and have been able to deter the restoration of monarchies where support for a republic was low. Obviously, a country being deprived of a monarch because a Royal Family and their supporters cannot agree on who that monarch should be is shameful. Yet, for at least some monarchists, it seems disputed successions is what they live for and everyone in the world must be divided up into two warring camps. That is the issue that is foremost in their mind and before all else they want to know which royal candidate you support so that they can immediately classify you as a friend or as an enemy. There are, sadly, many to choose from as it seems there is hardly a monarchy left on earth that at least someone is not willing to challenge the legitimacy of or no former monarchy that someone can not find some reason for disputing the succession to. One of those is the succession to the Italian throne. The bad news is that it has caused real damage to the monarchist cause and real pain for the Italian Royal Family; the venerable House of Savoy. The good news is that it is not as complicated as some others and, if everyone is prepared to behave themselves, seems set to solve itself in due time. For those unfamiliar, this is the story of the disputed succession to the Italian throne.

On May 9, 1946 His Majesty Umberto II became King of Italy upon the abdication of his father, the “Soldier King”, Victor Emmanuel III. The new Italian Royal Family consisted of King Umberto II, his Belgian wife Queen Marie-Jose and their children Princess Maria Pia, Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel, Princess Maria Gabriella and Princess Maria Beatrice. Unfortunately, in June, a fraudulent referendum declared Italy a republic and King Umberto II and his family were forced to leave the country. The King absolved everyone of their oaths of allegiance and urged them to serve their country but never abdicated and never recognized the referendum as valid or the republican government as legitimate. The Italian republic also quickly enacted a new constitution that forbid any future restoration of the monarchy because while republics boast of trusting their people to choose the leader of the country, most do not trust those people to choose the form of government itself. Odd that. In any event, King Umberto II managed something of a ‘court in exile’ still granting titles of nobility and managing the chivalric orders of the House of Savoy. However, as his children grew up, particularly his son Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel, family problems were on the horizon.

The crisis began with a marriage but there was another scandal that occurred first which may have set the scene for what caused the eventual division of the Italian monarchist community. In 1969, the Crown Prince, Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples decided to give himself a major royal promotion and attempted to usurp the position of his father. He began styling himself “King Victor Emmanuel IV” on the ridiculous grounds that his father had forfeited his position by accepting the outcome of the republican referendum in 1946 (which was ridiculous as it stood but also completely dishonest as the King had done no such thing). By this time, of course, King Umberto II was quite elderly and have been unaware of the antics of his only son. He claimed the right to act as head of the House of Savoy and in that capacity raised his longtime, common-born, girlfriend to the nobility with the title of Duchess. The following year, 1970, the Prince of Naples, married without the consent of his father his longtime girlfriend-turned duchess Marina Doria in a civil marriage in Las Vegas, Nevada. Whether the King withheld his permission because the bride was a commoner or because it was a civil rather than Catholic ceremony is unknown but it is clear that his consent was not given nor is there any reason why it should have been sought by the couple considering that the Prince of Naples had already declared his own father deposed and himself the true King-in-exile.

What mattered was that this was contrary to the 1780 rules of the House of Savoy set down by King Victor Amadeus III that any family member who marries without the consent of the King forfeits their titles and that of their descendants. Strictly speaking, according to this statute, as soon as the Prince of Naples said, “I do” the heir to the throne automatically became his cousin Prince Amadeus of Savoy, Duke of Aosta. However, the supporters of the Crown Prince will point to some actions by the King which suggest that he privately came around to approving of the marriage and that there was a rapprochement between father and son. A religious wedding ceremony was held in 1971 in Tehran, Iran though the King did not attend. He did, however, attend the baptism of their son, Prince Filiberto, and gave him the title of ‘Prince of Venice’. However, the problem with that is that no documentation was made of this and the title itself was practically unheard of in the history of the Italian monarchy, being only previously used by the step-son of Napoleon Bonaparte. The story also made it around that the King knew his son was going to marry without his consent and had summoned the Duke of Aosta to his home in exile in order to confer upon him the status of ‘heir to the (former) throne’ and that it was this which prompted the Prince of Naples to attempt to oust his father as head of the family.

In any event, the King never wrote anything more down or said anything publicly about what was obviously a painful, private matter for the family. Before his passing, however, he did bestow the highest order of knighthood of the House of Savoy on the son of the Duke of Aosta, rather than his own grandson Prince Filiberto, which many took as a clear sign of who he intended to lead the family in the future. The last King of Italy to date, Umberto II, died in 1983 and his son, the Prince of Naples, immediately declared himself (again) head of the family and, in an attempt at reconciliation, Queen Marie-Jose urged her daughters to rally in support of their brother. They did so at the time as did some other family members and the greatest asset of the supporters of Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel is that no one really said anything in opposition to him for years until a series of increasingly more embarrassing scandals (including an arrest and some jail time) brought him into disrepute. It was only at that time that the Duke of Aosta openly declared the succession of his cousin to have been invalid on the grounds of his marriage and that he, Prince Amadeus, was the true head of the House of Savoy.

This means that both sides have a legitimate case to make but it is rather straightforward. The marriage of the Prince of Naples was clearly done without the consent of the King and there is no doubt violated the Savoy rules of succession. His subsequent behavior also left much to be desired but is, ultimately, irrelevant to the legal issue of the leadership of the dynasty. There is also no doubt that the Duke of Aosta said nothing at the time about all of this, that the family seemed to support the last heir to the throne and so one must simply decide whether or not his tardiness invalidates the Duke of Aosta from claiming leadership later. He certainly has the better case to make and many monarchists have been horrified by the actions of the Prince of Naples and rolled their eyes at the Prince of Venice becoming simply a celebrity figure in Italy. However, his appearing on reality shows and television commercials and the like does mean that most Italians at least know who he is or have at least heard of him whereas the Duke of Aosta remains little known outside of specifically monarchist circles. Again, this means nothing as to the validity of his position but anyone would be foolish to think that public opinion is totally meaningless when it comes to these sorts of things. If Italy is to restore its monarchy it will not only be the minority of ardent monarchists who decide the issue.

Finally, the good news is that, despite some extreme unpleasantness, this is one succession dispute that should resolve itself -provided no one tries to do anything ridiculous. The reason for that is that the Prince of Naples has only one son, the Prince of Venice, and he has only daughters whereas the Duke of Aosta has both a son and a grandson. Therefore, in the course of time there should no longer be any grounds for dispute between the two branches of the family since the Savoy rules of succession clearly state that women may not inherit the throne. The senior line will run out of male heirs with Prince Filiberto and the Aosta line should then stand unchallenged. However, I have to add “should” there because the Prince of Venice has stated, at least once, that he may intend for one of his daughters to succeed him, discounting the house rules altogether. If that happens, the dispute could go on for a very long time to come, however, it would also mean that one side was completely disregarding the rules entirely and showing that their allegiance is based solely on personal preference. Personally, it seems clear to me that the Duke of Aosta is the proper choice but if the Italian public were totally won over by the charms of Prince Filiberto and decided to make him King of Italy, I would cheer that as well as regardless of how serious a person he might be, no one could possibly be worse than gaggle of politicians whose corruption is only matched by their incompetence, who have been ruining Italy ever since 1946.

Annunciation Day

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, commemorating the occasion when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary to announce to her that she would give birth to the Son of God. Our Lady of the Annunciation (aside from being the patron saint of Texas) has a special significance to the House of Savoy as the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation is the highest chivalric order of knighthood of the Royal Family and the former Kingdom of Italy. It all dates back to the daring crusader Count Amadeus VI of Savoy (seen above), sometimes known as the "Green Count" who instituted the Order of the Collar in 1362, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Annunciation. The "collar" designation was to call to mind the loyalty of the dog and the slavish devotion of its members to the Holy Mother. Originally, it was limited to 15 members to mark the 15 daily masses heard by the order. Later, it was officially named the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation and was given its first written statues in 1409 by Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy who also later enlarged the order. Over the centuries, other modifications were made but it remained the preeminent order of knighthood for the House of Savoy, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and finally the Kingdom of Italy until the fall of the monarchy in 1946. Since then it has been retained as an order of the Royal House.