World War II King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy

During World War II, the beautiful country Italy allied himself with
Nazi Germany, due to the efforts of Prime Minister Mussolini and
King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Who was this King?




Birth

Victor Emmanuel III of Italy was born on 11 November 1869 in Naples,
then a part of the Kingdom of Italy as a son of King Umberto I of Italy
and Margherita of Savoy.

He was a grandson of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Adelaide of
Austria.

From mother's side he was the grandson of Prince Ferdinand, duke of
Genoa and Princess Elisabeth of Saxony.



Reign

On 29 July 1900, at the age of 30, Victor Emmanuel acceded the throne
due to the assassination of his father. The advice of his father always was:

"Remember: to be a King, all you need to know is how to sign your name,
read the newspaper, and mount a horse."


Love and Marriage

On 24 October 1896, Elena of Montenegro married King Victor Emmanuel III
of Italy. This royal couple would have 6 children together.



World War I

When World War I started, Italy tried to remain neutral, despite being a part
of the Triple alliance.

However in 1915, Italy signed secretly a pact with the Triple Entente. But
most of the politicians were opposed to war. The same year there were
demonstrations in Rome.

The King visited several areas in Northern Italy. These regions were suffered
by strikes. His wife, Queen Elena was a nurse and she took care for the
wounded soldiers.

At the end of World War I, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and his family
had the support of the majority of the Italian people.



Mussolini

After World War I, Italy was hit by a repression. It was then that the
extremism started to rise among the working class. The country became a
political chaos. Then Benito Mussolini took his big chance. Later he was a
fascist leader.

The King failed to move against Mussolini's regime's abuses of powers.

In 1936, Victor Emmanuel became Emperor of Ethiopia, this was not
everywhere accepted because the Italian Army invaded Ethiopia and the
country overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie.

For decades the Italian monarchy always had a lot of popularity among the
Italian people, but on 30 March 1938 Mussolini became the First Marshal of
the Empire, just as King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Now it was clear that
the fascist leader wanted to get rid of the King.

In 1939, King Victor Emmanuel became King of Albania too after Italia
invaded Albania and caused the big escape of King Zog I.

On 22 May 1939, Italy signed a pact with Germany to follow the nazi's
into war.

This war started on 1 September 1939, when Hitler's troops invaded Poland.
However it was on 10 June 1940 that Mussolini declared the war at the
United Kingdom.

In 1943 the Italian, German troops in Africa suffered huge losses and the
same year, troops from the United Kingdom and the United States of America
landed on Sicily. Ethiopia again was ruled by Haile Selassie and Albania
became a republic.

Then King Victor Emmanuel made a coup he forced Mussolini to resign.
Mussolini was taken captive and Badoglio became the new Prime Minister.

On 8 September 1943, Badoglio announced the ceasefire with the allied
forces but he didn't declare war to Nazi-Germany.

The same year, Mussolini was liberated by his loyal friends: Nazi Germany.
He returned to Italy and made a republic from the country.

Victor Emmanuel escaped with his family to Brindisi, a town in the south-
east of Italy. This flight caused a lot of impopularity among the Italian people.
They made the comparison between King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and
King George VI of the United Kingdom. King George VI refused to leave
London during the Blitz.

In 1944, the King withdrew himself from political business. He refused to
abdicate though his son Umberto took his father's official functions.

In 1945 Italy was liberated by the allied forces.

On 9 May 1946 Victor Emmanuel III of Italy finally abdicated in favour of
his son Umberto II.

On 12 June 1946, the Italian monarchy was abolished due to a referendum.
The royal family had to leave their country.




Exile and Death


King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy went in Exile in Egypt where he was
welcomed by King Faruk. He spent his time with fishing, collecting stamps
and walking in the garden.

He died on 28 Decmeber 1947 in Alexandria, Egypt. He was buried behind
the altar of the St. Catherine's Cathedral in Alexandria.

On 17 December 2017, an Italian air force plane brought the remains of
King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy to the Sanctuary of Vicoforte near
Turin.



Source pictures: Wikipedia
The first picture: King Victor Emmanuel of Italy and King Albert I of Belgium

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