Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1053

 1001 ITALY.

(Regno d'Itaua.) Reigning King.

Vittorio Emanuele III., born November 11, 1869, the only son of King Umberto I. ot Italy and of Queen Margherita ; succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, July 29, 1900 ; married October 24, 1896, to Elena, born January 8, 1873, daughter of Nicholas, King of Montenegro; offspring, Princess Jolanda, born June 1, 1901; Princess Mafalda. born November 19, 1902 ; Prince Umberto, Nicola Tommaso Giovanni Maria. Prince of Piedmont and Heir Apparent, born Sept. 15, 1904 ; Princess Oiovanna, born November 13, 1907 ; Princess Maria, born December 26, 1914.

Mother of the Sing.

Queen ilargherita, born November 20, 1S51, the only daughter of the late Prince Ferdinando of Savoy. Duke of Irenoa, married, April 22. lntiS, to Umberto of Savoy, Prince of Piemonte (King of Italy, 187$), widow July 29, 1900.

Uncle of the King. Prince Tomato Alberto Vittorio, of Savoy, Duke of Genoa, born February 6, 18M.

Coxuint of the King. Prince Emanuele Filiberto, of 8avoy, Duke of Ansta, born January 13, 18G9, married. June 25, 1395, to Princess Elena, d'Orleana, daughter of the late Comte de Paris ; offspring, Prince Amedeo Umberto, Duke of Apulia, born October 21, 1S9S. and Prince Aimone, Duke of Spoleto, born March 9, 1900; Prince Vittorio Emanuele, of Savoy-Aobta, Count of Turin, born November 24, l*-70; Prince Luigi Amedeo, of Savoy-Aosta, Duke of the Abruzzi, born January 30, 1S73 — children of the late Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Dnke of Aosta, from his union with Maria Vittoria, Princess of Pozzo della Cisterna, wi.o died November S, 1S76.

Most genealogists trace the origin of the reigning house to a German Count Berthold, who, in the eleventh century, established himself on the western slope of the Alps, between Mont Blanc and Lake Leman. In the end of the eleventh century the Count of Savoy acquired the countries of Turin and Susa. Count Amadeus, in 1383, founded a law of primogeniture which led to the immediate acquisition of the territory of Nice. In 1416 the Counts of Savoy adopted the title of Duke ; in 1418 they acquired the Principality of Piedmont; and in 1713 they obtained the island of Sicily, with the title of King. Sicily had to be exchanged, in 1720, for the isle of Sardinia, to which henceforth the royal dignity remained attached. The Genoese territory was added at the peace of 1815. The direct male line of the House of Savoy died out with King Carlo Felice in 1831, and the crown fell to Prince Carlo Alberto, of the house of Savoy-Carignano, a branch founded by Tommaso Francesco, born in 1596, younger son of Duke Carlo Emanuele I. of Savoy. King Carlo Alberto abdicated the throne March 23, 1849, in favour of his son, the late King Vittorio Emanuele II., who, by the Peace of Zurich, November 10, 1859, obtained Lombardy, with the exception of Mantua and a part of the surrounding territory. On March 11, 1860, annexation to Sardinia was voted by plebiscites in Parma, Modena, the Komagna, and Tuscany ; on October 21, Sicily and Naples (including Benevcnto and Pontecorvo, part of the Papal States), and on November 4, the Marches and Umbria. The first Italian Parliament assembled in February 1861, and declared (March 17, 1861) Vittorio Emanuele King of Italy. The remaining part of the province of Mantua and Venetia were added in 1866. Finally, the remaining part of the Papal States (province of Rome), having been taken possession of by an Italian army (September 20, 1870), after the