Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta

For his nephew the present duke, see Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta (b. 1943).
Prince Amedeo
Duke of Aosta
Predecessor Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke
Successor Prince Aimone, 4th Duke
Born (1898-10-21)21 October 1898
Turin
Died 3 March 1942(1942-03-03) (aged 43)
Nairobi
Spouse Princess Anne of Orléans
Issue Margherita, Archduchess of Austria-Este
Maria Cristina, Princess Casimir of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Full name
Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni
House House of Savoy-Aosta
Father Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta
Mother Princess Hélène of Orléans
Italian Royalty
House of Savoy
Victor Emmanuel II
Children
Marie Clothilde, Princess Napoléon
Umberto I
Amadeo I of Spain
Prince Oddone, Duke of Montferrat
Maria Pia, Queen of Portugal and the Algarves
Prince Carlo Alberto, Duke of Chablais
Prince Vittorio Emanuele
Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Geneva
Grandchildren
Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta
Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin
Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi
Prince Umberto, Count of Salemi
Great Grandchildren
Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta
Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta
Great Great Grandchildren
Princess Margherita, Dowager Archduchess of Austria-Este
Princess Maria Cristina
Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta
Great Great Great Grandchildren
Princess Bianca
Prince Aimone, Duke of Apulia
Princess Mafalda
Great Great Great Grandchildren
Prince Umberto
Prince Amedeo
Princess Isabella
Umberto I
Children
Victor Emmanuel III
Victor Emmanuel III
Children
Princess Yolanda, Countess of Bergolo
Princess Mafalda, Landgravine of Hesse
Umberto II
Giovanna, Tsaritsa of Bulgaria
Maria Francesca, Princess Luigi of Bourbon-Parma
Umberto II
Children
Maria Pia, Princess Michel of Bourbon-Parma
Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples
Princess Maria Gabriella
Princess Maria Beatrice
Grandchildren
Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice
Great Grandchildren
Princess Vittoria
Princess Luisa

Prince Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta (Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni di Savoia-Aosta; 21 October 1898 – 3 March 1942) was the third Duke of Aosta and a first cousin, once removed of the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III. During World War II, he was the Italian Viceroy of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI).

Biography

Amedeo was born in Turin, Piedmont, to Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta (son of Amadeo I of Spain and Princess Maria Vittoria) and Princess Hélène (daughter of Prince Philippe of Orléans and the Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans). His great-grandfather was King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, making him a member of the House of Savoy. He was known from birth by the courtesy title of Duke of Apulia.

Amedeo was a very tall man. According to Amedeo Guillet, he was once referred to by a journalist as "your highness" (which in Italian could also be interpreted to mean "your height"). The Duke replied in jest: "198 centimetres" (6 feet, 6 inches).

Education and early military career

Amedeo was educated at Eton College and Oxford University in England. He cultivated British mannerisms, spoke Oxford English, and even enjoyed the pastimes of fox hunting and polo. Amedeo entered the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito) and fought with distinction in the artillery during World War I. He left the army in 1921 and traveled widely in Africa.

Amedeo subsequently rejoined the Italian armed forces and became a pilot. In 1932, he joined the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica). Amedeo served under Marshall Rodolfo Graziani and Libyan Governor Pietro Badoglio during later stages of the pacification of Libya (1911 to 1932). Amedeo and his fellow airmen harried the Senussi forces of Omar Mukhtar from the sky.[1] When hostilities in Libya came to an end in early 1932, much was made of the participation of the "Duke of Apulia" as the commander of the airmen who forced the Senussi to flee Libya and seek relief in Egypt.[2]

On 4 July 1931, upon the death of his father, Amedeo became the Duke of Aosta.

Viceroy and governor-general

In 1937, after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, the Duke of Aosta replaced Marshal Graziani as Viceroy and as Governor-General of Italian East Africa. It was generally conceded that he was a vast improvement over Graziani. As Viceroy and Governor-General, the Duke of Aosta was also the Commander-in-Chief of all Italian military forces in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland.

World War II

When Italy declared war on the United Kingdom and France on 10 June 1940, the Duke of Aosta became the commander of the Italian forces in what is known as the East African Campaign of World War II. He oversaw the initial Italian advances into the Sudan and Kenya and, in August, he oversaw the Italian invasion of British Somaliland.[3]

In January 1941, the British launched a counter-invasion and the Italians went on the defensive in East Africa. The Italians fought throughout February. But, after fierce resistance, the Battle of Keren ended in Italian defeat,[4] the rest of Eritrea, including the port of Massawa, fell quickly. On 31 January, the Duke of Aosta reported that the Italian military forces in East Africa were down to 67 operational aircraft with limited fuel stocks. With supplies running low and with no chance of re-supply, the Duke of Aosta opted to concentrate the remaining Italian forces into several strongholds: Gondar, Amba Alagi, Dessie, and Gimma. He himself commanded the 7,000 Italians at the mountain fortress of Amba Alagi. With his water supply compromised, surrounded, and besieged by 9,000 British and Commonwealth troops and more than 20,000 Ethiopian irregulars, the Duke of Aosta surrendered Amba Alagi on 18 May 1941. Due to the gallant resistance of the Italian garrison, the British allowed them to surrender with honours of war.[5][6]

Death

Shortly after his surrender, the Duke of Aosta was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Nairobi, Kenya. He was placed in command of his fellow prisoners, but never saw the end of World War II. On 3 March 1942, shortly after his internment, he died at the prison camp, reportedly as a result of complications from both tuberculosis and malaria.[7] Amedeo was succeeded by his brother, Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta. From 18 May 1941, the same day Amedeo surrendered Amba Alagi, Aimone was proclaimed King of Croatia under the regal name Tomislav II.

Aftermath

Amedeo was well known and highly regarded for being a gentleman. In one instance, before he fled his headquarters at Addis Ababa, he wrote a note to the British to thank them in advance for protecting the women and children in the cities.

Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Foreign Minister under his father-in-law Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, paid Amedeo a high compliment in his famous diaries. Upon being given the news of the Duke's death Ciano wrote, "So dies the image of a Prince and an Italian. Simple in his ways, broad in outlook, and humane in spirit."

Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was also impressed by the respect and care that the Duke of Aosta showed to the exiled Emperor's personal property left behind in Addis Ababa. In a gesture of thanks, the Emperor during his state visit to Italy in 1953 invited the widowed Duchess of Aosta to tea during his stay in Milan, but was then informed by the Italian government that receiving the Duchess would cause offense to the Italian Republic, and so the Emperor sadly canceled the visit. Instead he invited the 5th Duke of Aosta to Ethiopia in the mid-60s, and accorded him all the protocol due to visiting royalty.

Family

Amedeo was married 5 November 1927, in Naples, to his first cousin HRH Princess Anne of Orléans (1906–1986), daughter of Prince Jean of Orléans, styled Duc de Guise, and his wife Princess Isabelle of Orléans (herself daughter of Prince Philippe of Orléans and the Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain). By birth, the Duke and Duchess of Aosta were thus in distant remainder to the Spanish Throne.

They had two daughters, both marrying royal princes:

Margherita's eldest son Lorenz, Archduke of Austria-Este acquired the title Prince of Belgium (from 10 November 1995) by virtue of his marriage to HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium, only daughter of Albert II, King of the Belgians. Their two sons and three daughters are members of the Belgian Royal Family, and as such use the surname "de Belgique" or its variants.

See also

Ancestry

References

  1. Time Magazine, Muktar
  2. Time Magazine, Peace in Libya
  3. Time Magazine, War Without Water
  4. Time Magazine, Last Act in East Africa
  5. Fuller, J.F.C. (1993). The Second World War, 1939-45 : a strategical and tactical history. New York: Da Capo Press. p. 102. ISBN 9780306805066.
  6. Time Magazine Aosta on Alag?
  7. Time Magazine, Died. Prince Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of Aosta
Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta
Born: 21 October 1898 Died: 3 March 1942
Government offices
Preceded by
The Marquis of Neghelli
Viceroy and Governor-General
of Italian East Africa

1937  1941
Succeeded by
Pietro Gazzera
Italian nobility
Preceded by
Emanuele Filiberto
Duke of Aosta and Apulia
1898  1931
Succeeded by
Aimone
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