Word: emmanuele
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King's Ransom. By some standards Victor Emmanuel seemed to do very well indeed. Canny King Umberto took out ?1,000,000 insurance a short time before he was assassinated in 1900. Victor Emmanuel III acquired not only a throne but lots of money. He collected old coins, as well as new, and wrote about them in numismatic journals. Tidy and penurious, he was described by a friend as "a good husband, a loving father, a conscientious bureaucrat...
When Italy turned up on the winning side in World War I, Victor Emmanuel reached modest heights of popularity. His subjects referred to him (fondly, at first) as il piccolo-The Little...
...postwar turmoil, Victor Emmanuel, appraising unrest at home and tottering dynasties abroad, handed Italy over to Benito Mussolini. It was the first -and last-time he ever defied his ministers; henceforth he was impotent to prevent his downfall. But Benito, the blacksmith's son, promised to look after the little king. The Italian people paid the price for 23 years...
They were busy and important days for Victor Emmanuel. He read long and complicated reports, reviewed parades, pinned medals on heroes and put wreaths on graves. An American visitor was told in 1927: "The most wonderful thing about Mussolini is his loyalty to his King." The words were spoken by King Victor Emmanuel III; by that time a lot of Italians would have disagreed. When Il Duce declared war against Ethiopia, il piccolo swiftly calculated: "If we win I shall be King of Abyssinia; if we lose, I shall be King of Italy...
They won. His father and grandfather who had ruled Italy since its unification in 1861 reigned over some 115,000 square miles. Victor Emmanuel, standing in the shadows, boosted...