- Tomislav II of Croatia, 4th Duke of Aosta
Tomislav II of Croatia (born "Prince Aimone of Savoy";
9 March 1900 Torino , Italy; died29 January 1948 Buenos Aires , Argentina) was recognised by theAxis powers duringWorld War II as King of the Nazi-puppet [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-1413183/Independent-State-of-Croatia Independent State of Croatia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia ] ] [ [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005456USHMM about Independent State of Croatia] ]Independent State of Croatia . Accepting the crown onMay 18 ,1941 he reigned until31 July ,1943 when he abdicated. Born a prince of theHouse of Savoy he succeeded to the titleDuke of Aosta on3 March 1942 .Early life
Aimone d'Aosta was born in
Turin . He was the second son of PrinceEmanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta (son ofAmadeus I of Spain and Princess Maria Vittoria) and Princess Hélène (daughter of Prince Philippe of Orléans and thePrincess Marie Isabelle of Orléans ). His great grandfather was King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, making him a member of theHouse of Savoy .On
22 September 1904 he was given the titleDuke of Spoleto for life. [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p10402.htm#i104020 The Peerage] ]In 1929, twenty years after his uncle the Duke of the Abruzzi had attempted to climb
K2 inKarakorum , Prince Aimone lead an expedition to Karakorum. A member of the expedition wasArdito Desio . Due to the failure to climb K2 twenty years earlier, Prince Aimone's expedition concentrated solely on scientific work. [ [http://www.jerberyd.com/climbing/stories/k2/ K2 - The Savage Mountain] ] [ [http://www.k2climb.net/story/stories/K22004-50yarslatrApr182004.shtml K2 2004 - 50 years later] ]After being linked with
Infanta Beatriz of Spain the daughter of King Alfonso XIII, [Citation| title =Milestones| newspaper =Time Magazine| year =1930| date =April 21, 1930| url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,739128,00.html] he married onJuly 1 ,1939 inFlorence , Princess Irene of Greece the daughter of King Constantine I and PrincessSophie of Prussia . They had a son, Prince Amedeo, on27 September 1943 . [ [http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/italy.html Online Gotha] ]King of Croatia
On
18 May 1941 a ceremony took place at theQuirinal Palace wereAnte Pavelić who led a delegation of Croats asked King Victor Emmanuel III to name a member of theHouse of Savoy , King of Croatia. Aimone was then officially named King by his cousin Victor Emmanuel III. [cite book| last =Packard| first =Reynolds| title =Balcony Empire: Fascist Italy at War| publisher =Kessinger Publishing| date =2005| pages =190| isbn =1417985283 ] TheIndependent State of Croatia as it was officially known covered most of present day states ofCroatia andBosnia and Herzegovina . On assuming theCrown of Zvonimir he took theregnal name Tomislav II in memory ofTomislav I the first Croatian king. [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Croatia.html Worldstatesmen] ] Originally on learning that he had been named King of Croatia he told close colleagues that he thought his nomination was a bad joke by his cousin King Victor Emmanuel III though he accepted the crown out of a sense of duty.cite book| last =Petacco| first =Arrigo| title =A Tragedy Revealed: The Story of the Italian Population of Istria, Dalmatia, and Venezia Giulia| publisher =University of Toronto Press| date =2005| pages =26, 27| isbn =0802039219 ] The Italian Foreign Minister andBenito Mussolini 's son in lawCount Ciano 's informants said of Aimone "The Duke doesn't give a damn about Croatia and wants only money, money and more money."He was due to be crowned in
Tomislavgrad , in modern-dayBosnia and Herzegovina but he refused to go to Croatia due to the "Dalmatia n question" which arose due to Italy taking some of Dalmatia's coastal territory. Aimone felt that Dalmatia "was a land that could never be Italianized" and was an obstacle to Italian-Croatian reconciliation. [cite book| last =Rodogno| first =Davide| title =Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation During the Second World War| publisher =Cambridge University Press| date =2006| location =| pages =95| isbn =0521845157 ] Another reason for never setting foot in Croatia was that his safety could not be guaranteed.cite book | last = Tomasevich | first = Jozo | title = War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration | publisher = Stanford University Press | date = 2001 | pages = 138 | isbn = 0804736154 ] He never held any real authority throughout his reign as theUstaše government had deprived the monarchy of most powers and reduced the status of the king to that of a figurehead. In spite of this he did have some symbolic powers such as the ability to grant noble titles. [ [http://balkanroyalty.tripod.com/id15.html Balkan royalty] ]
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