Amadeo I of Spain

Amadeo I (Italian Amedeo, sometimes anglicized as Amadeus) (May 30, 1845 – January 18, 1890) was the second son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. He was known for most of his life as Duke of Aosta, but served briefly as King of Spain from 1870 to 1873.

Granted the hereditary title Duke of Aosta in the year of his birth, he founded the Aosta branch of Italy's royal House of Savoy, which is junior in agnatic descent to the branch descended from King Umberto I that reigned until 1946, but senior to the branch of the Dukes of Genoa.

Background

Prince Amedeo of Savoy was born in Turin, Italy. He was the second son of Victor Emmanuel II (King of Piedmont, Savoy, Sardinia and, later, first King of Italy) and of Archduchess Maria Adelaide of Austria.

In 1867 his father yielded to the entreaties of parliamentary deputy Francisco Cassins, and on May 30 of that year, Amedeo was married to Donna Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, Princess della Cisterna (b. August 9, 1847 - d. November 8, 1876). The king initially opposed the match on the grounds that her family was of insufficient rank, as well as his hopes for his son's marriage to a German princess. [cite journal| last = Pollock| first = Sabrina| date = 2006-8| title = Spain's Forgotten Queen| journal = European Royal History Journal| volume = 9.4| issue = LII| pages = pages 25–26]

Despite her princely title, donna Maria Vittoria was not of royal birth, belonging rather to the Piedmontese nobility. She was, however, the sole heiress of her father's vast fortune, ["Ibid": page 25.] which subsequent Dukes of Aosta inherited, thereby obtaining wealth independent of their dynastic appanage and allowances from Italy's kings. Maria Vittoria's mother, Countess Louise de Mérode, granddaughter of the Prince de Rubempré and of the Princess van Grimberghe, belonged to one of Belgium's premier noble houses, and had married the "Principe della Cisterna" in 1846 in a double wedding with her younger sister Antoinette, who married Charles III, the reigning Prince of Monaco. ["Ibid": page 25.]

Amedeo and Maria Vittoria had three children:
*Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta (1869-1931), Marshal of Italy
*Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin (1870-1946)
*Luigi, Duke of Abruzzi (1873-1933), mountaineer and explorer.

Yet by March or 1870, the Duchess found herself appealing to the King to remonstrate with his son for marital infidelities that caused her hurt and embarrassment. But the King wrote in reply that, while understanding her feelings, he considered that she had no right to dictate her husband's behavior and that her jealousy was unbecoming. ["Ibid": page 26.]

King of Spain

After the Spanish revolution deposed Isabella II, the new "Cortes" decided to reinstate the monarchy under a new dynasty. The Duke of Aosta was elected King as Amadeus (Amadeo) I on November 16, 1870. He swore to uphold the constitution in Madrid on January 2, 1871.The election of the new King coincided with the assassination of General Juan Prim, his main backer. After that, Amadeo had to deal with difficult situations, with unstable Spanish politics, republican conspiracies, Carlist uprisings, separatism in Cuba, same-party disputes, fugitive governments and assassination attempts.

He could only count on the support of the progressive party, whose leaders were trading off in the government thanks to parliamentary majority and electoral fraud. The progressives divided into monarchists and constitutionalists, which made the instability worse, and in 1872 a violent outburst of interparty conflicts hit a peak. There was a Carlist uprising in the Basque and Catalan regions, and after that, republican uprisings happened in cities across the country. The artillery corps of the army went on strike, and the government instructed the King to discipline them.

With the possibility of reigning without popular support, Amadeus issued an order against the artillery corps and then immediately abdicated from the Spanish throne on February 11, 1873. At ten o'clock that same night, Spain was proclaimed a republic, at which time Amadeo made an appearance before the Cortes, proclaiming the Spanish people ungovernable.

Post-abdication

Completely disgusted, the ex-monarch left Spain and returned to Italy, where he resumed the title of Duke of Aosta.

After the death of his first wife, he married his French niece, Princess Maria Letizia Bonaparte (20 November 1866 – 25 October 1926), daughter of his sister Maria Clotilde and of Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon I. They had one child, Umberto (1889-1918), who was killed in WWI. In her will, Maria Vittoria had left her niece some jewels. Little could she imagine that the same niece would take up her place in her husband's marital life.

Amadeo remained in Turin, Italy until he died on 18 January 1890, less than two years after marrying his second wife.

He is the namesake of Lake Amadeus in central Australia.

The first Spanish Republic lasted less than one year, and in 1875 Alfonso XII, the son of Isabella II, was proclaimed king, with Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, Spanish prime minister from 1873 until his assassination in 1893, briefly regent.

Trivia

The wedding day of Prince Amedeo and Donna Maria Vittoria was marred by the following tragic events:
*The best man shot himself.
*The Palace Gatekeeper slit his throat.
*The King's aide died after falling from his horse.
*The bride's wardrobe mistress hanged herself.
*The colonel leading the wedding procession collapsed from sunstroke.
*The stationmaster was crushed to death under the wheels of the honeymoon train.Rogar L. Williams, "Gaslight and Shadow", pp.156-57]

Ancestors

References