The Little King

An insight into Marie-José of Belgium, last queen of Italy, and her difficult relations with the House of Savoy. She was a point of reference for many anti-fascists during the regime and during the war.

Victory in the Great War did not strengthen the reign of Victor Emmanuel III, and a growing opposition formed on the right. Mussolini took advantage of this with his March on Rome, initially opposed and then at the last moment authorised by the king. Fascism and monarchy nevertheless seemed to get along fine throughout the 1920s.

Victor Emmanuel III ascended the throne in 1900, marking a different way of reigning from his father Umberto I: a reign as peaceful as it was unwanted. A king with a strong solitary vocation, he nevertheless unilaterally led the country into the First World War on the side of the Entente.

Who was Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy? An analysis of the life of the future king of Italy, from his unhappy childhood to his marriage to Elena of Montenegro, to the early years of the 20th century.