VICTOR EMMANUEL III. (5869— ), king of Italy, son of King Humbert I. and Margherita of Savoy, was born at Naples on Nov. 11, 1869. He entered the army and soon after attaining his majority, was appointed to the command of the Florence Army Corps, and in 1896 to that of the Naples Army Corps. His formal accession to the throne took place on Aug. ,9 and i 1, 1900, after the assassination of his father (July 29).
When in 1915 Italy declared war on Austria, the king at once went to the war zone, remaining there until the armistice, ap pointing his uncle Ferdinand, duke of Genoa, regent of the king dom to act in his stead. At the front he lived in a most unas suming manner at the "Villa Italia" near Udine, and after Caporetto near Padua, constantly visiting the trenches and the most exposed positions, as well as the military hospitals, and leading to a very large extent the life of the soldiers. Although nominally commander-in-chief he never interfered with the con duct of operations, or in the matter of appointments. After Caporetto he multiplied his activities a thousand-fold, and his proclamation of Nov. 19, 1917, sounded like a trumpet-call to the whole people. After the armistice, King Victor Emmanuel returned to Rome on Nov. 14, 1918. He visited Paris and the French front with the crown prince, and subsequently London.
At the time of the Fascist march on Rome (Oct. 28-3o, 1922), the prime minister, Signor Facta, intended to proclaim martial law throughout Italy, and had actually prepared the decree and communicated it to the prefects and the Press; but the king, realizing that its application would mean civil war, refused to sign it and insisted on its immediate withdrawal. After the occu pation of the capital the Fascist squadre, before returning home, marched past the Quirinal and paid homage to the king. The advent of the Fascist Government undoubtedly strengthened the prestige of the Crown, which the troubles of 1919-22 had seri ously shaken.
One of the great moments in King Victor Emmanuel's life oc curred in Feb. 1929, when an enthusiastic crowd demonstrated outside the Quirinal in token of its satisfaction at the ending of the Roman Question (see PAPACY), and the king appeared in ac knowledgment of the ovation. The Treaty with the Holy See, the Concordat and the Financial Convention are amongst the most memorable documents the king has ever signed.
Victor Emmanuel married Princess Elena of Montenegro, who bore him four daughters: Yolanda Margherita (June 1, 19oi ), Mafalda (Nov. 19, 1902), Giovanna (Nov. 13, 1907) and Maria (Dec. 26, 1914) ; and a son and heir, Umberto, prince of Piedmont (Sept. 15, 1904). Princess Yolanda was married on April 9, 1923, to Captain Count Giorgio Calvi of Bergolo, and Mafalda on Sept. 23. 1925, to Prince Philip of Hessen. A keen scholar, and especially interested in numismatics, in 1910 and 1913 he published six volumes of his monumental work on the coins of Italy, the Corpus nummorum italicorum, of which four more vol umes appeared later. After the war Victor Emmanuel made over to the nation many royal residences in various parts of Italy. Among the most famous of these are the Pitti Palace in Flor ence, the villas of Castello, La Petraia and Poggio a Cajano in the neighbourhood of that city, the royal palaces of Milan, Venice, Genoa, Naples, the villa of Capodimomte near Naples, and the "Neapolitan Versailles" at Caserta. Some of these buildings were turned into hospitals and homes for war victims, and others into museums.
See L. Morandi, Come fu educato Vittorio Emmanuele 1I1. (i9oi) ; and B. Astoni and P. Rost, // Re alla guerra (1918). (L. V.)