Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

Victor Emmanuel II (Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title King of Italy to become the first king of a united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878. The Italians gave him the epithet Father of the Fatherland (Italian: Padre della Patria).

Biography

Victor Emmanuel was born the eldest son of Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano, and Maria Theresa of Austria. His father succeeded a distant cousin as King of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1831. He lived for some years of his youth in Florence and showed an early interest in politics, the military, and sports. In 1842, he married his cousin Adelaide of Austria. He was styled as the Duke of Savoy prior to becoming King of Sardinia-Piedmont.

He took part in the First Italian War of Independence (1848-1849) under his father King Charles Albert, fighting in the front line at the battles of Pastrengo, Santa Lucia, Goito and Custoza.

Victor Emmanuel

Victor Emmanuel may refer to:

Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples

Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Naples (Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria di Savoia; born 12 February 1937) is the only son of Umberto II, the last King of Italy. Titles associated with the former Italian royal family have not been legally recognised by the Italian government since Temporary Provision XIV was incorporated in the Constitution of Italy in 1946.

Vittorio Emanuele also uses the title Duke of Savoy and claims the headship of the House of Savoy. These claims are disputed by supporters of his third cousin, Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta. He is also a pretender to the title of King of Jerusalem. He has lived for most of his life in exile – following the constitutional referendum of 1946 which affirmed the abolition of the monarchy and the creation of the Italian Republic.

On several occasions he has been the centre of controversy in Italy and abroad due to a series of incidents, including remarks that were seen by some as anti-semitic. He was revealed to be a member of Propaganda Due (P2), the state within a state responsible for high-level corruption and political manipulation. In France he was tried on a murder charge, of which he was cleared of unlawful killing but convicted of a firearms offence. More recently, Vittorio Emanuele was arrested on 16 June 2006, following an investigation started by John Woodcock of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Potenza, Italy, on charges of criminal association, corruption and exploitation of prostitution. A trial on these charges began in Potenza, Italy on 21 December 2009. Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia was acquitted of all charges in 2007 and 2010.

Manuel II of Portugal

Dom Manuel II (15 November 1889 – 2 July 1932) "the Patriot" (Portuguese: "o Patriota") or "the Unfortunate" (Portuguese: "o Desventurado") was the last King of Portugal, ascending the throne after the assassination of his father, King Carlos I of Portugal, and his elder brother, Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal. Before ascending the throne he was Duke of Beja. His reign ended with the dissolution of the monarchy in the 5 October 1910 revolution, and Manuel lived the rest of his life in exile.

Early life

Manuel Maria Filipe Carlos Amélio Luís Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Francisco de Assis Eugénio was born in the last year of the reign of his grandfather, King Luís I; he was the third child, and last son, born to Carlos I of Portugal and Amélie of Orleans in the Palace of Belém, Lisbon, seven months before his father ascended the Portuguese throne. A member of the House of Braganza, he was baptized a few days later, with his maternal grandfather as godfather. The former Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, who had been deposed from the Brazilian throne on the day of Manuel's birth, attended the ceremony. Both Pedro and Manuel were descendants of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil.