Did King Victor Emmanuel II have a son?
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
Victor Emmanuel was born as 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.
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
With peace north of the Alps, Frederick raised an army from the German princes to suppress the rebel cities in Lombardy. Gregory tried to stop the invasion with diplomatic moves, but in vain. During his descent to Italy, Frederick had to divert his troops to quell a rebellion of Frederick II, Duke of Austria. At Vienna, in February 1237, he obtained the title of King of the Romans for his 9-year-old son Conrad.
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Realizing that he was too tainted by his earlier support of the Fascist regime, in April 1944 Victor Emmanuel transferred most of his powers to his son, Crown Prince Umberto. By so doing, Victor Emmanuel relinquished most of his power while retaining the title of king. This status was formalized shortly after Rome was liberated on 4 June, when he turned over his remaining powers to Umberto and named him Lieutenant General of the Realm.
Revolt of 1173–74
King Henry II ruled England, Normandy, and Anjou, while his wife Queen Eleanor ruled the vast territory of Aquitaine. In 1173 Henry had four legitimate sons (from oldest to youngest): Henry, called the "Young King", Richard (later called "the Lionheart"), Geoffrey, and John "Lackland", all of whom stood to inherit some or all of these possessions. Henry also had an illegitimate son named Geoffrey, born probably before the eldest of the legitimate children.
Leonora Christina Ulfeldt
Leonora Christina and her husband Corfitz Ulfeldt had ten children:
Through her youngest son Austrian Field Marshal and Count Leo Ulfeldt (1651-1716), her descendants not only include some of the most influential German and Slavic noble families of Europe, but also: King Simeon II of the Bulgarians (born 1937), King Michael of Romania (1921-2017), Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein (born 1945), Emperor Karl I of Austria-Hungary (1887-1922), King Peter II of Yugoslavia (1923-1970), King Manuel II of Portugal (1889-1932), King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony (1865-1932), Marie Christine, Princess Michael of Kent, (born 1945), Christoph, Cardinal von Schönborn (born 1945), Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg (1902-1962), Johannes, Prince of Thurn and Taxis (1926-1990), and the Earls of Clanwilliam.
King Victor and King Charles
The subject of the play is the strange incident in 1730–32 in the Kingdom of Sardinia in which the elderly king, Victor Amadeus II, first abdicated in favour of his son Charles Emmanuel III, and then after months of ever-increasing complaints unexpectedly demanded to be restored. He was imprisoned until his death a year later. Browning's treatment is based on 18th century sources which cast Victor as deliberately deceptive, but he goes further to create a secret history in which Charles is exonerated from all charges of cruelty.
Victor, Prince Napoléon
On 10 November/14 November 1910, at Moncalieri, Prince Victor was married to Princess Clémentine of Belgium (1872–1955), daughter of Leopold II of Belgium and Marie Henriette of Austria. They had two children:
Napoleon II
While most of his remains were transferred to Paris, his heart and intestines remained in Vienna, which is traditional for members of the Habsburg house. They are in Urn 42 in the "Heart Crypt" ("Herzgruft") and his viscera are in Urn 76 of the Ducal Crypt.He was noted for his friendship with Sophie, a Bavarian princess of the House of Wittelsbach. Intelligent, ambitious and strong-willed, Sophie had little in common with her husband Franz Karl. There were rumors of a love affair between Sophie and Napoleon II, as well as the possibility that Sophie's second son, Maximilian I of Mexico (born 1832), was the result issue of the affair.
James II of England
In France, James was allowed to live in the royal château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. James's wife and some of his supporters fled with him, including the Earl of Melfort; most, but not all, were Roman Catholic. In 1692, James's last child, Louisa Maria Teresa, was born. Some supporters in England attempted to assassinate William III to restore James to the throne in 1696, but the plot failed and the backlash made James's cause less popular. Louis XIV's offer to have James elected King of Poland in the same year was rejected, for James feared that acceptance of the Polish crown might (in the minds of the English people) render him incapable of being King of England. After Louis concluded peace with William in 1697, he ceased to offer much in the way of assistance to James.
Umberto II of Italy
In 1943, the Crown Princess Marie José involved herself in vain attempts to arrange a separate peace treaty between Italy and the United States, and her interlocutor from the Vatican was Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, a senior diplomat who later became Pope Paul VI. Her attempts were not sponsored by the king and Umberto was not (directly, at least) involved in them. Victor Emmanuel III was anti-clerical, distrusting the Catholic Church, and wanted nothing to do with a peace attempt made through papal intermediaries. More importantly, Victor Emmanuel was proudly misogynistic, holding women in complete contempt as the king believed that it was a scientific fact that the brains of women were significantly more underdeveloped compared to the brains of men. Victor Emmaneul simply did not believe that Marie José was competent to serve as a diplomat. For all these reasons, the king vetoed Marie José's peace attempt. After her failure – she never met the American agents – she was sent with her children to Sarre, in Aosta Valley, and isolated from the political life of the Royal House.
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
As a young man, Wilhelm fell in love with one of his maternal first cousins, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt. She turned him down, and would, in time, marry into the Russian imperial family. In 1880 Wilhelm became engaged to Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, known as "Dona". The couple married on 27 February 1881, and would remain married for forty years, until her death in 1921. In a period of ten years, between 1882 and 1892, Augusta Victoria would bear Wilhelm seven children, six sons and a daughter.
William II of Geneva
William II died at Domène in November 1252 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Rudolf, while his younger son, Henry, received the fortresses of Vuache and Ternier. Besides his sons Rudolf, Amadeus and Henry, William II had four others. One Savoyard Renaissance historian described William II as “quarrelsome”.
Charles Albert of Sardinia
Maria Theresa had two miscarriages – the second in 1819 as a result of a carriage accident – but gave birth to a son on 14 March 1820, Victor Emmanuel, the future king of Italy.
Umberto I of Italy
In 1876, when the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Salisbury, visited Rome, he reported to London that King Victor Emmanuel II and Crown Prince Umberto were "at war with each other". Upon taking the Crown, Umberto dimissed all of his father's friends from the court, sold off his father's racing horse collection which numbered 1, 000 horses and cut down on extravagances to pay down the debts Victor Emmanuel II had run up. The British historian Denis Mack Smith commented that it was sign of the great wealth of the House of Savoy that Umberto was able to pay off his father's debts without having to ask parliament for assistance. Like his father, Umberto was a poorly educated man without no intellectual or artistic interests, never read any books, and preferred to dictate rather than write letters as he found writing to be too mentally taxing. After meeting him, Queen Victoria described Umberto as having his father's "gruff, abrupt manner of speaking", but without his "rough speech and manners". In contrast, Queen Margherita was widely read in all the classics of European literature, kept up a salon of intellectuals, and despite the fact that French was her first language was often praised for her beautiful Italian in her letters and when speaking.
Maria of Montpellier
From her marriage with Peter II, Marie gave birth two children: Infanta Sancha (born in 1205, died aged one) and Infante James, the future King James I the Conqueror (born on 1 February 1208). Peter II immediately attempted to divorce her, hoping both to marry Maria of Montferrat, Queen of Jerusalem, and to claim Montpellier for himself. Marie's last years were spent in combating these political and matrimonial manoeuvres. Pope Innocent III finally decided in her favour, refusing to permit the divorce. Marie died in Rome (21 April 1213) on her way back to Aragon, and Peter II a few months later (14 September 1213) at the Battle of Muret. Marie and Peter II's only surviving child, King James I, inherited Aragon and Montpellier.
Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
Having done much to improve the state of his inheritance in 1684, Victor Amadeus took the decision to abdicate in September 1730. The previous month the lonely king had lost most of his family, including his favourite and eldest son the Prince of Piedmont, and sought the security of a previous mistress Anna Canalis di Cumiana. The couple were married in a private ceremony on 12 August 1730 in the Royal Chapel in Turin having obtained permission from Pope Clement XII. Still attractive in her forties, Victor Amadeus had long been in love with her and as a wedding gift, created her the Marchioness of Spigno. The couple made their marriage public on 3 September 1730 much to the dismay of the court. A month later, Victor Amadeus announced his wish to abdicate the throne and did so in a ceremony at the Castle of Rivoli on the day of his marriage. His son succeeded him as Charles Emmanuel III.
Palazzo Carignano
The Palazzo was the birthplace of Marie Thérèse, "Princesse de Lamballe" in 1749 – confidant of Marie Antoinette and for whom she died in 1792. Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Carignano was born there in 1770. It was also the birthplace of the first King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel II in 1820.
Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste
On 26 October 2006, Albert II gave an interview to USA television personality Larry King during which he said his children would not be in line for the Monegasque throne but that they would be taken care of financially. They are also heirs to Prince Albert's personal fortune, estimated at more than one billion dollars: Upon joining the Council of Europe on 5 October 2004, Monaco became subject to the European Convention on Human Rights regulations on inheritance rights, in addition to its own national laws, which guarantees familial inheritance for children born out of wedlock.
Line of succession to the French throne (Bonapartist)
At the time the law of succession was decreed, Napoleon I had no legitimate sons, and it seemed unlikely that he would have any due to the age of his wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. His eventual response was to have his marriage to Josephine annulled and to undertake a second marriage with Roman Catholic rites to Archduchess Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria. Their only child was Napoleon, King of Rome, known in exile as "Napoleon II" and as the Duke of Reichstadt. He died unmarried, thereby extinguishing the legitimate descent of Napoleon I.
Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
His relationship with his younger son and eventual successor Charles Emmanuel was a cold one and the two were never close. Victor Amadeus organised the first two marriages of Charles Emmanuel the first one being to Anne Christine of Sulzbach, daughter of the Count Palatine of Sulzbach which produced a son which died in infancy. The second marriage was to Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg a first cousin of Anne Christine and mother of six children including the future Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia.
Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent
Edward I of England had a great number of children with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, but only one son who survived into adulthood – the future Edward II (b. 1284). After Eleanor died, the king married Margaret of France, with whom he had two children: Thomas (b. 1300) and, when the king was sixty-two, Edmund. Edmund was born at Woodstock in Oxfordshire on 5 August 1301, and was therefore referred to as Edmund of Woodstock. Son of the English king, he was also, through his mother, grandson of Philip III of France. On 7 July 1307, before Edmund had turned six, King Edward I died, leaving Edmund's half-brother Edward to succeed as King Edward II.
Enrique de Borbón y Castellví, 2nd Duke of Seville
Enrique de Borbón y Castellví, 2nd Duke of Seville (; 3 October 184812 July 1894), was a Spanish aristocrat who became the second Duke of Seville. He was the eldest son of the controversial Infante Enrique, Duke of Seville, grandson of Charles IV of Spain and younger brother of Francis, Duke of Cádiz, King consort of Isabella II of Spain. Despite his family ties, Enrique was never entitled Infante of Spain, due to the unequal marriage of his parents, which did not receive approval from Queen Isabella II.
Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
Having succeeded in ending his mother's power in Savoy, Victor Amadeus looked to his oncoming marriage with the youngest child of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (brother of Louis XIV) and Henrietta of England. The contract of marriage between Anne Marie and the Duke of Savoy was signed at Versailles on 9 April; On 10 April 1684, Anne Marie was married at Versailles, by proxy, to Victor Amadeus. The couple were married in person on 6 May 1684.
Erard of Brienne-Ramerupt
The line of succession of the counts of Champagne had become complicated in the current generation. Before he left France to fight in the Third Crusade in 1190, Henry II had his barons swear that should he never return, his younger brother Theobald III was his designated heir. Henry II never returned from the Latin East, but instead married Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem and fathered two daughters, Alice and Philippa. Henry II died in 1197. Technically, Henry II's young daughters were his rightful heirs. However, their family made no attempt to press their claim, and Theobald III succeeded him. Theobald died of a sudden illness in May 1201, leaving behind his heavily pregnant wife, Blanche of Navarre, who secured the succession for a posthumous son, Theobald IV.
Victoria, Princess Royal
A little over a year after her marriage, on 27 January 1859, Victoria gave birth to her first child, the future German Emperor William II. The delivery was extremely complicated. The maid responsible for alerting doctors to the onset of contractions delayed giving notice. Moreover, the gynecologists hesitated to examine the princess, who was wearing only a flannel nightgown. The baby was in breech, and the delayed delivery could have caused the death of both the princess and her son.
Prince Thomas, Duke of Genoa
Prince Thomas' elder sister Princess Margherita of Savoy-Genoa (1851–1926) married King Umberto I of Italy. Her only child was King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, who reigned starting from his father's murder in 1900.
Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte
There was not a successful duchy until around the time of Richard I control of Normandy. During his reign he bore daughters who would become peace weavers to forge valuable marriage alliances with powerful neighboring counts and the king of England.[19] His daughter, Emma, underwent two marriages. In 1002, King Æthelred II married Emma, the sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. After Æthelred the Unready's death in 1016, Emma marriage her second husband who was an invader: Cnut the Great. Emma and Æthelred the Unready's children included Alfred Aetheling and Edward the Confessor. Emma also bore children with Cnut: Haracnut and a daughter, Gunnhild. This is not to mention Cnut's previous child in his previous marriage: Harold Harafoot. While the complicated woven connections that marriage brought could bring peace, the alliances, and stability, once the alliance of Cnut and Emma ended, there was a battle over the throne. Emma's children with Æthelred the Unready give a major connection between Normandy and England that would add validity to William the Conqueror's claim to the throne of England later on.
Agnatic seniority
The County of Anjou followed inheritance by agnatic seniority. When Henry II of England married Eleanor of Aquitaine, creating the Angevin Empire, this resulted in some question over what inheritance laws would affect their children, as Henry II's father was the count of Anjou, and he inherited England and Normandy through his mother. Henry II's eldest son the Young Henry died before him, so the throne passed to his next oldest son, Richard I of England. Henry II's third son Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany died three years before his father, but his pregnant wife later gave birth to a son, Arthur of Brittany. When Richard was mortally wounded during a castle siege, on his deathbed he named his brother John, Henry II's fourth and youngest son, as his heir. However, the inheritance was questioned by the young Arthur of Brittany (then 12 years old). Arthur argued that as the son of John's older brother Geoffrey, he was the rightful heir of Richard and Henry II according to the laws of agnatic primogeniture which were followed in England and Normandy. John countered that as the male-line heirs of the Counts of Anjou, the Angevin Empire followed the succession law of Anjou which was based on agnatic seniority. Thus, John claimed that as Richard's younger brother, he stood in line ahead of his nephew. Arthur continued to press his claim for the next four years, allying with the king of France against John, though Richard's deathbed declaration of John as his heir provided greater strength to his claim. Ultimately Arthur was captured in battle, imprisoned, and presumably killed by John. The matter was never definitively decided, as John lost all continental land possessions in France and had to relinquish any claim to rule of Anjou.
Eleanor de' Medici
Eleanor initially had several portraits commissioned to be made of her deceased mother Joanna as well as her deceased siblings Anna and Filippo, but was unhappy with the length of time taken to paint the portraits. On 7 May 1586, Eleanor gave birth to her first child, a son named Francesco; during the pregnancy her father sent her a present of some plums. The following year, Eleanor's father-in-law Guglielmo died, Vincenzo becoming Duke of Mantua whilst Eleanor served as his Duchess consort. The same year, she gave birth to a second son, Ferdinando after a difficult pregnancy. In the following years, Eleanor had further children: firstly a son, Guglielmo Domenico in 1589, who died young, then in 1591 a daughter, Margherita, who married Henry II, Duke of Lorraine, followed by a son, Vincenzo in 1594, who succeeded his older brothers. She then suffered a miscarriage in 1596, four months into pregnancy and in 1598 she gave birth to a second daughter, also named Eleanor, who married Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.
Turin
Rosa Vercellana, commonly known as "Rosina" and, in Piedmontese as "La Bela Rosin" ("the beautiful Rosin"), was the mistress and later wife of King Victor Emmanuel II. She was made Countess of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda, but never Queen of Italy. As the Savoy family refused to allow her to be buried next to her husband in the Pantheon, her children had a mausoleum built for her in a similar form and on a smaller scale in Turin, next to the road to the Castello di Mirafiori. The circular copper-domed neoclassical monument, surmounted by a Latin cross and surrounded by a large park, was designed by Angelo Dimezzi and completed in 1888.
Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia
Born at the Royal Palace of Turin, he was a son of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia and his second wife Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg. He was styled the "Duke of Savoy" from birth until he succeeded to his father's throne. He was the eldest son of his parents and was the heir apparent from birth which was greeted with much celebration. His father had had a son with his first wife, Countess Palatine Anne Christine of Sulzbach who was also named Victor Amadeus, Duke of Aosta, but died in 1725. His education was entrusted to Gerdil Giacinto Sigismondo, with a particular emphasis on military training. Throughout his life he would have a great interest in the state military on which he lavished attention.
Henry the Young King
The young Henry played an important part in the politics of his father's reign. On 2 November 1160, he was betrothed to Margaret of France, daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife, Constance of Castile, when he was 5 years of age and she was at least 2. The marriage was an attempt to finally settle the struggle between the counts of Anjou and the French kings over possession of the frontier district of the Norman Vexin, which Louis VII had acquired from Henry's grandfather, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, in around 1144. By the terms of the settlement, Margaret would bring the castles of the Norman Vexin to her new husband. However, the marriage was pushed through by Henry II when Young Henry and Margaret were small children so that he could seize the castles. A bitter border war followed between the kings.
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
Victor Emmanuel II (; full name: "Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di Savoia"; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861. At that point, he assumed the title of King of Italy and became 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 of "Father of the Fatherland" (). The monument Altare della Patria (or "Vittoriano") in Rome was built in his honor.
Prince Karl Franz of Prussia
Prince Karl Franz of Prussia (15 December 1916 – 23 January 1975) was the only child of Prince Joachim of Prussia and his wife Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt. He was also the grandson of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, himself a grandson of Queen Victoria, which made Prince Karl a great-great-grandson of the British queen.
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
The rest of Victor Emmanuel II's reign was much quieter. After the Kingdom of Italy was established he decided to continue on as King Victor Emmanuel II instead of Victor Emmanuel I of Italy. This was a terrible move as far as public relations went as it was not indicative of the fresh start that the Italian people wanted and suggested that Sardinia-Piedmont had taken over the Italian Peninsula, rather than unifying it. Despite this mishap, the remainder of Victor Emmanuel II's reign was consumed by wrapping up loose ends and dealing with economic and cultural issues. His role in day-to-day governing gradually dwindled, as it became increasingly apparent that a king could no longer keep a government in office against the will of Parliament. As a result, while the wording of the Statuto Albertino stipulating that ministers were solely responsible to the crown remained unchanged, in practice they were now responsible to Parliament.
Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile
Eleanor was born in the castle at Domfront, Normandy c.1161, as the second daughter of Henry II, King of England and his wife Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and was baptised by Henry of Marcy. Her half-siblings were Countess Marie and Countess Alix, and her full siblings were Henry the Young, Duchess Matilda, King Richard, Duke Geoffrey, Queen Joan and King John. Eleanor had an older brother, William (17 August 1153- April 1156) the first son of Henry II, and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He died of a seizure at Wallingford Castle, and he was buried in Reading Abbey at the feet of his great-grandfather Henry I.
Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach
Through his mother, Wilhelm was a legitimate heir to the throne of Monaco. Wilhelm's cousin Prince Albert I of Monaco had only one son, Louis, who was unmarried and had no legitimate children. The French Republic, however, was reluctant to see a German prince ruling Monaco. Under French pressure, Monaco passed a law in 1911 recognising Louis's illegitimate daughter, Charlotte, as heir; she was adopted in 1918 by her grandfather Prince Albert I as part of the Monaco Succession Crisis of 1918. Wilhelm was relegated to third in line to Monaco's throne, behind Louis and Charlotte. Furthermore, in July 1918 France and Monaco signed the Franco-Monegasque Treaty; it required all future princes of Monaco to be French or Monegasque citizens and secure the approval the French government to succeed to the throne. After the accession of Prince Louis II in 1922, Wilhelm renounced his rights of succession to the throne of Monaco in favour of distant French cousins, the counts de Chabrillan, in 1924.
Umberto II of Italy
As the Allies freed more and more of Italy from the Salò regime, it became apparent that Victor Emmanuel was too tainted by his previous support of Fascism to have any further role. Accordingly, under strong pressure from Robert Murphy and Harold Macmillan of the ACC at a meeting on 10 April 1944, he transferred most of his powers to Umberto. This status was formalized after Rome was liberated in June, when Victor Emmanuel transferred his remaining constitutional powers to Umberto, naming his son Lieutenant General of the Realm. However, Victor Emmanuel retained the title of King. During his period as Regent, Umberto saw his father only three times, partly out of a bid to distance himself and partly because of tensions between father and son. Mack Smith wrote that Umberto was: "More attractive and outgoing than his father, he was even more a soldier at heart, and completely inexperienced as a politician...In personality less astute and intelligent than his father...less obstinate, he was far more open, affable and ready to learn".
Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy
He was born in Turin to Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, and Christine of France. His maternal grandparents were Henry IV of France and his second wife Marie de' Medici. In 1638 at the death of his older brother Francis Hyacinth, Duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel succeeded to the duchy of Savoy at the age of 4. His mother governed in his place, and even after reaching adulthood in 1648, he invited her to continue to rule. Charles Emmanuel continued a life of pleasure, far away from the affairs of state.
Lothair II of Italy
Their marriage was part of a political settlement designed to conclude a peace between her father and his. In 933, Hugh of Arles had given up his kingdom (Provence) to his inveterate enemy Rudolph II, who merged the two kingdoms into a new Kingdom of Arles, but died in 937. The couple had a daughter, Emma, born as early as 948, who was married in 966 to the Carolingian Lothair of France.
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Victor Emmanuel III, by the Grace of God and the Will of the Nation, King of Italy, King of Sardinia, Cyprus, Jerusalem, Armenia, Duke of Savoy, count of Maurienne, Marquis (of the Holy Roman Empire) in Italy; Prince of Piedmont, Carignano, Oneglia, Poirino, Trino; Prince and Perpetual vicar of the Holy Roman Empire; prince of Carmagnola, Montmellian with Arbin and Francin, prince bailliff of the Duchy of Aosta, Prince of Chieri, Dronero, Crescentino, Riva di Chieri and Banna, Busca, Bene, Brà, Duke of Genoa, Monferrat, Aosta, Duke of Chablais, Genevois, Duke of Piacenza, Marquis of Saluzzo (Saluces), Ivrea, Susa, of Maro, Oristano, Cesana, Savona, Tarantasia, Borgomanero and Cureggio, Caselle, Rivoli, Pianezza, Govone, Salussola, Racconigi with Tegerone, Migliabruna and Motturone, Cavallermaggiore, Marene, Modane and Lanslebourg, Livorno Ferraris, Santhià Agliè, Centallo and Demonte, Desana, Ghemme, Vigone, Count of Barge, Villafranca, Ginevra, Nizza, Tenda, Romont, Asti, Alessandria, del Goceano, Novara, Tortona, Bobbio, Soissons, Sant'Antioco, Pollenzo, Roccabruna, Tricerro, Bairo, Ozegna, of Apertole, Baron of Vaud and of Faucigni, Lord of Vercelli, Pinerolo, of Lomellina, of Valle Sesia, of Ceva Marquisate, Overlord of Monaco, Roccabruna and 11/12th of Menton, Noble patrician of Venice, patrician of Ferrara.
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
In any event, once the referendum's result was certified, Victor Emmanuel and all other male members of the House of Savoy were required to leave the country. Taking refuge in Egypt, where he was welcomed with great honor by King Faruk, Victor Emmanuel died in Alexandria a year later, of pulmonary congestion. He was interred behind the altar of St Catherine's Cathedral. He was the last surviving grandchild of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. In 1948, "Time" magazine included an article about "The Little King".
Edward I of England
By his first wife Eleanor of Castile, Edward had at least fourteen children, perhaps as many as sixteen. Of these, five daughters survived into adulthood, but only one son outlived his father, King Edward II (1307–1327). He was reportedly concerned with his son's failure to live up to the expectations of an heir to the crown, and at one point decided to exile the prince's favourite Piers Gaveston. Edward's children with Eleanor were:By Margaret of France Edward had two sons, both of whom lived into adulthood, and a daughter who died as a child. The Hailes Abbey chronicle indicates that John Botetourt may have been Edward's illegitimate son; however, the claim is unsubstantiated. His progeny by Margaret of France were:
William II, Prince of Orange
William served as stadtholder for only three years, until he died of smallpox in 1650. His only son William was born one week after his death. This was the beginning of the First Stadtholderless Period. His son succeeded him in 1672 as stadtholder and later, in 1689, also became King of England.
Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia
Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia (Wilhelm Eitel Friedrich Christian Karl; 7 July 1883 – 8 December 1942) was the second son of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany by his first wife, Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was born and died in Potsdam, Germany.
Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Carignano
He was a son of Victor Amadeus II, Prince of Carignano and Joséphine of Lorraine, and a fifth-generation descendant of Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano, founder of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy.
William II of Württemberg
William's father died in 1870, but his mother lived to see him seated on the throne of Württemberg. In 1891, William succeeded his childless maternal uncle, King Charles I (1823–1891) and became King of Württemberg. This was not, as it may seem, a departure from the Salic law which governed succession in the German states; his claim to the throne came because he was the nearest agnatic heir of his maternal uncle, as the senior male-line descendant of Frederick I of Württemberg through "his" younger son Prince Paul.
Emmanuel Philibert, Prince of Carignano
In 1658 Emmanuel Philibert was created a lieutenant-general by his first cousin Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, in the latter's absence, and in 1663 was appointed governor of the city of Asti. When Charles Emmanuel died in 1675, his son and heir Victor Amadeus was only nine years old, and Emmanuel Philibert became heir presumptive to Savoy unless and until Victor Amadeus had a male heir in turn (which was not to happen until 1699).
Henry II of England
In November the two leaders ratified the terms of a permanent peace. Stephen announced the Treaty of Winchester in Winchester Cathedral: he recognised Henry as his adopted son and successor, in return for Henry doing homage to him; Stephen promised to listen to Henry's advice, but retained all his royal powers; Stephen's remaining son, William, would do homage to Henry and renounce his claim to the throne, in exchange for promises of the security of his lands; key royal castles would be held on Henry's behalf by guarantors whilst Stephen would have access to Henry's castles; and the numerous foreign mercenaries would be demobilised and sent home. Henry and Stephen sealed the treaty with a kiss of peace in the cathedral. The peace remained precarious, however, and Stephen's second son William remained a possible future rival to Henry. Rumours of a plot to kill Henry were circulating and, possibly as a consequence, Henry decided to return to Normandy for a period. Stephen, however, fell ill with a stomach disorder and died on 25 October 1154, allowing Henry to inherit the throne rather sooner than had been expected.
Victor Amadeus, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg
In Meisenheim am Glan on 16 October 1667 Victor Amadeus married Elisabeth (b. Meisenheim, 22 March 1642 - d. Bernburg, 18 April 1677), daughter of Frederick, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken. They had six children:
Elena of Montenegro
Following the war, on 9 May 1946, Victor Emmanuel III abdicated in favour of their son Umberto, and the former king assumed the title of Count of Pollenzo. On 2 June 1946 a referendum resulted in 52 percent of voters favouring an Italian republic over the monarchy. The republic was formally proclaimed four days later, and the House of Savoy's reign over Italy formally ended on 12 June 1946. Elena and Victor Emmanuel III went to Egypt, where they were welcomed with great honor by King Faruk, but forced to live the rest of their lives in exile. Vittorio Emmanuel III died a year later of pulmonary congestion in Alexandria. Elena stayed in Egypt a short time before moving to France. There, in Montpellier, she was diagnosed with a severe form of cancer, and died while having surgery to treat it.
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
Wilhelm was born on 27 January 1859 at the Crown Prince's Palace, Berlin, to Victoria, Princess Royal, the wife of Prince Frederick William of Prussia (the future Frederick III). His mother was the eldest daughter of Britain's Queen Victoria. At the time of his birth, his great-uncle Frederick William IV was king of Prussia, and his grandfather and namesake Wilhelm was acting as regent. He was the first grandchild of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, but more importantly, the first son of the crown prince of Prussia. From 1861, Wilhelm was second in the line of succession to Prussia, and also, after 1871, to the newly created German Empire, which, according to the constitution of the German Empire, was ruled by the Prussian king. At the time of his birth, he was also sixth in the line of succession to the British throne, after his maternal uncles and his mother.
Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours
Thanks to the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 her son was given the Kingdom of Sicily in recognition for his services to Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor in the War of the Spanish Succession. Her son was crowned king of Sicily in Palermo Cathedral in December 1713. Victor Amadeus II asked his mother to maintain the government while he was gone, but she declined and her grandson Victor Amadeus, Prince of Piedmont was made regent instead.
Victor, Prince Napoléon
He was born in the Palais Royal of Paris during the Second French Empire the son of the Prince Napoleon and his wife, Princess Marie Clothilde of Savoy, daughter of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. Two younger siblings would soon follow: Prince Louis (1864–1932) and Princess Maria Letizia Bonaparte (1866–1926), later the Duchess of Aosta. At the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession to the throne behind the Prince Imperial and his father. The Empire came to an end in 1870 with the abdication of the Emperor Napoleon III.
Henry II of England
Henry and Eleanor had eight children – three daughters and five sons. Three of his sons would be king, though Henry the Young King was named his father's co-ruler rather than a stand-alone king. As the sons grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by Louis and his son King Philip II. In 1173 Henry's heir apparent, "Young Henry", rebelled in protest; he was joined by his brothers Richard (later a king) and Geoffrey and by their mother, Eleanor. France, Scotland, Brittany, Flanders, and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. The Great Revolt was only defeated by Henry's vigorous military action and talented local commanders, many of them "new men" appointed for their loyalty and administrative skills. Young Henry and Geoffrey revolted again in 1183, resulting in Young Henry's death. The Norman invasion of Ireland provided lands for his youngest son John (later a king), but Henry struggled to find ways to satisfy all his sons' desires for land and immediate power. By 1189, Young Henry and Geoffrey were dead, and Philip successfully played on Richard's fears that Henry II would make John king, leading to a final rebellion. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to Chinon castle in Anjou. He died soon afterwards and was succeeded by Richard.
Richard II, Duke of Normandy
Richard attempted to improve relations with England through his sister Emma of Normandy's marriage to King Ethelred. This marriage was significant in that it later gave his grandson, William the Conqueror, the basis of his claim to the throne of England. The improved relations proved to be beneficial to Ethelred when in 1013 Sweyn Forkbeard invaded England. Emma with her two sons Edward and Alfred fled to Normandy followed shortly thereafter by her husband king Ethelred. Soon after the death of Ethelred, Cnut, King of England forced Emma to marry him while Richard was forced to recognize the new regime as his sister was again Queen. Richard had contacts with Scandinavian Vikings throughout his reign. He employed Viking mercenaries and concluded a treaty with Sweyn Forkbeard who was en route to England.
Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia
Victor Emmanuel was known from birth as the Duke of Aosta. From 1792 to 1796, Aosta's father had taken an active part in the struggle of the old powers against the revolutionary forces in France but was defeated and forced to make peace, signing the Treaty of Paris. The old king died shortly thereafter, and in December 1798, his eldest son and successor, Charles Emmanuel IV, was faced with a French occupation and eventually annexation, of his mainland territories.
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II's hopes of obtaining his own duchy failed, but his marriage to Gisela brought him wealth. Her mother, Gerberga of Burgundy, was the daughter of reigning Burgundian King Conrad of Burgundy and granddaughter of the late Frankish King Louis IV. Gisela also claimed descent from Charlemagne through both her mother and her father. The marriage was problematic because of the familial relationship shared by Gisela and Conrad: both were descendants of Ottonian King Henry I, Henry in the fifth generation and Gisela in the fourth. According to canon law, marriage was not allowed among relatives of the first to seventh generations. Though Conrad's marriage differed little from the usual practice of the time, strict canonists took exception to the marriage and Emperor Henry II used this breach of canonical law to force Conrad into temporary exile. During this exile, Gisela bore Conrad a son, Henry III, on October 28, 1017. Conrad and Emperor Henry II were eventually reconciled, allowing him to return to Germany.
Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Carignano
Charles Emmanuel of Savoy (24 October 1770 – 16 August 1800) was a Prince of Savoy and later the Prince of Carignano between 1780 and 1800, and the paternal grandfather of Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of a united Italy.
Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
Victor Amadeus was born in Turin to Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy and his second wife Marie Jeanne of Savoy. Named after his paternal grandfather Victor Amadeus I he was their only child. As an infant he was styled as the "Prince of Piedmont", traditional title of the heir apparent to the duchy of Savoy. A weak child, his health was greatly monitored. As an infant he had a passion for soldiers and was noted as being very intelligent.
Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Ernest's position was often linked to his brother Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. The two boys were raised as though twins, and became closer upon the separation and divorce of their parents, as well as the eventual death of their mother. The princes' relationship experienced phases of closeness as well as minor arguments as they grew older; after Albert's death in 1861, Ernest became gradually more antagonistic to Victoria and her children, as well as increasingly bitter toward the United Kingdom, publishing anonymous pamphlets against various members of the British royal family. Despite their increasingly differing political views and opinions however, Ernest accepted his second eldest nephew Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, as his heir-presumptive. Upon Ernest's death on 22 August 1893 at Reinhardsbrunn, Alfred succeeded to the ducal throne.
Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy
Charles Emmanuel first met Marie Jeanne of Savoy in 1659 and fell in love with her. However, his mother disagreed with the pairing, and encouraged him to marry Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans, daughter of his maternal uncle Gaston, Duke of Orléans, the younger brother of his mother Christine Marie. They were married 3 April 1663. The couple had no issue. His mother died at the end of 1663, and his first wife died at the start of 1664. This left him free to get married on 20 May 1665 to Marie Jeanne of Savoy. They had one son:
Charles Emmanuel II also recognized five of his illegitimate children by three different mistresses.
Emmanuel Ignatius of Nassau-Siegen
In Paris on 14 May 1711, Emmanuel Ignatius married with Charlotte (17 March 1688 - 17 March 1769), daughter of Louis II, Count de Mailly-Nesle. They had two sons, who died in infancy: Charles Nicholas (14 February 1712 - 1 July 1712) and Maximilian (29 August 1713 - 1714).
Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia
On 21 April 1789, he married Archduchess Maria Teresa of Austria-Este, daughter of Ferdinand, Duke of Modena (who was the son of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor).
Napoleon
Napoleon turned his focus to domestic affairs after the war. Empress Joséphine had still not given birth to a child from Napoleon, who became worried about the future of his empire following his death. Desperate for a legitimate heir, Napoleon divorced Joséphine on 10 January 1810 and started looking for a new wife. Hoping to cement the recent alliance with Austria through a family connection, Napoleon married the Archduchess Marie Louise, who was 18 years old at the time. On 20 March 1811, Marie Louise gave birth to a baby boy, whom Napoleon made heir apparent and bestowed the title of "King of Rome". His son never actually ruled the empire, but historians still refer to him as "Napoleon II".
Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg
King Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia approached her family and proposed a union between Polyxena and Victor Amadeus II's son and heir Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont. A previous match orchestrated by Agostino Steffani with a daughter of Rinaldo, reigning Duke of Modena had come to nothing. His first wife, Countess Palatine Anne Christine of Sulzbach died on 12 March 1723, less than a year after her marriage and barely a week after giving birth to a son, Victor Amadeus, Duke of Aosta (7 March 1723 – 1 August 1725).
Napoleon II
As the only legitimate son of Napoleon I, he was already constitutionally the Prince Imperial and heir apparent, but the Emperor also gave his son the style of King of Rome. Three years later, the First French Empire collapsed. Napoleon I saw his second wife and their son for the last time on 24 January 1814. On 4 April 1814, he abdicated in favour of his three-year-old son after the Six Days' Campaign and the Battle of Paris. The child became Emperor of the French under the regnal name of Napoleon II. However, on 6 April 1814, Napoleon I fully abdicated and renounced not only his own rights to the French throne, but also those of his descendants. The Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1814 gave the child the right to use the title of Prince of Parma, of Placentia, and of Guastalla, and his mother was styled the Duchess of Parma, of Placentia, and of Guastalla.
Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin
Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy-Aosta, Infante of Spain, Count of Turin (24 November 1870 – 10 October 1946) was a grandchild of King Victor Emmanuel II and a member of the House of Savoy. He was a cousin of Victor Emmanuel III.
Rosa Vercellana
Victor Emmanuel and Rosa Vercellana's children were:
Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy
Charles Emmanuel II (); 20 June 1634 – 12 June 1675) was the Duke of Savoy from 1638 to 1675 and under regency of his mother Christine of France until 1648. He was also Marquis of Saluzzo, Count of Aosta, Geneva, Moriana and Nice, as well as claimant king of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia. At his death in 1675 his second wife Marie Jeanne of Savoy acted as Regent for their nine-year-old son.
Charles Albert of Sardinia
On 16 September 1822, the infant Victor Emmanuel barely escaped from a fire in his cot, exposing the tenuous nature of the line of succession, which was taken out of danger by the birth of a second son, Ferdinand, on 15 November. In Florence, Charles Albert cultivated various cultural interests. He became a collector of old books, but was also interested in contemporary authors, acquiring the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine and the conservative Joseph de Maistre.
Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian Emanuel, who had married Archduchess Maria Antonia, the sole child of Emperor Leopold's Spanish marriage, was one of the more serious claimants to the Spanish inheritance of Charles II of Spain, and the birth of his son Joseph Ferdinand in October 1692 immediately created a new pretender to the Spanish throne. In October 1698, William III of England and Louis XIV of France concluded the First Partition Treaty, which gave the Spanish crown with the Indies to Joseph Ferdinand, Milan to Emperor Joseph's younger son Archduque Charles, and the rest of Spanish Italy to France. The unexpected death of Joseph Ferdinand four months later voided this plan and in the Second Partition Treaty, the Bavarian portion of the inheritance was allotted to Archduque Charles. By the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701, Maximilian Emanuel, who had long-term imperial aspirations, had hoped that his governorship of the Spanish Netherlands might yet reap the reward of a share of the Spanish inheritance from either Leopold or, failing him, Louis XIV. Allying himself with the French against Austria, his campaign against Tyrol in 1703 did not have success and his plans were then frustrated by the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.
Prince Oddone, Duke of Montferrat
Oddone of Savoy (Oddone Eugenio Maria; 11 July 1846 – 22 January 1866) was an Italian humanist and philanthropist. He was the fourth child and third eldest son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and his wife Adelaide of Austria. He was a "Prince of Savoy".
Duchy of Savoy
The son of Charles Emmanuel II, Victor Amadeus II, was kept under the regency of his mother, the French born Marie Jeanne of Savoy. In the early years of the reign, his energetic mother attempted to unite the crown of Savoy with the Portuguese, and thus risked compromising the very survival of the duchy (Savoy would be reduced like other Italian states to a foreign power). Under the determined hand of the regent Victor Amadeus II, Savoy entered into bad relations with the crown in Paris, which led to the invasion of the duchy by French forces. Savoy defeated the army of Louis XIV in the Siege of Cuneo, but was dramatically defeated in the battles of Staffarda and Marsaglia. Victor Amadeus II married Anne Marie d'Orléans, niece of Louis XIV.
Pope Innocent III
The early death of Henry VI left his 3-year-old son Frederick II as king. Henry VI's widow Constance of Sicily ruled over Sicily for her young son before he reached the age of majority. She was as eager to remove German power from the kingdom of Sicily as was Innocent III. Before her death in 1198, she named Innocent as guardian of the young Frederick until he reached his maturity. In exchange, Innocent was also able to recover papal rights in Sicily that had been surrendered decades earlier to King William I of Sicily by Pope Adrian IV. The Pope invested the young Frederick II as King of Sicily in November 1198. He also later induced Frederick II to marry the widow of King Emeric of Hungary in 1209.
Margherita of Savoy
Margherita signed the wedding contract with her first cousin, Umberto, Prince of Piedmont, on 21 April 1868 in the ballroom of the royal palace in Turin, followed the next day by one civilian and one religious wedding ceremony. After the wedding, the crown prince couple settled in Naples. On 11 November 1869, Margherita gave birth to Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples, later Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, in Capodimonte in Naples.
Napoleon
Napoleon and Marie Louise remained married until his death, though she did not join him in exile on Elba and thereafter never saw her husband again. The couple had one child, Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles (1811–1832), known from birth as the King of Rome. He became Napoleon II in 1814 and reigned for only two weeks. He was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of tuberculosis aged 21, with no children.
Umberto II of Italy
In the high society of Rome, there were frequent rumors that the royal children were either the products of artificial insemination and/or the real father of at least the first three children was Marshal Italo Balbo, a leading Fascist "gerarchi" and a famous aviator who was viewed as a sex symbol in Italy owing to his good looks and charm. The rumors were sufficient commonplace that Marshal Balbo had to visit the Quirinal Palace to meet King Victor Emmanuel III in order to deny them. However, Balbo who was opposed to Mussolini's policy of allying Italy with Nazi Germany, did warn the king that the Fascist secret police, the OVRA, had collected a file on the "pederasty" of Umberto in order to blackmail him when he succeeded to the throne.. Count Galeazzo Ciano, the Italian Foreign Minister wrote in his diary after Marie José announced her second pregnancy: "I was left to understand the child will be his [Umberto's] without the intervention of doctors or syringes". It is not clear how much these rumors were based on fact, but the couple's unorthodox living arrangements with Umberto and Marie José living apart and Umberto always making announced visits to his wife and being accompanied by a male friend when he did visit her certainly inspired much gossip. Furthermore, it was widely noted within the Italian elite circles that when Umberto and Marie José went on trips that they always stayed in separate bedrooms. The contrast between Umberto, who was stiff and punctilious vs the more carefree and spontaneous personality of Marie José was also much commented upon. Umberto spent much of his time with the French actor Jean Marais and the boxer Primo Carnera. In 1933, when Carnera was asked what he and the prince were doing together, he replied that "the prince had received him wearing a swimming costume and asked him to go for a swim with him in the pool. They then spent the afternoon together".
Maria Pia of Savoy
Maria Pia was the daughter of Victor Emmanuel II, the first King of Italy, by his wife Adelaide of Austria. Her sister Maria Clotilde was the "princesse Napoléon" as wife of Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte and her brothers were King Umberto I of Italy and King Amadeo of Spain.
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
In 1896 he married princess Elena of Montenegro (1873–1952), daughter of Nicholas I, King of Montenegro. Their issue included:Reference 4: James Rennell Rodd [British Ambassador to Italy before and during the Great War].
Social and Diplomatic Memories. Third Series. 1902-1919. London, 1925.
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
Historians have frequently stressed the role of Wilhelm's personality in shaping his reign. Thus, Thomas Nipperdey concludes he was:
Historian David Fromkin states that Wilhelm had a love-hate relationship with Britain. According to Fromkin:
Langer et al. (1968) emphasize the negative international consequences of Wilhelm's erratic personality:
As a grandchild of Queen Victoria, Wilhelm was a first cousin of the future King George V, as well as of Queens Marie of Romania, Maud of Norway, Victoria Eugenie of Spain, and the Empress Alexandra of Russia. In 1889, Wilhelm's younger sister, Sophia, married the future King Constantine I of Greece. Wilhelm was infuriated by his sister's conversion to Greek Orthodoxy; upon her marriage, he attempted to ban her from entering Germany.
Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria
After the temporary reconciliation of the Wittelsbach with Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, who had finally confirmed all Wittelsbach possessions, Stephen joined Charles' expedition to Italy in 1354. But soon the Golden Bull of 1356 caused a new conflict since only the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach and his brother Louis VI the Roman as margrave of Brandenburg were invested with the electoral dignity. Stephen II was the last son of Emperor Louis IV who was in 1362 absolved from excommunication.
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, on 14 November 1948. One month earlier, the King had issued letters patent allowing her children to use the style and title of a royal prince or princess, to which they otherwise would not have been entitled as their father was no longer a royal prince. A second child, Princess Anne, was born in 1950.
Victor Amadeus, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg
He was the sixth (but second surviving) son of Christian II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, by his wife Eleonore Sophie, daughter of John the Younger, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg.
Treaty of Amiens (1423)
Henry V's son, though still an infant, became Henry VI, King of England, on his father's death, and shortly thereafter became King of France as well. The accession of an infant king made it easier for the French nobility to refuse him and support the Valois heir, Charles. The infant king of the dual-monarchy thus required a regent. John, Duke of Bedford, who was governor of Normandy and younger brother of Henry V, was made regent of France, and ruled with a joint French administration in Paris until the king came of age to rule his two kingdoms.
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
King Rudolph III of Burgundy, ruler of the Kingdom of Arles, had no sons, so Emperor Henry II was able to force the Burgundian ruler to name Henry as Rudolph's successor in 1016. Henry II was Rudolph's nephew, and his closest living male relative, as Henry II was the son of Rudolph's sister Gisela of Burgundy. When Emperor Henry II died in 1024, Rudolph was still alive, sparking a new controversy in the Burgundian succession. Conrad II, as Henry II's successor, claimed he inherited Henry II's rights, but Rudolph disputed his claim. Count Odo II of Blois, who had familial ties to Rudolph, also claimed a right in the succession. Conrad II met Rudolph in August 1027 near Basel to settle the dispute. Henry II's widowed wife, the Empress Cunigunde of Luxembourg, mediated between the two parties. A settlement was reached that allowed Conrad II to succeed to the Burgundian throne upon Rudolph's death under the same conditions as Henry II. In return, Rudolph was allowed to retain independent rule over his kingdom.
Marie Antoinette
On 27 March 1785, Marie Antoinette gave birth to a second son, Louis Charles, who bore the title of Duke of Normandy. The fact that the birth occurred exactly nine months after Fersen's return did not escape the attention of many, leading to doubt as to the parentage of the child and to a noticeable decline of the queen's reputation in public opinion. The majority of Marie Antoinette's and Louis XVII's biographers believe that the young prince was the biological son of Louis XVI, including Stefan Zweig and Antonia Fraser, who believe that Fersen and Marie Antoinette were indeed romantically involved. Courtiers at Versailles noted in their diaries that the date of the child's conception in fact corresponded perfectly with a period when the king and the queen had spent much time together, but these details were ignored amid attacks on the queen's character. These suspicions of illegitimacy, along with the continued publication of the "libelles" and never-ending cavalcades of court intrigues, the actions of Joseph II in the Kettle War, the purchase of Saint-Cloud, and the Affair of the Diamond Necklace combined to turn popular opinion sharply against the queen, and the image of a licentious, spendthrift, empty-headed foreign queen was quickly taking root in the French psyche.
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Unlike his paternal first cousin's son, the 1.98 m (6-foot 6") tall Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, Victor Emmanuel was short of stature even by 19th-century standards, to the point that today he would appear diminutive. He was just 1.53 m tall (just over 5 feet). From birth until his accession, Victor Emmanuel was known by the title of the Prince of Naples.
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
In addition to his morganatic second wife, Victor Emmanuel II had several other mistresses:
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
With Otto III's approval, Stephen was crowned as the first Christian king of Hungary on Christmas Day, 1000. Otto III's successor, Emperor Henry II, was Stephen's brother-in-law by Stephen's marriage to Henry's sister Gisela, furthering the friendly relationship between the Empire and Germany. Under Conrad, however, relations quickly turned hostile as Conrad pursued a more aggressive policy regarding eastern Europe. Conrad II expelled Venetian Doge Otto Orseolo, the husband of Stephen's sister Grimelda of Hungary, from Venice in 1026. Conrad also persuaded the Bavarians to proclaim his own son, Henry, as their duke in 1027, although Stephen's son, Emeric of Hungary, had a strong claim to the Duchy of Bavaria through his mother.
Queen Victoria
Victoria's eldest daughter became Empress consort of Germany in 1888, but she was widowed within the year, and Victoria's grandchild Wilhelm became German Emperor as Wilhelm II. Under Wilhelm, Victoria and Albert's hopes of a liberal Germany were not fulfilled. He believed in autocracy. Victoria thought he had "little heart or "Zartgefühl" [tact] – and ... his conscience & intelligence have been completely wharped ".
Pope Victor II
In June 1055, Victor met the Emperor at Florence and held a council, which reinforced Pope Leo IX's condemnation of clerical marriage, simony, and the loss of the church's properties. In the following year, he was summoned to the Emperor's side, and was with Henry III when he died at Bodfeld in the Harz on 5 October 1056. As guardian of Henry III's infant son Henry and adviser of the Empress Agnes, Henry IV's mother, Victor II now wielded enormous power, which he used to maintain peace throughout the empire and to strengthen the papacy against the aggressions of the barons. During, the rivalry between Archbishop Anno II of Cologne and other senior clergymen and the Dowager Empress, Victor II backed Agnes and her supporters. Many of the Dowager Empress's close followers would be promoted, men like Bishop Henry II of Augsburg, who would later become Emperor Henry's nominal regent, and several German Princes were given high court and church offices. He died shortly after his return to Italy, at Arezzo, on 28 July 1057. His death would mostly mark an end to the close relationship shared between the Salian dynasty and the Papacy.
Stephen, King of England
Stephen became increasingly concerned with ensuring that his son Eustace would inherit his throne. The King tried to convince the Church to agree to crown Eustace to reinforce his claim; Pope Eugene III refused, and Stephen found himself in a sequence of increasingly bitter arguments with his senior clergy. In 1153 the Empress's son, Henry FitzEmpress, invaded England and built an alliance of powerful regional barons to support his claim for the throne. The two armies met at Wallingford, but neither side's barons were keen to fight another pitched battle. Stephen began to examine a negotiated peace, a process hastened by the sudden death of Eustace. Later in the year Stephen and Henry agreed to the Treaty of Winchester, in which Stephen recognised Henry as his heir in exchange for peace, passing over William, Stephen's second son. Stephen died the following year. Modern historians have extensively debated the extent to which Stephen's personality, external events, or the weaknesses in the Norman state contributed to this prolonged period of civil war.
Princess Mafalda of Savoy
Princess Mafalda of Savoy (2 November 1902 – 27 August 1944) was the second daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and his wife Elena of Montenegro. The future King Umberto II of Italy was her younger brother.
Pedro Afonso, Prince Imperial of Brazil
Pedro II regarded the death of his son as "the most fatal blow that I could ever receive, and certainly I would not have survived were it not that I still have a wife and two children". The Emperor wrote to his brother-in-law Dom Fernando II, King-consort of Portugal: "By the time you receive this, you will certainly have learnt of the grievous loss I have undergone ... God who has made me pass through so hard a testing, will in his mercy give me grounds to console my sorrows." Pedro II had already lost another son, Dom Afonso, almost three years earlier. He revealed his inner turmoil in a sonnet: "Twice already I have suffered death, for the father dies who sees his son is dead." Except for brief inspection visits, the Emperor avoided Santa Cruz thereafter.
Eleanor of Viseu
Eleanor and John II survived both their sons. Eleanor opposed the wish of her spouse to have his illegitimate son recognized as heir to the throne and appealed to the Pope, who sided with her and had her brother Manuel recognized as the heir of her husband.
Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy
With the Treaty of Bruzolo (25 April 1610), Charles Emmanuel allied with France against Spain, but the assassination of Henry IV changed the situation, as the treaty was not recognized by Marie de' Medici, who immediately assumed regency for Henry's son Louis XIII, a minor. Nevertheless, Charles Emmanuel obtained the help of French troops to free Alba from the Spaniards (January 1617), as the new king resumed his father's alliance with Savoy. His sister Christine Marie was married to Charles Emmanuel's son, Victor Amadeus in 1619.
In the First Genoese-Savoyard War of 1625, Charles Emmanuel tried with the help of France to obtain access to the Mediterranean Sea at the expense of Genoa. After Spanish intervention, the status-quo was restored in the Treaty of Monçon.
However, when the French occupied Casale Monferrato during the War of the Mantuan Succession, Charles Emmanuel allied with Spain. When Richelieu invaded Piedmont and conquered Susa, the duke changed sides again and returned to an alliance with France. However, when Philip IV of Spain sent two invasion forces from Genoa and Como, Charles Emmanuel declared himself neutral, and in 1630 Richelieu ordered a French army to march into Savoy to force the duke to comply with the pacts. The French troops, soon backed by another army, occupied Pinerolo and Avigliana. The Savoy army under Victor Amadeus was defeated in Lower Valsusa.
Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples
Prince 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, and his wife, Marie-José of Belgium. 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.
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick left numerous children, legitimate and illegitimate:Matthew of Paris relates the story of a marriage "in articulo mortis" (on her deathbed) between them when Bianca was dying, but this marriage was never recognized by the Church. Nevertheless, Bianca's children were apparently regarded by Frederick as legitimate, evidenced by his daughter Constance's marriage to the Nicaen Emperor, and his own will, in which he appointed Manfred as Prince of Taranto and Regent of Sicily.
Umberto I of Italy
Because of the upheaval the Savoys caused to a number of other royal houses (all the Italian ones, and those related closely to them, such as the Bourbons of Spain and France) in 1859–60, only a minority of royal families in the 1860s were willing to establish relations with the newly founded Italian royal family. It proved difficult to find any royal bride for either of the sons of king Victor Emmanuel II. (His younger son Amedeo, Umberto's brother, married ultimately a Piedmontese subject, princess Vittoria of Cisterna.) Their conflict with the papacy did not help these matters. Not many eligible Catholic royal brides were easily available for young Umberto.
Victor, Duke of Münsterberg
Victor was the second son of the Bohemian king George of Poděbrady and his wife Kunigunde of Sternberg. In 1463 he married Margaret Ptáčková, the only daughter of Hynek Ptáček of Pirkstein, who died in 1472. Two years later he married Sophie, daughter of Duke Boleslaw II of Cieszyn. After her death in 1479, he married in 1480 Margarete Palaiologa of Montferrat (d. 1496). From these marriages, he had several daughters:and two sons: