page_title: Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Victor Emmanuel III of Italy / Biography / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph by the "Heirs of Luigi Montabone" (18..-1877) - Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (1869-1947), as Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Italy.Italiano: Eredi della ditta Luigi Montabone (18..-1877) - Vittorio Emanuele III (1869-1947) da ragazzo.
context_page_description: Victor Emmanuel III reigned as King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. In addition, he held the thrones of Ethiopia and Albania as Emperor of Ethiopia and King of the Albanians. During his reign of nearly 46 years, which began after the assassination of his father Umberto I, the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two world wars. His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of Italian Fascism and its regime.
  During the First World War, Victor Emmanuel III accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Paolo Boselli and named Vittorio Emanuele Orlando in his place. Following the March on Rome, he appointed Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister and later deposed him in 1943 during the Allied invasion of Italy of the Second World War.
  Victor Emmanuel abdicated his throne in 1946 in favour of his son Umberto II, hoping to strengthen support for the monarchy against an ultimately successful referendum to abolish it. He then went into exile to Alexandria, Egypt, where he died and was buried the following year in Saint Catherines's Cathedral of Alexandria.
context_section_description: 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.
  On 24 October 1896, Prince Victor Emmanuel married Princess Elena of Montenegro.
caption: Victor Emmanuel as a teenager, 1886
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