page_title: Amadeo I of Spain
section_title: King of Spain
hierarchical_section_title: Amadeo I of Spain / King of Spain
caption_attribution_description: Español: Moneda con punzón para Azores
context_page_description: Amadeo I was an Italian prince who reigned as king of Spain from 1870 to 1873. The only king of Spain from the House of Savoy, he was the second son of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and was known for most of his life as the Duke of Aosta.
  He was elected by the Cortes as Spain's monarch in 1870, following the deposition of Isabel II, and was sworn in the following year. Amadeo's reign was fraught with growing republicanism, Carlist rebellions in the north, and the Cuban independence movement. He abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873, and the First Spanish Republic was declared as a result.
  Granted the hereditary title of Duke of Aosta in the year of his birth, he founded the Aosta branch of Italy's royal House of Savoy, which is junior in agnatic descent to the branch descended from King Umberto I that reigned in Italy until 1900, but senior to the branch of the dukes of Genoa.
context_section_description: After the Spanish revolution deposed Isabella II, the new Cortes decided to reinstate the monarchy under a new dynasty. The Duke of Aosta was elected king as Amadeo I on 16 November 1870. He swore to uphold the constitution in Madrid on 2 January 1871.
  The election of the new king coincided with the assassination of General Juan Prim, his chief supporter. After that, Amadeo had to deal with difficult situations, with unstable Spanish politics, republican conspiracies, Carlist uprisings, separatism in Cuba, same-party disputes, fugitive governments and assassination attempts.
  Amadeo could count on the support of only the progressive party, whose leaders were trading off in the government thanks to parliamentary majority and electoral fraud. The progressives divided into monarchists and constitutionalists, which made the instability worse, and in 1872 a violent outburst of interparty conflicts hit a peak. There was a Carlist uprising in the Basque and Catalan regions, and after that, republican uprisings happened in cities across the country. The artillery corps of the army went on strike, and the government instructed the King to discipline them.
  Though warned of a plot against his life on 18 August 1872, he refused to take precautions, and, while returning from Buen Retiro Park to Madrid in company with the queen, was repeatedly shot at in Via Avenal. The royal carriage was struck by several revolver and rifle bullets, the horses wounded, but its occupants escaped unhurt. A period of calm followed the event.
  With the possibility of reigning without popular support, Amadeo issued an order against the artillery corps and then immediately abdicated from the Spanish throne on 11 February 1873. At ten o'clock that same night, Spain was proclaimed a republic, at which time Amadeo made an appearance before the Cortes, proclaiming the Spanish people ungovernable.
caption: Amadeo as King of Spain on a coin from 1871.
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