Amadeus, 3rd Duke of Aosta

Amadeus of Savoy ( Italian birth name Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni di Savoia ; born October 21, 1898 in Turin , Italy , †  March 3, 1942 in Nairobi ), Duke of Apulia , 3rd Duke of Aosta ( Duca d'Aosta ) was Governor and Viceroy of Italian East Africa from 1937 to 1941 , where he fought against the armed forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II .

Amadeus, 3rd Duke of Aosta

Life

Amadeus was the eldest son of Duke Emanuel of Aosta (1869-1931) from the House of Savoy and Princess Hélène of Orléans (1871-1951), daughter of Louis Philip of Orléans .

He was a descendant of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (1820-1878) and thus a member of the Italian royal house of Savoy . His grandfather Amadeus (1845–1890) was King of Spain for a short time .

Amadeus' interest in Africa was aroused at an early age : his mother Hélène often stayed in Africa for health reasons; his uncle Luigi Amadeo of Savoy undertook numerous research trips to Uganda and other African areas. The fascination for the foreign continent accompanied Amadeus all his life.

In the First World War Amadeus fought in the Italian artillery . After the end of the war he left the army and traveled to Africa for the first time with his uncle.

Back in Italy he resumed his military career in 1923 and obtained a pilot's license in 1926 under the guidance of aviation pioneer Arturo Ferrarin . The following year Amadeus married his cousin Anne Hélène Marie von Orléans (1906–1986), the daughter of Jean Pierre von Orléans (1874–1940), on November 27 in Naples . In 1929 he traveled again to Africa and fought under General Rodolfo Graziani in Libya . After the death of his father Emanuel in 1931, he received the title Duke of Aosta ( Duca d'Aosta ). After taking command of the 23rd Field Artillery Regiment in Trieste in 1931 , he switched to the Italian Air Force the following year and was initially given command of the 21st reconnaissance squadron at the Gorizia airfield . In Gorizia he then commanded the 4th Fighter Squadron from 1933 to 1934 and then a brigade and a division of the air force until 1937. During his time in Gorizia, he lived with his family at Miramare Castle near Trieste.

Miramare Castle

After Italy annexed Ethiopia in the Italo-Ethiopian War in 1936 , Amadeus became Governor General of Ethiopia and, in 1940, of Eritrea and parts of Somalia . In the same year he led the Italian armed forces in the East Africa campaign against the Allied powers. After initial victories against Great Britain, Amadeus surrendered on May 18, 1941 after the Battle of the Amba Alagi in Ethiopia and was taken prisoner.

In an Allied prison camp in Nairobi , Kenya, Amadeus fell ill with tuberculosis and malaria and died a short time later on March 3, 1942 at the age of 43.

His brother Aimone followed him as the 4th Duke of Aosta.

family

On November 5, 1927, Amadeus married his cousin Anne Hélène Marie von Orléans (1906–1986), the daughter of Jean von Orléans (1874–1940) in Naples . The couple has two daughters:

• Margherita Isabella Maria Vittoria Emanuella Elena Gennara (born April 7, 1930 in Palazzo di Capodimente, Naples ); ⚭ Robert of Austria (1915–1996), son of the last Austrian Emperor Karl I and his wife, Empress Zita .
• Maria Cristina Giusta Elena Giovanna (born September 10, 1933 in Miramare Castle , Trieste ); ⚭ January 29, 1967 Casimir von Bourbon-Beider Sicily, a son of Gabriel Maria von Bourbon (1897–1975).

Margherita's eldest son, Lorenz von Österreich-Este (* 1955), is married to Princess Astrid of Belgium (* 1962), the daughter of King Albert II of Belgium . Margherita's descendants therefore belong to the Belgian royal family.

See also

• Family list of the House of Savoy

Web links

Commons : Amadeus, 3rd Duke of Aosta  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Duke's career on associazione4stormo.it
• Tribe list of Amadeus and his children
• Pedigree list of Margherita's descendants
• Newspaper article about Amadeus, 3rd Duke of Aosta in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

predecessor	Office	successor
Emanuel Philibert	3rd Duke of Aosta 1931–1942	Aimone III.