Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations (149 page)

43
. (
above
) April 1860: voters line up in Chambéry for the Plebiscite on the future of Savoy.

44
. (
left
) Vittorio Emanuele II (r. 1849–78), king of Sardinia and, from 1861, of Italy.

SABAUDIA

45
. (
left
) 1910: the fiftieth anniversary of Savoy’s ‘reunion’ with France.

46
. (
below
) Referendum of 1946: Italian monarchists support ‘Umberto II, the Monarchy and the Soldier King’.

ETRURIA

47
. Maria-Luisa di Borbone (1782–1824) as Queen Regent of Etruria,
c
. 1804, with her son, King Carlo Lodovico II, and her daughter, Maria Luisa Carlota.

48
. A 10-lira silver florin of the Kingdom of Etruria (1803), showing the infant king with his mother and, on the reverse, the kingdom’s coat-of-arms.

ETRURIA

49
.
Elisa Bonaparte entourée d’artistes à Florence (1809)
by Pietro Benvenuti. Antonio Canova presents a marble bust to Napoleon’s eldest sister who was the duchess of Lucca, grand duchess of Tuscany and princess of Piombino.

50
. San Miniato in Val d’Arno: sometime home of the Buonaparti and of superb white truffles.

51
. Napoleon’s First Exile, Elba, 1814: behind him Generals Bertrand, Drouot and Cambronne, who may or may not have said
‘La Garde meurt’.

ROSENAU

52
. Royal Wedding, 1840, at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace: Victoria, who had proposed to Albert, nonetheless promised ‘to serve and obey’ him.

53
. Queen Victoria and family, Coburg, 21 April 1894: Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Queen, Dowager Empress ‘Vickie’ of Germany (
front row seated L to R
); also, the Queen’s surviving sons, in uniform - Edward (
middle, L
), Alfred, (
back, R
) and Arthur (
second row, R
); the future Tsar, Nicholas II with fiancée, Alix of Hesse (
second row
); 3 Russian grand dukes, 3 Battenbergs, 10 Saxe-Coburg and Gothas, and 13 princesses; Prince ‘Alfie’ of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, d. 1899 (
standing extreme L
).

ROSENAU

54
. (
left
) Prince Charles Edward (1884-1953): Victoria and Albert’s youngest grandson, the last duke of Albany and the last duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.