Victor Emmanuel III was born on November 11, 1869 , in Naples, the sole son of King Umberto I. Following a conventional military upbringing, he ascended the Italian throne unexpectedly at age 30 , on July 29, 1900, upon his father’s assassination. Though constitutionally empowered, he was a reserved and reluctant politician, often choosing to stay on the sidelines and entrust governance to the liberal statesman Giovanni Giolitti. His early reign aligned closely with Giolitti’s vision for modernization: Italy industrialized, expanded suffrage, and invested in infrastructure—railways, roads, education, and public health—while fostering civic institutions. On the international stage, Victor Emmanuel supported the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 , securing Libya as a colony. To commemorate Italy’s Quinquennial of Unification, he hastened the completion of the grand Vittoriano monument in Rome, symbolizing national resurgence. When World War I erupted, Italy initially stayed neutral before ev...