King of Croatia

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Marcus Wendel
ezOP
Posts: 588
(10/11/00 12:51:48 pm)
Reply King of Croatia
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If I remember correctly an Italian duke (or was he a prince?) accepted the position as King of Croaita during the war.
Did he ever visit Croatia?
Why was he selected?
Did anyone in Croatia want him? Did they even care that they had a king?
What happend to him after the war?

Any and all info on this topic would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

/Marcus

Lupo Solitario
Unregistered User
(10/11/00 2:41:34 pm)
Reply King of Croatia
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yes, he was prince Aimone di Savoia, Duke of Spoleto and, after death of his brother Amedeo in british prigiony, Duke of Aosta.
He accepted crown but never placed feet in Croatia. He remained in Italy, doing what he wanted. i don't remember if after Italian surrender, he reached the king in southern Italy and was captured by German.
However he left Italy after the end of war and died in south america about 1949 (I think of illness, he was still a young man)
Which were opinions in croatia I have no idea. The choice of an Italian prince was made for Croatia was seen in Italian area of influence. After his cousin prince Umberto, heir of italian throne, and his brother, prisonier of british, he was the highest rank italian prince

bye
Lupo

Allen Milcic
Unregistered User
(10/11/00 4:44:51 pm)
Reply "King" of Croatia
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The appointment of the Duke of Spoleto as the "King" of Croatia (with the title "Tomislav II") was propably one of the most unpopular moves of the Ustase regime in Croatia. Added to the surrender of Croatian territories in the Adriatic to Italy and in Slavonia to Hungary, it quickly extinguished any serious, mass support for the Ustase in Croatia. While a majority of Croatians believed in an independent state, a great majority saw the appointment of an Italian as the Croatian king as a spineless move by a weak government, and it was greatly abhored.

Marcus Wendel
ezOP
Posts: 591
(10/11/00 7:48:18 pm)
Reply Re: King of Croatia
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Many thanks to you both.

Was there any attempts to accuse him of anything after the war or was everybody happy to see him leave for South America?

Was there any support at all for him in Croatia?

Did the Croatian leadership try to oppose the namning of him as a king. It would obviously be a very unpopular move.

/Marcus

Lupo Solitario
Unregistered User
(10/11/00 8:04:31 pm)
Reply Aimone d'Aosta
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No one accused him of anything in italy and i don't know why some had to accuse him in croatia where no one had seen him ever.
During war, the duke was simply a navy officer with a known passion for young dancers. However the house of Aosta was always seen with sympathy by italian people and if had decided to stay in Italy no one probably told him anything. He kept the decision to go to re-build his life elsewhere.
I add that the son of the duke, the actual Duke of Aosta, lives still in Italy and is an appreciated country gentleman

bye

Lupo

Lupo Solitario
Unregistered User
(10/11/00 9:40:18 pm)
Reply Aimone: addings
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I realized I was not too much kind with the duke...I make some addings.
Despite his private life, he was a competent and corageous officer. In Italo-ethipian war of 1936 he trasformed the crew of his destroyer in a land combat unit and leaded it in battle against abyssians. In 1942 was named "General Inspector of MAS" becoming leader of italian naval light forces: he cared the success of operation Pedestal and the trasferring of italian ships in Black Sea. Again, he was the "big sponsor" of special forces of the Xa MAS Flottilia.
What he didn't care was politics. I suppose he had in mind the sort of his grandfather, Amedeo, which was forced to accept throne of spain in 1870 only to abdicate and run away three years after. He had no interest in become a puppet king on an hated throne...

Allen Milcic
Unregistered User
(10/11/00 11:31:26 pm)
Reply Tomislav II
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Marcus:

There was perhaps minimal support for the naming amongst the Italian minority living in Croatia. I don't think a single Croat supported the decision.

Glenn Steinberg
Unregistered User
(10/12/00 1:06:27 pm)
Reply Re: King of Croatia
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After the Italian surrender, the Duke of Aosta (aka King Tomislav II of Croatia) fled to southern Italy and to the Allies, leaving his pregnant wife behind in Florence within the German-occupied zone.

She was interned in a German concentration camp after giving birth to a son, the one and only child of the marriage. Her name was Princess Irene of Greece, and she was the sister of the Queen Mother of Romania and of King Georgios II of Greece.

Marcus Wendel
ezOP
Posts: 597
(10/13/00 10:06:08 pm)
Reply Re: King of Croatia
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Many thanks to all of you for your help.

/Marcus

Momo
Unregistered User
(10/15/00 12:26:58 am)
Reply King of Croatia
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The vast majority of Italians living on the Yugoslav side of the Adriatic coast lived in Zara
and a few Italian held islands, so they were under the reign of King Emanuel since 1919. After the
“April War” most of Dalmatia and the Cattaro were annexed to Italy, these areas having
sizeable Italian populations, yet the Slavic was still greater. I think if Croatia was given a
Italian king, these people wouldn’t care very much, as they to came under Emanuel rule.

Momo

L C
Unregistered
(12/11/00 2:12:54 am)
Reply Amedeo Duca d'Aosta
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In a previous posting it is mentioned that the brother of the King of Croatia, Amedeo Duca d'Aosta, died in a British prison. This is true, but it should not be inferred that he was in any way mis-treated by his captors, on the contrary, he was treated as befitted a fine and heroic Italian patriot.
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L'ammirazione del nemico, espressa con l'onore delle armi che il Generale (Amedeo d'Aosta) e i suoi Prodi ebbero mentre scendevano dall'ultima posizione di resistenza per avviarsi alla triste prigionia, concluse una pagina di epopea della storia militare italiana. La Patria conferì al Comandante la Medaglia d'Oro al V.M., appunto perchè «alla testa di un pugno di prodi, resisteva oltre i limiti delle umane possibilità».

Circondato dai suoi fedeli Soldati, si spense a Nairobi, nel Kenia, il 3 marzo 1942.
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