Amedeo was born in
Turin,
Piedmont, to
Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta (son of
Amadeo I of Spain and
Princess Maria Vittoria), and
Princess Hélène (daughter of
Prince Philippe of Orléans and
Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans). As his
patrilinal great-grandfather was King
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, he was a member of the
House of Savoy. He was known from birth by the courtesy title of
Duke of Apulia. Amedeo was a very tall man (in stark contrast to the
King, who was known to be quite short). According to
Amedeo Guillet, he was once referred to by a journalist as "Your Highness" (which in Italian could also be interpreted to mean "your height"). The Duke replied in jest: "".
Education and early military career Amedeo was educated at St David's College,
Reigate,
Surrey, in England. He cultivated British mannerisms, spoke Oxford English, and even enjoyed the pastimes of
fox hunting and
polo. Amedeo entered the
Nunziatella, the military academy in Naples, joined the Italian Royal Army (
Regio Esercito) and fought with distinction in the
artillery during
World War I. He left the army in 1921 and travelled widely in
Africa. Amedeo subsequently rejoined the Italian armed forces and became a pilot. In 1932, he joined the Italian Royal Air Force (
Regia Aeronautica). Amedeo served under Marshal
Rodolfo Graziani and Libyan Governor
Pietro Badoglio during the later stages of the so-called "
pacification of Libya" (1911 to 1932). Amedeo and his fellow airmen harried the
Senussi forces of
Omar Mukhtar from the sky. When hostilities in Libya came to an end in early 1932, much was made of the participation of the "Duke of Apulia" as the commander of the airmen who forced the Senussi to flee
Libya and seek relief in
Egypt. Amedeo, portrayed by the tall actor Sky du Mont, appears in several non-flying scenes with Graziani in the movie
The Lion of the Desert, about the Italian conquest of Libya. On 4 July 1931, upon the death of his father, Amedeo became the
Duke of Aosta.
Viceroy and governor-general In 1937, after the Italian conquest of
Ethiopia during the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War, the Duke of Aosta replaced
Marshal Graziani as
Viceroy and as
Governor-General of
Italian East Africa. It was generally conceded that he was a vast improvement over Graziani. As Viceroy and Governor-General, he was also the
Commander-in-Chief of all Italian military forces in
Eritrea,
Ethiopia, and
Somaliland.
World War II When Italy declared war on the
United Kingdom and
France on 10 June 1940, he became the commander of the Italian forces in what is known as the
East African Campaign of
World War II. He oversaw the initial Italian advances into
Sudan and
Kenya and, in August, he oversaw the Italian invasion of
British Somaliland. In January 1941, the
British launched a counter-invasion and the Italians went on the defensive in
East Africa. The Italians fought throughout February. But, after fierce resistance, the
Battle of Keren ended in Italian defeat, after which the rest of
Eritrea, including the port of
Massawa, fell quickly. On 31 January, he reported that the Italian military forces in East Africa were down to 67 operational aircraft with limited fuel stocks. With supplies running low and with no chance of re-supply, he opted to concentrate the remaining Italian forces into several strongholds:
Gondar,
Amba Alagi,
Dessie, and
Gimma. He himself commanded the 7,000 Italians at the mountain fortress of Amba Alagi. With his water supply compromised, surrounded, and besieged by 9,000 British and Commonwealth troops and more than 20,000 Ethiopian irregulars, he surrendered Amba Alagi on 18 May 1941. Due to the gallant resistance of the Italian garrison, the British allowed them to surrender with
honours of war.
Death Shortly after his surrender, he was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in
Nairobi,
Kenya. He was placed in command of his fellow prisoners, but never saw the end of
World War II. On 3 March 1942, shortly after his internment, he died at the prison camp, reportedly as a result of complications from both
tuberculosis and
malaria. Amedeo was succeeded by his brother,
Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta.
Aftermath Amedeo was well known and highly regarded for being a gentleman. In one instance, before he fled his headquarters at
Addis Ababa, he wrote a note to the British to thank them in advance for protecting the women and children in the cities. Count
Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Foreign Minister under his father-in-law, Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini, paid Amedeo a high compliment in his diaries. Upon being given the news of the Duke's death, Ciano wrote, "So dies the image of a Prince and an Italian. Simple in his ways, broad in outlook, and humane in spirit." Emperor
Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was also impressed by the respect and care that the Duke of Aosta showed to the exiled Emperor's personal property left behind in
Addis Ababa. In a gesture of thanks, the Emperor during his state visit to Italy in 1953 invited the widowed
Duchess of Aosta to tea during his stay in Milan, but was then informed by the Italian government that receiving the Duchess would cause offence to the
Italian Republic, and so the Emperor cancelled the visit. Instead he invited the
5th Duke of Aosta to Ethiopia in the mid-1960s, and accorded him all the protocol due to visiting royalty. ==Family==