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Principe Amedeo Umberto di Savoia
3rd Duca d'Aosta
(1898–1942)

Other names: Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni

Biographical

3rd Duca d'Aosta 1931–42†
Duca delle Puglie 1898–1931
Principe della Cisterna 1898–42†
Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Order of Malta [Vatican]
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus [Italy]
Knight of the Order of the Holy Annunciation [Italy]
Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy [Italy]
Knight of the Order of St Hubert [Bavaria]
Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle [Prussia]
Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy 1928 [Italy]
War Cross 1917 [Belgium]
Medal for Military Valour, silver, 1917, 1931, and 1935 [Italy]
Medal for Military Valour, gold, 1915 [Italy]

Viceroy of Ethiopia 1937–42
Governor general of Italian East Africa 1937
Senator of the Kingdom of Italy
Brigadier general, Italian Air Force 1934
Colonel 1931
Major 1922
Captain 1917
Lieutenant 1916
Second lieutenant 1915
Corporal 1915

Amedeo studied at Saint Andrew's and at Eton in Britain between 1911 and 1913, and then at the Military School of Nunziatella in Naples from 1913 to 1915. He was sent to Isonzo Front for two months, and then he went to Friuli in 1915 and joined the 34th Infantry Regiment. He served with distinction and was awarded a number of honours. In 1917, he travelled on a scientific expedition headed by the Duke of the Abruzzi to Somalia, and in 1920, he was in Palermo serving in the 22nd Infantry Regiment. In 1924, he obtained a law degree in Palermo, and was in Africa in 1925 where he became a pilot in Libya during the following year. He joined the 23rd Infantry Regiment as colonel in Trieste in 1931. He had become duke of Aosta that year and was granted the castle in Miramar as his residence by the King of Italy. In 1932, he was transferred to Gorizia as colonel in the 21st Squadron, and in 1933, lead the 4th Squadron also in Gorizia, and finally, in 1934, he commanded the 3rd Airborne Brigade. In 1941, he fought in Ambi Alagi and was made prisoner by the British at Nairobi. He died the following year from either typhoid or tuberculosis.

Place of birth: Cisterna palace, Turin
Place of baptism (1898): Sabana Santa Chapel, Turin
Place of marriage: Capodimonte, Naples
Place of death: Nairobi
Place of burial: Nyeri

Son of Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia-Aosta and Princesse Hélène de France (Bourbon-Orléans). He married Princesse Anne de France in 1927, and had issue.

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