Victor Emmanuel III of Italy

Victor Emmanuel III became King of Italy in 1900 after his father's assassination, presiding over nearly 46 years that would see two world wars and the fascist era. The first decade brought industrialization under prime minister Giovanni Giolitti and Italy's victory in World War I, which annexed Trento and Trieste and earned him the label "King of Victory." Facing political chaos and the fascist movement's March on Rome in 1922, he appointed Benito Mussolini as prime minister, then accepted additional crowns as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1936 and King of Albania in 1939 as Italian imperialism expanded. After advising against entering World War II in 1939, he granted Mussolini war powers in June 1940; following the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, he dismissed Mussolini, signed the armistice with the Allies, and fled to Brindisi as Germany occupied the north. He abdicated in May 1946 hoping to save the monarchy, but a referendum abolished it weeks later, sending him to exile in Alexandria, where he died in 1947.