| Tomislav II | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Formal portrait, 1943 | |||||
| King of Croatia | |||||
| Nominal reign | 18 May 1941 – 31 July 1943 | ||||
| Prime minister | Ante Pavelić | ||||
| Duke of Aosta | |||||
| Reign | 3 March 1942 –29 January 1948 | ||||
| Predecessor | Amedeo | ||||
| Successor | Amedeo | ||||
| Born | (1900-03-09)9 March 1900 Turin,Kingdom of Italy | ||||
| Died | 29 January 1948(1948-01-29) (aged 47) Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||||
| Burial | 31 January 1948 | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta | ||||
| |||||
| House | Savoy | ||||
| Father | Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta | ||||
| Mother | Hélène of Orléans | ||||
Prince Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta (Aimone Roberto Margherita Maria Giuseppe Torino; 9 March 1900 – 29 January 1948), was a prince of Italy's reigningHouse of Savoy and an officer of theRoyal Italian Navy. The second son ofPrince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta, he was granted the titleDuke of Spoleto on 22 September 1904. He inherited the titleDuke of Aosta on 3 March 1942 following the death of his brotherPrince Amedeo in a British prisoner of war camp inNairobi.
From 18 May 1941 to 31 July 1943, Aimone was designated king of theIndependent State of Croatia (Croatian:Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), even though he never ruled there.[1] He formally accepted the position and took the nameTomislav II, afterthe first Croatian king.[2][3] Later, however, he refused to assume the kingship in protest of theItalian annexation of theDalmatia region,[4] and is therefore referred to in some sources as king designate.[5][6][7][8] Regardless, many sources refer to him as King Tomislav II and the nominal head of the NDH during its first two years (1941–1943).[9][10][11][12][13] After the dismissal ofMussolini on 25 July 1943, Aimone abdicated on 31 July as king on the orders ofVictor Emmanuel III.
Prince Aimone Roberto Margherita Maria Giuseppe Torino of Savoy-Aosta was born inTurin the second son ofPrince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta (eldest son ofPrince Amedeo, 1st Duke of Aosta (and sometime "King Amadeo I of Spain") by his wife,néeVittoria dal Pozzo, Principessa della Cisterna) andPrincess Hélène of Orléans (daughter ofPhilippe, comte de Paris, andPrincess Marie Isabelle of Orléans). As hispatrilinal great-grandfather was KingVictor Emmanuel II of Italy, he was a member of theHouse of Savoy.
With his brother Amedeo, he was educated at St David's College, Reigate, Surrey, England, and Aimone later went to study at the naval academy in Livorno.[14] On 1 April 1921, Prince Aimone became a member of theItalian Senate. Princes of the House of Savoy became members of the Senate at age 21, obtaining the right to vote at age 25.[15]
In 1929, twenty years after his unclePrince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi had attempted to climbK2 inKarakoram, Prince Aimone led an expedition to Karakorum. A member of the expedition wasArdito Desio. Due to the failure to climb K2 twenty years earlier, Prince Aimone's expedition concentrated solely on scientific work.[16][17] He was afterwards awarded the 1932Royal Geographical Society'sPatron's Medal for his work.[18]
After being romantically linked withInfanta Beatriz of Spain, the daughter of KingAlfonso XIII,[19] he married, on 1 July 1939 at the church ofSanta Maria del Fiore,Florence,Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, daughter of KingConstantine I andPrincess Sophie of Prussia.[20] They had one son,Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, born in 1943.
On 18 May 1941, in a ceremony at theQuirinal Palace, to whichAnte Pavelić, the leader of the fascisticUstaše movement that had assumed power in Croatia in April 1941 after theinvasion of Yugoslavia, led a delegation of Croats requesting that Italy's KingVictor Emmanuel III name a member of theHouse of Savoy asking of Croatia. TheIndependent State of Croatia was a fascist puppet state that was partly under Italian and German control, covering most of present-day states ofCroatia andBosnia and Herzegovina, but its leaders tried to assert their legitimacy by instating a monarchy that would resemble themedieval Croatian state.
Aimone was then officially named king by his cousin Victor Emmanuel III.[21] On assuming theCrown of Zvonimir he took theregnal name Tomislav II. Originally on learning that he had been named king of Croatia, he told close colleagues that he thought his nomination was a bad joke by his cousin King Victor Emmanuel III, though he accepted the crown out of a sense of duty.[22] The Italian Foreign Minister andBenito Mussolini's son in law, andCount Ciano's informants said of Aimone "The Duke doesn't give a damn about Croatia and wants only money, money and more money."[23] Ciano's diary noted a conversation between Aimone and himself, where Aimone was "proud of having been chosen King of Croatia, but has no exact idea of what he is supposed to do and is vaguely uneasy about it".[24]
He was due to be crowned inDuvno (Tomislavgrad), in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, but he refused to go to there due to the "Dalmatian question" which arose due to Italytaking some of Dalmatia's coastal territory. Aimone felt that Dalmatia "was a land that could never be Italianized" and was an obstacle to Italo-Croatian reconciliation.[25] Other reasons why he never went to Croatia were because of anongoing insurgency, and that his safety could not be guaranteed.[23] Because of this he exercised what little power he had fromItaly andHungary,[26] however he never held any real authority throughout his reign as the Ustaše government had deprived the monarchy of most powers and reduced the status of the king to that of a figurehead.[22] CountGyula Cseszneky was the counsellor to the king for Croatian affairs. Prince Aimone also established a Croatian office in Rome where he received confidential reports, official documents, and military, political and economic information from Croatia.[27]
After thefall of the Fascist regime in Italy, Aimone abdicated as king of Croatia on 31 July 1943 on the orders of Victor Emmanuel III.[26][28][29][30]
Prince Aimone succeeded to the titleduke of Aosta on 3 March 1942, following the death of his elder brother PrinceAmedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, in a Britishprisoner of war camp inKenya.
In the autumn of 1942, Aimone contacted Allied forces via his courier, the consul general Alessandro Marieni, about the possibility of a peace settlement between Italy and Allied forces.[31] Secret talks would continue into 1943, motivated in part by the aim of preserving the royal dynasty of Savoy.[31]
In the latter months ofWorld War II, he became the commander of the Italian Naval Base ofTaranto but he was dismissed from his post for his criticism of the judges that had found GeneralMario Roatta guilty of war crimes.[32] During his naval career he reached the rank ofSquadron Admiral.
In 1947, following thebirth of the Italian Republic the previous year, Prince Aimone left Italy forSouth America.[33] Just a year after his arrival, he suddenly died on 29 January 1948 in his temporary residence, a private suite at theAlvear Palace Hotel in the French Borough ofRecoleta inBuenos Aires, while his entourage was arranging his permanent residency documents and the purchase of his new home in Argentina.[34] The claim to the Aosta ducal title passed to his sonPrince Amedeo.
| Ancestors of Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta |
|---|
The duke agreed to accept the throne and became King Tomislav II of Croatia
...nominally Croatia was ruled by the Italian Duke of Spoleto styled as King Tomislav II...
...The new king was given the title of Tomislav II...
...the Duke of Spoleto, became king, with the name of Tomislav II...
...Croatia is constituted an independent nation under Tomislav II...
Media related toPrince Aimone, Duke of Aosta at Wikimedia Commons
Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta Born: 9 March 1900 Died: 29 January 1948 | ||
| Italian nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Duke of Aosta 1942–1948 | Succeeded by |
| Regnal titles | ||
| Vacant Title last held by Charles IVas undisputed king | — DISPUTED — King of Croatia 1941–1943 | Vacant |
