Prince Umberto | |||||
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Count of Salemi | |||||
Born |
Turin |
22 June 1889||||
Died | 19 October 1918 Crespano del Grappa |
(aged 29)||||
Burial | Crespano del Grappa | ||||
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House | House of Savoy-Aosta | ||||
Father | Prince Amadeo, Duke of Aosta | ||||
Mother | Maria Letizia Bonaparte |
Full name | |
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Umberto Maria Vittorio Amedeo Giuseppe di Savoia-Aosta |
Prince Umberto of Savoy-Aosta (22 June 1889 – 19 October 1918) was a member of the Aosta branch of the House of Savoy and was styled the Count of Salemi.
Umberto was born in Turin, the fourth son of Prince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta, the only one by his second wife and niece Princess Marie Laetitia Bonaparte (1866–1926) the daughter of Prince Napoléon and Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy. His father, a former king of Spain, died when he was just a year old. He had three older half-brothers: the Duke of Aosta, the Count of Turin and the Duke of the Abruzzi.
In 1908 Umberto began studies at the Naval Academy in Livorno. In May 1911, while still at the academy, he was accused of theft. His cousin King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy wanted him arrested, but his mother took him to Turin and challenged the king to carry out the arrest. In July Victor Emmanuel ordered that he be detained at the Castle of Moncalieri and then spend eighteen months' aboard a man-of-war, during which time a Gendarmerie colonel would act as his tutor and keeper.
During the First World War Umberto volunteered to serve in the Royal Italian Army. He joined the Army as a Lieutenant and served in a Catania Cavalry regiment. During the war he was awarded a silver medal for bravery displayed while acting as a bombing officer.