On This Day: Duke of Spoleto Becomes King Tomislav II of Croatia

On this day in 1941, seventy-five years ago, Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta, Duke of Spoleto was named King Tomislav II of Croatia, Prince of Bosnia Herzegovina and Voivode of Dalmatia, Tuzla and Temun. The Croatians had rebelled against the King of Yugoslavia and joined the Axis powers in 1941. As a reward Hitler elevated the puppet state to the status of a kingdom under the leadership of the fascist Ante Pavelić.

On May 18th 1941 a Croatian delegation asked King Victor Emmanuel III in a ceremony at the Quirinal Palace in Rome to name a member of the House of Savoy as King of Croatia. The King selected his cousing Aimone for the job. The new king was rather surprised and thought it was a bad joke played on him by Victor Emmanuel III.

According to Italy’s foreign minister, count Ciano, the new king: “doesn’t give a damn about Croatia and wants only money, money and more money.” 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.”

The new king ruled in name only and never set one step in the country. The country was unsafe due to the resistance fighters and  a dispute between Italy and Croatia that arose after the Italians annexed parts of Dalmatia.

On March 3rd 1942 he became the 4th duke of Aosta after the death of his elder brother Amedeo in an British prisoner-of-war camp in Nairobi. After the Italian capitulation on September 8th 1943, he abdicated the Croation throne on October 12th of the same year.

The prince was married to Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, daughter of King Constantine I of Greece. Their only child is the present Duke of Aosta. Prince Aimone died on January 29th 1948 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His only grandson was named after him. The younger Prince Aimone also married a princess of Greece: Princess Olga, daughter of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark.

Aimone, Duke of Spoleto and Irene of Greece and Denmark on their wedding day in 1939.

Filed under Historical Royals, Italy
Tagged Aimone 4th Duke of Aosta, Anniversary, Biography.