Crown Prince Umberto of Italy and Princess Marie José of Belgium - 1930


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Marengo

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On January 8th 1930 Crown Prince Umberto of Italy married princess Marie-Jose of Belgium, daughter of King Albert II and Queen Elisabeth (nee duchess in Bavaria). The couple married in the Pauline Chapal of the Quarinale Palace in Rome and later received the blessing of pope Pio XI.

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Queen Marie Jose was a very beautiful woman. I think her youngest daughter, when she was very young, was most like her. They made a handsome couple, but for many reasons the marriage didn´t last.
 
Marengo, please correct me if I'm wrong,but isn't the present King of Belgium Albert II so would Marie-Jose's father have been King Albert I? Thank you and I love your threads on historical Royal Weddings.:flowers:
 
Princess Marie Jose of Belgium has such charismatic beauty, her mesmerizing eyes especially. Haven't seen many pictures of this beauty and would certainly like to see more.

STEVEN, the pictures are no longer accessible.
 
The wedding date, in accordance with Prince Umberto's wish, coincided with the 57th birthday of Queen Elena, his mother.
He did not like that the sleeves on Marie José's wedding gown had been sewed on the wrong way.
The sleeves were removed. The Princess wore white long gloves.
 
For the wedding at the Quirinal Palace, the guests had to assemble at 8 A.M. and then wait four hours before the bride Princess Marie Jose arrived. When she did, she thrice lost her veil on her way up the aisle.
Queen Marie Jose of Italy - Telegraph
 
Wedding videos:



Based on what Belgian members here have told us, Princess Marie José's marriage to the Italian Crown Prince was arranged from a very young age and it made sense since he was probably the most eligible Catholic prince in Europe at the time. Nevertheless, I can't understand why Marie José's parents and the Belgian government didn't have any reservations about the collusion between the House of Savoy and Mussolini. The wedding itself took place in 1930, when Italy was already a fully-fledged fascist state. Someone should have predicted that things would not end up well for the Royal Family once the regime collapsed. Any thoughts?
 
I have only one book about Queen Marie-José, by Agnes Adriaenssen, and it is not a very good one though easy to read. It mentions that the socialist parties refused to co-sign a telegram from the government to congratulate the couple and several liberal parlementarians refured to co-sign it as well, though they are less vocal about it as their party was in a coalition government with the catholic party. Several local city counsils ruled by socialists or liberals refuse it as well, among them the counsil of Schaerbeek in Brussels.

However, Belgium was a deeply catholic country with confessional party in government and they were all in favor of the match. Mussolini had signed the Lateran treaty with the pope in 1929, which reflected well on him. And by some he was considered a bulwark against god-less communism. And of course, Mussolini in 1930 was by many differently regarded than Mussolini in 1940. Even Winston Churchill said in 1927 that if he were Italian he would wear a black shirt & praised Mussolini for his fight against communism. Lady Clementine was very pleased with the signed photo that she received from Mussolini.

The book also mentions that King Albert had his doubts about the Italian match due to the political situation. He was not sympathetic towards fascism or to Mussolini even though he found some policies 'not unwise' . He thought that dictatorships -if they were there for a short time- could have a stablising effect, though they always end badly and was friends with several Italian anti-fascists, among them Carlo Sforza. But with the revolution of 1918 fresh in memory, to many in the elite fascism was regarded as a protection against godless communism, which was still regarded as the bigger threat to monarchies. He agreed to the wedding as he thought it was the best for MJs future happiness, no doubt convinced by his forceful wife.

The princess had her doubts even before the engagement. As she understood that Umberto had no interest in her and she did not particulary like him either. The groom had to be convinced by Mussolini himself to get married. The wedding was to be used as a big celebration and showcase of the lateran treaty between the Vatican and Mussolini.

It was Queen Elisabeth and Queen Elena who had set up the match. The families met a lot during WWI -to the dismay of Elisabeth's aunt Queen M. Sofia of the Two Sicilies- and MJ was sent to a boarding school in Florence. Queen Elena was a frequent visitor. When MJ left the school one of her fellow students told her: 'we hope to see you back in Italy as our Queen'. Princess Jolanda -with whom she never got along- teased her and Umberto and told them how well they looked together.

The reason why the engagement still took relatively long to materialize was that despite arranging many opportunities for the two to meet, Umberto always stayed polite, formal but cold. The parents hoped the two would spontaniously fall in love, which did not happen. On one of their dates he took MJ to the crypt of the Savoias in Turin. MJ -with the idylle between her brother and Astrid in mind- became impatient. When she read an article about Umberto's supposed affair with the daughter of the Argentine ambassador she tells a lady-in-waiting: 'I am done. I don't want him. I will never marry him, I would even prefer to marry Mussolini'. She also wrote him a letter, telling his it would be best to call it a day and break up.

Shortly after the talk with Mussolini the prince is a guest at lake Como in the villa of Luchino Visconti. It is there where he makes up his mind. After a phone call of his father with the urgent request to travel to Belgium he gets himself to Rome, orders a ruby engagement ring and travels to the Ardennes where he asks for MJ's hand in marriage Note that he stayed at the countess Van der Steen de Jehey in the castle of Losange - not far from the castle of Ciergnon [Losange was later bought by Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz and is now owned by Queen Mathilde and her siblings].

His proposal to MJ was far from romantic: 'we, in our position, live in a sort of prison. We don't do what we want, we are not free to plan our futures the way we want to, like other young people' but they did come to an understanding. Elisabeth was ecstatically happy when MJ was finally able to tell her that they were engaged. Later she would tell her niece Pss Esmeralda: 'I did not love him at the time, it was an arranged marriage, but with time I have learned to appreciate him piano piano'.
 
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Prince Umberto designed all Marie José dresses for their Wedding . When she put on her Wedding dress a sleeve broke and it is therefore that her Veil is Covering her Shoulders so much. She hated her Wedding Dress !
 
Prince Umberto designed all Marie José dresses for their Wedding . When she put on her Wedding dress a sleeve broke and it is therefore that her Veil is Covering her Shoulders so much. She hated her Wedding Dress !

Thanks, Maria-Oliva. Which tiara did Princess Marie José wear at the wedding?
 
Apparently his mother-in-law already had a wedding dress packed, which was made in Paris. The ripped sleeves also meant another last minute intervention, the princess decided to put on long white gloves. She hated the gown indeed, esp as it was so tight & she was uncomfortable about her looks and body.

In total the princess had 16 outfits from Paris for the events around her wedding. The Italian press did not like them and spoke of 'backward Belgian fashion'.

The tiara was created by Musy and was left by Queen Margeherita to her grandson, to be used by his future wife.

The court marshall ha some headaches arranging the guests. The duke of York - as second son of the King of the UK, was placed on a lower place than he expected. Lower than the ex-King of Afghanistan- which made him quiet during the wedding dinner and made him leave the festivities as soon as he could.

The exclusive rights to photographs was given to the Italian agency Luce. Much to the dismay of the Belgian press who feared that they would only get bad quality images, which they did.
 
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Apparently his mother-in-law already had a wedding dress packed, which was made in Paris. The ripped sleeves also meant another last minute intervention, the princess decided to put on long white gloves. She hated the gown indeed, esp as it was so tight & she was uncomfortable about her looks and body.

In total the princess had 16 outfits from Paris for the events around her wedding. The Italian press did not like them and spoke of 'backward Belgian fashion'.

The tiara was created by Musy and was left by Queen Margeherita to her grandson, to be used by his future wife.

The tiara is exquisite. It looks massive with buttons of large hanging pearls set en tremblant in an elaborate scrolled diamond frame. Does the Savoy family still own it?

The Italian royal family had an impressive jewel collection.
 
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The tiara is exquisite. It looks massive with buttons of large hanging pearls set en tremblant in an elaborate scrolled diamond frame. Does the Savoy family still own it?


Yes it is owned by MarieJosé's son Vittorio Emanule. His wife marina wore it a few times the most recent occasion was the danish royal Wedding in 2004.

Unfortunately she placed it a big backwards and not upright like her mother-in-law.
 
This video gives the declaration that the wedding of Prince Umberto di Savoia and Princess Marie Jose occurred in 1929. However, the actual year was 1930.
 
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