Charles Albert

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CHARLES ALBERT

CHARLES ALBERT (1798–1849), ruled as king of Sardinia-Piedmont from 1831 to 1849.

The future king of Sardinia, Charles Albert, was born on 2 October 1798 into the Savoia-Carignano branch of the ruling house of Savoy, the son of Carlo Emanuele, Prince of Carignano, and Princess Maria Cristina Albertina of Saxony-Courland. His parents were known sympathizers of the French Revolution, hence politically suspect in court circles. They chose to remain in Turin when the court retreated to the island of Sardinia in 1798 after the French annexation of Piedmont. They soon moved to Paris with their infant son and lived there until 1812 on a French stipend of 100,000 francs per year after their assets were confiscated. The father died in 1800; in 1812, mother and son moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where Charles Albert was educated by a Protestant pastor and developed the habits of hard work and self-discipline that made him an austere and aloof figure.

Charles Albert's brief stint as an officer in the army of Napoleon I (r. 1804–1814/15) began and ended in 1814 with Napoleon's defeat. He returned to Turin in May 1814 as heir presumptive to the throne because his distant relatives, King Victor Emmanuel I (r. 1802–1821) and King Charles Felix (r. 1821–1831), had no male descendants. Charles Albert married Maria Teresa, daughter of the grand duke of Tuscany, in 1817. Their firstborn son ruled as Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont (r. 1849–1861) and as first king of the unified kingdom of Italy (r. 1861–1878).

Although Charles Albert was more at ease using the French language, after returning to Piedmont he openly favored the use of Italian at court and gravitated toward Italian literary figures, gestures that were interpreted as showing sympathy for the cause of Italian independence. During the Piedmontese uprising of 1821, while serving as regent after the abdication of Victor Emmanuel I and the temporary absence of Charles Felix, he acceded to the insurgents' demand for a constitution, but that decision was promptly revoked by Charles Felix. Charles Albert left Turin for a period of exile in Florence on his uncle's orders. To regain royal favor and the support of legitimists, Charles Albert volunteered to lead troops against liberal forces in Spain. His performance in Spain rehabilitated him in the eyes of conservatives, angered liberals, and gave rise to the image of Charles Albert as Re tentenna (King Waffle), the indecisive and untrustworthy figure that was the subject of political caricature. His equivocal conduct in 1821 can perhaps be interpreted charitably as an unsuccessful effort by an inexperienced young man to mediate between conservatives and liberals.

Charles Albert inherited the throne at the death of Charles Felix on 24 April 1831. In the first years of his reign, he went out of his way to allay lingering conservative suspicions and stay on Austria's good side. In the years 1833 and 1834, he cracked down hard on the Young Italy movement's network and disrupted its plans for revolution. But once the threat of revolution was past, he abolished feudal privileges in Sardinia, adopted uniform legal codes, introduced an advisory council of state, eliminated internals tolls, encouraged maritime trade, and negotiated commercial treaties with France and Great Britain.

A monarch jealous of his royal prerogatives and a devout Catholic, Charles Albert nevertheless gave secret encouragement to moderate liberals, hinting that he nurtured anti-Austrian feelings and favored Italian independence. When revolution broke out in Austrian-ruled Lombardy, Charles Albert granted a constitution and, on 23 March 1848, marched his army into Lombardy, thus starting Italy's first war of national independence. Desire for territorial aggrandizement played a role, but there were also other motives. Charles Albert was eager to lead the fight against Austria, champion the cause of Italian independence, and was determined to prevent Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872) and other republicans from gaining control of the national movement. Austria's victory over Sardinia-Piedmont and its Italian allies forced Charles Albert to abdicate in favor of his son Victor Emmanuel II on 23 March 1849. He went into exile in Portugal, where he died on 28 July 1849. His most important legacy was the Statuto, the only one of the constitutions granted by Italian monarchs in 1848 that survived the defeat of revolution. It served as the constitution of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861, when the country was unified, to 1946, when a popular vote abolished the monarchy and made Italy a republic.