Amadeus I of Savoy (Duke of Aosta) was king of Spain. He was born on May 30, 1845 in Turin (Italy). He second son of Víctor Manuel II (king of Italy) and his wife María Adelaida de Austria. He was educated at his father's Court, having General Rosi as his teacher. He entered the Italian army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1866, he was in the war against Austria commanding the Grenadiers of Normandy. After finishing this war, he obtained the command of a cavalry brigade. In 1867, he married Princess María Victoria del Pozo de la Cisterna. In 1869, he entered the navy as a vice admiral.
Once the Constitution was approved in June 1869, which determined, as a form of the Government of Spain, the hereditary constitutional monarchy, the Spanish Crown was offered to the Duke of Aosta, after having been rejected by other candidates; when he accepted it, the Cortes proclaimed him king of Spain on November 16, 1870 by 191 votes in favor against 120 votes of the opposition. Amadeo I arrived in Cartagena on December 30, 1869, and in Madrid on January 2, 1870; As soon as he arrived, he went to see the body of General Prim, who had died the previous December 30 due to an attack on Calle del Turco in Madrid, as he left Congress on December 27.
Amadeo I swore the Constitution and formed a government headed by General Serrano. Towards the end of March 1870, Queen María Victoria arrived in Madrid with her children. The Cortes opened on the following April 3; in them, the king read a speech, in which he promised to act in accordance with the laws of the State and with the sovereignty of the people. On April 6, 1872, the third Carlist war began in the North, under the direction of the priest of Santa Cruz; and on the following May 2, the suitor Carlos María de los Dolores (Carlos VII for the Carlists) arrived; but, on the following day 4, he was defeated and lost 700 prisoners; so he had to leave Spain.
Thus, the war stopped in the North; but he was still in Catalonia. On July 18, 1872, the king and queen suffered an attack on Calle del Arenal in Madrid; but they were unharmed. The political situation deteriorated more and more, and, as soon as the year 1873 began, events worsened to the point that the king decided to abdicate, which he did on February 11, 1873; On this day, when the Congress and the Senate met in the National Assembly, the king sent them a message renouncing the Crown of Spain, for himself and for his children. Right there, the two Houses accepted the abdication of the king and proclaimed the First Spanish Republic. The next day, Don Amadeo went with his family to Lisbon and, from there, to Italy. He immediately regained the rank of lieutenant general, his title of Duke of Aosta, and a pension of 400,000 lire. In his short reign, his wife María Victoria signed, in Madrid, the Asylum for the children of washerwomen. Maria Victoria died in 1876; With her, Don Amadeo had three children:Manuel Filiberto Víctor, Víctor Manuel and Luis Amadeo José. The Duke of Aosta married secondly in 1888 with Princess Leticia (daughter of his sister Clotilde and Prince Jerome Napoleon), with whom he had his son Humberto. Since his return to Italy, the Duke of Aosta never again dealt with politics; he died on January 18, 1890 in Turin (Italy).