Duke Of Aosta Amedeo

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Italian Prince and Duke of Aosta, as the first cousin, once removed of the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III. During World War II, he was the Italian Viceroy of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI). Amedeo was a son of Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta (son of Amadeo I of Spain and Princess Maria Vittoria) and Princess Hélène (daughter of Prince Philippe of Orléans and the Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans). Amedeo entered the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito) and fought with distinction in the artillery during World War I. He left the army in 1921 and travelled widely in Africa. Amedeo subsequently rejoined the Italian armed forces and became a pilot. In 1932, he joined the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica). When Italy declared war on the United Kingdom and France on 10 June 1940, the Duke of Aosta became the commander of the Italian forces in what is known as the East African Campaign of World War II. Shortly after he surrendered, the Duke of Aosta was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Nairobi, Kenya. He was placed in command of his fellow prisoners, but never saw the end of World War II. On 3 March 1942, shortly after his internment, he died at the prison camp, reportedly as a result of complications from both tuberculosis and malaria. Amedeo was married 5 November 1927, in Naples, to his first cousin HRH Princess Anne of Orléans (1906–1986). They had two daughters. His full name was Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni di Savoia-Aosta. Link to Wikipedia biography