Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia
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Victor Amadeus III (Italian: Vittorio Amedeo III di Savoia) (June 26, 1726, Turin, Piedmont – October 16, 1796) was King of Sardinia from 1773 until his death.
Biography
Having succeeded his father in 1773, he soon started works of improvements in the port of Nice, and had dams in the Arce and the road of the Côte built.
During in the Napoleonic Wars, his troops were defeated by the French at the Battle of Millesimo (April 13, 1796). Victor Amadeus was therefore forced to sign the Treaty of Paris, by which he ceded the fortress of Cuneo, Ceva, Alessandria and Tortona to France, and allowed free passage of the latter's armies towards Italy. He was also compelled to cede Nice and Savoy.
He was a private conservative and very religious person, who, as a young boy, stayed far from public life. His father felt him to be unsuitable to hold power. When he came to the throne in 1773 and worked on bureaucratic and military aspects of the reign. He was suspicious of anything innovative. However, he did implement several public works as well as paying a great deal of attention to his administration and armed forces. He approved and set up two new important cultural state institutions on the advice of the bourgeoisie and aristocracy alike, the Academy of Science and the Agricultural Society
He died soon thereafter in the Castle of Moncalieri.
Marriage and issue
He married Infanta Maria Antonietta of Spain (1729-1785), youngest daughter of Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth of Parma.
They had twelve children including:
- Carlo Emanuele IV (1751-1819), married Clotilde of France
- Marie Elizabeth Charlotte, (1752-1753)
- Marie Josephine Louise 1753-1810, married Louis XVIII of France
- Amedeus Alexander, Duke of Montferrat (1754-1755).
- Marie Thérèse (1756-1805), married Charles X of France
- Maria Ana Carlota Gabriela (1757-1824), married her uncle Benedetto, Duke of Chablais (1741-1808), no issue.
- Vittorio Emanuele I (1759-1824), married Maria Theresia of Austria-Este
- Maria Christine Josephine (1760-1768)
- Maurizio Giuseppe Maria, Duke of Montferrat, (1762-b.1799) unmarried.
- Maria Carolina Antonietta Adelaide (1764-1782) married Anton, later king of Saxony.
- Carlo Felice I (1765–1831), married Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies
- Giuseppe Benedetto (1766-1802), Count of Moriana (-1796), and Asti (1796-1802) unmarried.
