3-021-463 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Crown Prince Humbert of Italy and Princess Margaret of Savoy, 1868. Engravings from photographs by M. Alphonse Bernoud and M. Le Lieure. 'The marriage of the...eldest son of King Victor Emmanuel, to his first cousin,...daughter of the King's brother, the late Duke of Genoa, is expected with much gratification, the virtues and accomplishments of the bride having greatly endeared her to the people of her native Piedmont...A taste for intellectual and literary pursuits seems to be hereditary in this family, and one of the best German translations of Dante is the work of the King of Saxony. The mental culture of his granddaughter...has been worthy of her future position as the Queen of Italy...The bridegroom, Prince Humbert, or, as the Italians write his name, Omberto, is a young man of promising disposition, who behaved with signal courage in the battle of Custoza. It may be remembered that he was to have married, since the peace with Austria, the Archduchess Matilda, a niece of the Emperor Francis Joseph. The dreadful death of that young lady, by her dress accidentally catching fire, which happened about a twelve-month ago, prevented the first matrimonial plans on his behalf from being put in execution'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.