Elena of Montenegro
Princess Elena of Montenegro ( born January 8, 1873 in Cetinje, Montenegro, † November 28, 1952 in Montpellier, France ) was a member of the house Petrović - Njegoš. She was Queen of Italy and Albania, as well as Empress of Ethiopia and Duchess of Savoy by marriage.
Life
Elena was the sixth and youngest daughter of King Nikola I of Montenegro (1841-1921) and his wife Milena Vukotić ( 1847-1923 ). She grew up with her siblings in Cetinje. She was educated in the Russian boarding Smolny monastery under the patronage of Empress Maria Feodorovna, and studied at the University of Saint Petersburg politics and philosophy.
On October 24, 1896 married Princess Elena of Montenegro at the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples ( 1869-1947 ), only son of the first Italian king Umberto I and Princess Therese Maria Margarethe Johanna of Genoa. The marriage produced five children:
- Yolanda Margherita Milena Elisabetta Romana Maria (1901-1986)
- Mafalda Maria Elisabetta Anna Romana (1902-1944; in Buchenwald concentration camp )
- Umberto Nicola Tomaso Giovanni (1904-1983)
- Giovanna Elisabetta Antonia Romana Maria (1907-2000)
- Anna Maria Francesca Romana (1914-2001)
Her husband was more of a bourgeois than aristocratic Savoyard, who had the obligation to be king inherited. He was undemanding and economical to avarice, stubborn and skeptical about people and events. Victor Emmanuel had a complex about his small figure (1.48 cm) and its unpleasant appearance. He held himself very instinctively back and was uncertain in all interpersonal contacts.
After the death of her father, King Umberto I, ascended to her husband on August 11, 1900, when King Victor Emmanuel III. the Italian throne. Through the colonial rule Elena was not only the Queen of Italy, but also Queen of Albania and Empress of Ethiopia.
In the Strait of Messina, it came on 28 December 1908 a severe earthquake that almost completely destroyed the cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria and which 70,000 people died. Queen Elena gave help by sided portrait photos of themselves with a signature and offered for sale. The proceeds were introduced for reconstruction. This brought the Queen a great popularity among the population.
During World War II, she was one of the volunteer nurses of the Red Cross and gave the Villa Margherita free as a military hospital. Later, she studied medicine and received a medical degree in order to help further.
In 1946 her husband abdicated in favor of their son, Umberto II, and went with his wife in the same year into exile. In Alexandria they found hospitality at King Farouk. Her husband died on December 28, 1947 in exile in Alexandria in the former Kingdom of Egypt. 1950 was diagnosed with the ex - Queen Elena Cancer, November 28, 1952, she died during surgery in Montpellier and was buried at her request at the city cemetery of Montpellier.
In Valle d'Aosta, she was dedicated to the refuge Rifugio Elena.