Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (b. 1869)
Victor Emmanuel III (Vittorio Emanuele Ferdinando Maria Gennaro di Savoia; Italian: Vittorio Emanuele III, Albanian: Viktor Emanueli III, Amharic: ቪቶርዮ አማኑኤል, romanized: Vītoriyo Āmanu’ēli; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) reigned as King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. He also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–1941) and King of the Albanians (1939–1943). During his reign of nearly 46 years, which began after the assassination of his father Umberto I, the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two world wars. His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of Italian Fascism and its regime.

During the First World War, Victor Emmanuel III accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Paolo Boselli and named Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (the premier of victory) in his place. Despite being on the winning side of the First World War, Italy did not get all the territories which had been promised to it in the 1915 Treaty of London; the Treaty of Versailles, ending the war, failed to give Italy its demands for Fiume and Dalmatia. This mutilated victory led to the resignation of Orlando. Domestically, the loss of these territories proved to be politically disastrous for Orlando's several short-serving successors. As a result, even the well-respected Giovanni Giolitti, serving an unprecedented fifth term as prime minister, could not unify the country in the face of the growing Fascist movement. Strengthened by the economic downturn facing the country, the Fascists led the March on Rome, and the king appointed Benito Mussolini as prime minister.

Victor Emmanuel remained silent on the domestic political abuses of the Fascist regime, though he accepted the additional crowns of the Emperor of Ethiopia and the King of Albania as a result of Mussolini's colonial exploits. When Mussolini attempted to bring Italy into World War II in 1939, Victor Emmanuel overrode him, and continued to resist Italian entry into the war until June, 1940, when the King relented and granted Mussolini sweeping powers to enter and conduct the war. The war proved disastrous for Italy, as a number of offensive operations in Europe and North Africa ended in defeat. Amidst the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943, he deposed Mussolini, and signed an armistice with the Allies in September, 1943. In the face of the coming German reprisal, he and the government fled to Brindisi while the Germans established a puppet state in Northern Italy. He reluctantly switched sides and declared war on Germany in October, though he battled constantly with Allied command and, under pressure from the allies, he transferred most of his powers to his son Umberto in June 1944, effectively ending his involvement in the war and in the government of Italy.

Victor Emmanuel officially abdicated his throne in 1946 in favour of his son, who became king Umberto II, hoping to strengthen support for the monarchy against an ultimately successful referendum to abolish it. He then went into exile to Alexandria, Egypt, where he died and was buried the following year in St. Catherine's Cathedral of Alexandria. In 2017, his remains were returned to rest in Italy, following an agreement between Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Victor Emmanuel was also called by some Italians Sciaboletta ("little saber"), due to his height of 1.53 m (5 ft 0 in), and il Re soldato (the Soldier King), for having led his country during both world wars.