Vittorio Amedeo III

King of Sardinia, Prince of Piedmont and Duke of Savoy

Born on June 26, 1726 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, he was the son of Charles-Emmanuel III, King of Sardinia, and Polyxena Christine of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg.

He ascended the throne on February 20, 1773, on the death of his father, and took the titles of King of Sardinia, Prince of Piedmont and Duke of Savoy.

Hostile to the Revolution, he nevertheless tried to remain at peace with France, until the latter annexed Savoy and Nice in 1792. He then took up arms, but failed in 1793 to reconquer Savoy.

In 1796, the invasion of Piedmont by French armies led by General Napoleon Bonaparte and the defeat at Montenotte on April 12, 1796 forced him to sign the humiliating Treaty of Paris, ceding Savoy and Nice and guaranteeing free passage for French troops through his territory.

He died of grief a few months later, on October 16, 1796, at the Château de Moncalieri (Piedmont, Italy).

Victor-Amédée III is buried  in the Crypt of the Kings in Turin's Superga  Basilica.

His wife, Marie Antoinette Ferdinande de Bourbon (1729-1785), daughter of King Philippe V of Spain, bore him twelve children, three of whom married into the French royal family. Her eldest son, the future Charles-Emmanuel IV, married a sister of Louis XVI; two of her daughters married the future Louis XVIII and Charles X. None, however, ever became queen. Neither, however, ever became Queen of France, having both died before the Restoration.