Elena of Montenegro

Loving mother of five looked every inch a Queen

The Queen and King in 1901,
about a year into their reign

A young princess from the Balkans became the Queen of Italy on this day in 1900 while she was enjoying a Mediterranean cruise. Elena of Montenegro and her husband, who became Victor Emmanuel III, had to land at the port of Reggio Calabria after learning that King Umberto I of Italy had been shot dead.

Elena was to carry out her duties as the Queen of Italy for 46 years, until her husband abdicated in favour of his son, who became King Umberto II of Italy in May 1946.

She was the daughter of King Nicholas I and Queen Milena of the Principality of Montenegro. Brought up to speak French, Elena was educated in Saint Petersburg in Russia until the age of 18.

When Victor Emmanuel’s mother, Queen Margherita, was looking for a suitable bride for her only son, she was encouraged to consider Elena by Francesco Crispi, the Italian Prime Minister, who was of Albanian descent and keen for Italy to have more influence in the Balkans.

In 1895, Elena attended the International Art Exhibition in Venice, where she was presented to the King and Queen of Italy. Later, at the opera, she was presented to Prince Victor Emmanuel.

They met again in Russia at the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I, and after Victor Emmanuel had made an official request to Elena’s father, he visited Cetinje, the capital of Montenegro, where they became engaged in 1896.

Elena arrived in Italy in October 1896, landing in Bari, where she converted to Catholicism at the Basilica of St Nicholas. The couple were later married in Rome.

In addition to becoming Queen of Italy in 1900, Elena assumed the titles of Queen of Albania and Empress of Ethiopia after Mussolini’s occupation of the two countries.

She was described as stately and tall with black hair and olive skin and looking very much like a Queen. She became popular with the Italians after the Messina earthquake in 1908, when she visited the area and helped with the rescue effort. She arranged for the wounded to be taken to a hospital ship and personally assisted with their care. She also organised a fund-raising event in Rome to help victims.

A painting of Elena as a young
princess, aged about 15

She gave birth to five children and was described as a loving mother, who enjoyed simple family life.

During World War I, Elena worked as a nurse and turned the Quirinale and Villa Margherita into hospitals. She studied medicine and obtained an honorary degree.

To raise funds, she invented the signed photograph, to be sold at charity desks. At the end of the war, she suggested selling the crown treasures to pay the war debts.

In 1920, she founded the Elena di Savoia Foundation to provide scholarships for the orphaned children of former railway workers or soldiers. She suggested that every woman in Italy donated some of their jewellery to the children whose fathers had been sacrificed for the nation, and she launched the initiative by donating some of her own.

In 1937 Pope Pius XI gave Elena the Golden Rose, the most important honour given to a Catholic lady at the time. Pope Pius XII, in a condolence telegram sent to her son, Umberto II, after her death, defined her as a ‘Lady of Charitable Work’.

In 1943, after Victor Emmanuel III had the Fascist dictator Mussolini arrested, he fled to Brindisi with the help of the Allies and Elena followed her husband.

Queen Elena depicted in a
nurse's uniform in WW1

Tragically, one of their daughters, Mafalda, was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, where she died in 1944.

After the republic of Italy was proclaimed, Victor Emmanuel and Elena were forced to live the rest of their lives in exile. They went to Egypt, where Victor Emmanuel died after a year, and eventually Elena went to live in France. While living there she was diagnosed with a severe type of cancer and she died in 1952 during surgery to treat it.

In 2017, the remains of Elena were repatriated from Montpellier in France, to the Sanctuary of Vicoforte, in Piedmont. The remains of Victor Emmanuel III were transferred two days later from Alexandria, and interred alongside hers.

In 2001, on the occasion of the opening of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the death of Queen Elena, the Bishop of Montpellier opened the diocesan process for her beatification and she was awarded the title Servant of God.

The cylindrical towers of Reggio Calabria's
Castello Aragonese survived the earthquake

Travel tip:

Reggio Calabria, where Elena stepped ashore as Queen of Italy, is the oldest city in Calabria, the most important in what became known as Magna Graecia - Great Greece - after settlers began to arrive in the eighth century BC. Situated at the tip of the toe of Italy’s ‘boot’, its position between the Strait of Messina and the Aspromonte mountains give it one of the most striking coastal panoramas in southern Italy. Its Lungomare Falcomatà promenade, lined with magnolia trees and palms, has been described as “the most beautiful kilometre of Italy,” offering views of Mount Etna and the Aeolian Islands. Much of its heritage was destroyed in the earthquake of 1908 and the rebuilt city is notable now for its fine Liberty buildings and its linear plan. The best of what could be salvaged of the Greek remains can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum of Magna Graecia, housed in Palazzo Piacentini. The Castello Aragonese is the most important surviving fortification in Reggio Calabria. Dating back to far earlier than its Aragonese name suggests, today only its two massive cylindrical towers remain, rising above Piazza Castello in the historic centre and serving as one of the city’s defining symbols.

Check Expedia for places to stay in Reggio Calabria

The frescoed elliptical cupola
of the Santuario di Vicoforte

Travel tip:

The Sanctuary of Vicoforte - Santuario di Vicoforte - is one of Piedmont’s more extraordinary religious monuments. It stands about 85km (51 miles) south of Turin, just outside Mondovì, in the province of Cuneo, surrounded by hills and chestnut woods. Since 2017, it has also become a place of quiet royal significance: the burial site of King Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Elena of Montenegro, whose remains were transferred there from Egypt and Montpellier. The sanctuary is famous for its elliptical cupola, the largest of its kind in the world, rising to a height of 60m (197ft). This daring shape creates a dramatic interior space, where frescoes sweep across the vault. The sanctuary is dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Construction began in 1596 after Duke Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy ordered a grand sanctuary to be built. The original Baroque structure was expanded in the 17th century under the House of Savoy, with the dome completed in 1744. The monumental façade was added in the 19th century. Although the remains of Victor Emmanuel III and Elena were transferred there, Vicoforte did not serve as a principal Savoy burial site - that role belonged to the Basilica of Superga near Turin.