ITALY: The King Speaks

All day long and into the night, envoys shuttled between the King's villa in picturesque Ravello and the nearby villa where U.S. and British diplomats were lodged. In Naples next day Vittorio Emanuele III broke a long silence:

"I have decided to withdraw from public affairs by appointing my son, the Prince of Piedmont, Lieutenant General of the Realm [TIME, April 17]. This appointment will become effective by a formal transfer of power on the day on which the Allied troops enter Rome. This decision ... is final and irrevocable.

The little King...

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