Crown Prince Umberto obliged Dictator Benito Mussolini last week with a few personal appearances in the Italian Tyrol. Arriving at flag-bedecked. half-Austrian Bolzano (formerly Bozen), guarded by soldiers and Black Shirts, His Royal Highness inaugurated a public works program. He then visited Merano where he dedicated a monument to Italian Alpine troops. Meanwhile, his Belgian consort, Crown Princess Maria Jose, inspected welfare centres.
The royal visit was plainly calculated as a gesture which would impress and cheer up the 250,000 unhappy, German-speaking Italian Tyroleans, former subjects of the pomp-displaying Habsburg emperors, more than any blustering, oratorical visit by II Duce could. Living...
