In the course of the summer, the Duke of Genoa, Victor Emmanuel’s brother, paid a visit to the English Court, where the Duke of Saxe-Coburg was also staying, by whom he was described as ’one of the cleverest and most amiable men of our time.’  Sunny Italy, adds Duke Ernest, seemed to have sent him to England so that by his mere presence alone, in the prime of his age, he might make propaganda for the cause of his country.  The Queen presented her guest with a handsome riding-horse, and when he thanked her in warm and feeling terms, she spoke the memorable words, the effect of which spoken at that date by the Queen of England can hardly be imagined:  ’I hope you will ride this horse when the battles are fought for the liberation of Italy.’

The battle-day was indeed to come, but when it came the sword which the young Duke wielded with such gallantry in the siege of Peschiera would be sheathed for ever.  The Prince Charming of Casa Savoia died in February 1855, leaving a daughter to Italy, the beloved Queen Margaret.

In the space of a few weeks, Victor Emmanuel lost his brother, his mother, and his wife.  The King, who felt keenly when he did feel, was driven distraught with grief; no circumstance was wanting which could sharpen the edge of his sorrow.  The two Queens, both Austrian princesses, had never interfered in foreign politics; what they suffered they suffered in silence.  But they were greatly influenced by the ministers of the religion which had been a comfort of their not too happy lives, and they had frequently told Victor Emmanuel that they would die of grief if the anti-papal policy of his government were persisted in.  Now that they were dead, every partisan of the Church declared, without a shadow of reticence, that the mourning in which the House of Savoy was plunged was a clear manifestation of Divine wrath.  Victor Emmanuel had been brought up in superstitious surroundings; it was hardly possible that he should listen to these things altogether unmoved.  But on this as on the other occasions in his life when he was to be threatened with ghostly terrors, he did not belie the name of ‘Re Galantuomo,’ which he had written down as his profession when filling up the papers of the first census taken after his accession—­a jest that gave him the title he will ever be known by.  Harassed and tormented as the King was, when the law on religious corporations had been voted by the Senate and the Chamber, and was presented to him by Cavour for signature, he did his duty and signed it.  The commentary which came from the Vatican was the decree of major excommunication promulgated in the Consistory of the 27th of July against all who had approved or sanctioned the measure, or who were concerned in putting it into execution.