The Royal Shop Window: Royal Heirs and the Monarchy in Post-Risorgimento Italy, 1860–1878

Abstract

After the unification of the Italian peninsula under the banner of the Savoia, the Italian monarchy attempted to legitimize its rule through different approaches in order to gain popular favour and act as bridge between the new government and the people. One such attempt was to shed more light on the royal family’s public dimension, with particular focus on the heirs to the throne. In this chapter, the way in which the royal heirs were used as objects of commodity to garner support for the new nation-state will be analysed through the examination of events, like the 1868 royal wedding, and objects, such as the dissemination of cartes de visite. The intertwining of traditional aspects of monarchy and the modernity of introducing the heirs to the public stage served to consolidate the position of the crown in the post-Risorgimento years.