Italy held a referendum to get rid of the Kingdom of Italy on June 2, 1946, farewelling King Umberto II and his family to exile in Switzerland and becoming a Republic just a few days later.
It wasn’t an easy transition: the nation split into a geographical divide with pro-monarchy protests in the south leading to violence and even deaths. Today, however, Italians see themselves as staunchly Republican until Princess Catherine arrived in their midst.
I was in Italy last week, and while Eurovision usually hogs news headlines in the early days of Spring and May, a feverish mania for ‘La Principessa Caterina’ suggests that deep down Italians still have a soft spot for an aristocrat, particularly a beautiful and well-dressed British Royal.
Every magazine on local newsstands – and there are a gobsmacking 1,300 active magazine titles still in Italy – featured pictures of a smiling Princess of Wales, many proudly referencing her post-high-school gap year studying in Florence and her passionate advocacy for early childhood and mothering.
Italians are also self-confessed hypochondriacs, and much was made in the headlines of Catherine’s first trip abroad alone after finishing her cancer treatment: “Kate in Italia: Il Viaggio della Rinascita” shouted Gente Magazine’s headline (“Kate in Italy: the voyage of rebirth”).
“Kate al primo viaggio dopo la malattia nella ‘sua’ Italia dove da ragazza venne a curare le pene del amore (Kate’s first trip in the wake of her illness is to ‘her’ Italy – the country she turned to for a cure for heartbreak) said DiPiu magazine on its cover, referring to a post-high-school relationship break-up. “I’ve come to Italy to help mums like me”, said Oggi, unusually demure in its coverlines.
In Reggio Emilia, where Kate was welcomed by the Mayor, Marco Massari, a throng waited patiently outside the town hall, desperate for a selfie with the visiting Royal. Some were wearing hats and fascinators, a flute of champagne in hand, in scenes reminiscent more of Ascot and the races in the UK than the local Town Hall on Piazza Prampolini, named after the famous 19th-century socialist politician, Camillo Prampolini.
“She is the first princess I have had the pleasure to welcome…. obviously second to my daughter, who is in fact the princess in our home”, laughed the Mayor.
“So, is Reggio Emilia showing a secret monarchist side?” he was asked by a reporter: “Well, we celebrate the 80th year after the referendum in Italy, but when we speak of the British monarchy, of the British Royal family, we think of a symbol of democracy and of the Magna Carta,” he said diplomatically.
Caterina’s viaggio in Italia lasted only a whirlwind, two days, but served to highlight just how consistent she is when it comes to her advocacy and charitable causes. Reggio Emilia is known globally for its innovative, child-centred educational philosophy and could not have been a better place for her to mark the plan to expand her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood into the global sphere.
She was seen and photographed with crowds of young children rather than adults, crouched down to speak closely to the littlest ones and accepting flowers and posies with patience and grace.
A nod to her father-in-law, King Charles came with a visit to a renowned public nursery and preschool which focuses on educating children while immersed in nature, followed by lunch at an eco-tourism farm stay.
Catherine could have chosen the big arenas of Rome or Venice for her first trip away, to Italy alone. Instead, she pinpointed a small city of just 100,000 residents and paid a visit to its specialist kindergartens, preschools and nurseries, choosing chat over ceremony.
It seems that this princess has understood that driving change as a Royal in a constitutional monarchy requires careful thought and strategy – qualities she appears to have in spades.
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