Editing Victor Emmanuel III (section)

===Popular support===
[[File:Eduardo Gioja Viktor Emanuel III 1913.jpg|200px|thumb|Victor Emmanuel, 1913 portrait.]]
The Italian monarchy enjoyed popular support for decades.{{citation needed |date=January 2016}} Foreigners noted how even as late as the 1930s [[newsreel]] images of King Victor Emmanuel and Queen Elena evoked applause, sometimes cheering, when played in cinemas, in contrast to the hostile silence shown toward images of Fascist leaders.{{Sfn | Mack Smith | 1989 | p = 299}}

On 30 March 1938, the Italian Parliament established the rank of [[First Marshal of the Empire]] for Victor Emmanuel and Mussolini. This new rank was the highest rank in the Italian military. His equivalence with Mussolini was seen by the king as offensive and a clear sign that the ultimate goal of the fascist was to get rid of him.

As popular{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} as Victor Emmanuel was, several of his decisions proved fatal to the monarchy. Among these decisions was his assumption of the crowns of [[Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopia]] and [[Albania]] and his public silence when Mussolini's Fascist government issued [[Italian Racial Laws |German-style racial purity laws]].