History of Italy May") and the Constitutional Referendum that abolished the monarchy; De Gasperi briefly became acting Head of State as well as Prime Minister on 18 June 1946, but ceded the former role to Provisional President Enrico de Nicola ten days later. The aftermath of World War II left Italy with a destroyed economy and a divided society. Following Victor Emmanuel III's abdication, his son, the new king Umberto II, was pressured by the threat of another civil war to call a Constitutional Referendum to decide whether Italy should remain a monarchy or become a republic. On 2 June 1946, the republican
King of Egypt and the Sudan other monarch to officially use the title "King of Egypt and the Sudan" besides Farouk I was his infant son Fuad II. The title was used very briefly, as the Egyptian monarchy was abolished on 18 June 1953. Despite its short-lived existence, the title was used as an overprint on numerous Egyptian postage stamps. Many of the currently surviving stamps featuring Farouk I's portrait thus bear the Arabic inscription "King of Egypt and the Sudan". King of Egypt and the Sudan King of Egypt and the Sudan ( "") was the title used by the Egyptian monarch from 16 October