Umberto I of Italy Umberto I of Italy Umberto I (; 14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900), nicknamed "the Good" (Italian: "il Buono"), was the King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination on 29 July 1900. Umberto's reign saw Italy attempt colonial expansion into the Horn of Africa, successfully gaining Eritrea and Somalia despite being defeated by Abyssinia at the Battle of Adowa in 1896. In 1882, he approved the Triple Alliance with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. He was deeply loathed in leftist circles because of his conservatism and support of the Bava-Beccaris massacre in Milan. He was especially
Mervyn King, Baron King of Lothbury in their final report. According to George Osborne, Gus O'Donnell made an offer to have King brief the Tories and Lib Dems during the Coalition's formative talks; however, the parties suspected they "knew what he was going to say and . . . also thought it was more appropriate for our Treasury spokesmen to talk to him". King was criticised again in May 2012 on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, on the day before an election, after he expressed approval of Coalition austerity measures. In a speech to the European Parliament in Brussels in May 2011, King commented that the