A special relationship....with Italy???

Starting from 1900 is possible a timeline in which UK and Kingdom of Italy have a "special relationship" and are much,much close?
How must change the political and economic life of Italy for this?
Are necessary Royal weddings between Windsor and Savoia?
(For the religion,The Savoia were basically agnostics,so for exemple a Princess could convert,and after the 1950 i think that also the Windsor could do so without problems,and i believe that for the couple not in succession line conversion is not necessary at all).
 
I can see it happening although I am not learned enough in British-Italian relations to offer any advice on how or if a marriage between the two is possible.
 
Seems very possible from a variety of PODs. Even OTL Italy and the UK shared close relations deep into the 30's. Of course Mussie torpedoed all that since he wanted the Med all to himself. Theoretically possible with a POD late into the 30s depending on who's in charge in both countries or if any major things come to divide Italy and Germany.

A more democratic Italy or more conservative UK will help, though really possible with the OTL governments if Hitler's out of the picture. Make Germany hard left and/or tied closely to the Soviets and Italy might instinctively move towards the UK. Make France outright Communist and the UK might instinctively move towards Italy!
 
Getting Italy and Britain to be relatively close allies isn't a terribly tough task. Until Benito starts throwing his weight around there aren't any real obstacles, and even into the mid-30's they have potentially close strategic aims. That said, a special relationship, just by the nature of one, might be stretching things...

I might actually want to go back to a pre-1900 POD, and get britain more actively involved in the risorgimento, in order to build up common bonds. As for the actual alliance, it probably needs a common rival or enemy, and I'm thinking that france fits the bill. POD would therefore either be in the late-1800s or an Anglo-French split in the '20s. From there, alliance grows more or less organically.
 

Cook

Banned
Are necessary Royal weddings between Windsor and Savoia?

We are dealing with the 20th century, not the 19th. Royal relationships didn’t affect foreign policy.

Britain’s George V, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II and Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II were all cousins, as were most of the rest of the royal families of Europe thanks to the prodigious breeding of Queen Victoria.

If Italy had stayed out of World War One a special relationship would have been in both nation’s interests.
 
So is the entire world, but were they agnostic theists or agnostic atheists?
Well,Vittorio Emanuele II was very close to be atheist.
The others Kings were indifferent at best
Only Umberto II was less or more a believer.
Catholic Church was not very popular at Court.
 

Cook

Banned
In what sense?
UK was not angry with Italy for the neutrality in war?

If Italy had been wise enough to stay on the sidelines of the Great War with towels and orange slices at the ready it would not have suffered the enormous number of deaths and its economy would likewise not have been disrupted. Without this it probably would not have been so politically unstable in the 1920s and would not have ended up as a Fascist State.

Italy depended on imported Coal, something that a stronger Italian economy would have reinforced; British Coal.

As Atreus said, they have common strategic interest in ensuring that there are no disruptions to the sea trade routes through the Mediterranean.
 
just a few notes

1, Italy wishes) before 1936 (sanctions for ethiopia) Italy wished very much to become UK's affectionate southern cousin, even while Mussolini was in charge.
Even when it joined the triplice alliancein 1882, Italy imposed to add the clause: "The Royal italian Government declares that the provisions of the secret treaty [...] cannot [...] in any case be regarded as being directed against England".
[:D note for any scotman/welsh irked by the UK<=>England : it is not my fault, they wrote England in the treaty :D]

2, UK doesn't) On the other hand, UK often rebuffed there approaches, at first because being in its "splendid isolation", then because of its relationship with france, after 1936 because it began to sense italian navy as a potential rival in the med (they should not have worried).
The point that I am trying to make is that with gibiltrar-malta-cyprus-suez, UK already had its own mediterranean ports, thus it did not have to throw candies to a latin stranger to win his confidence, expecially if this meant being in worse terms with france.
Thus I thing that we need to find a POD in UK policy, rather than in italian's one

3, Athetism and religion) Sure, Savoia were atheists.
But most of italians were deeply catholics, and church authority was de facto far deeper than the king's one, even after 1870.
The fascist regime had so much support despite its obvious faults because managed to win the church approval with the 1928 concordate.
An official declaration of non-interest in religion in the royal house would have triggered a revolt.
The official conversion of an italian royal prince/princess to the protestant faith would have triggered a revolt.
Even just the marriage a royal prince/princess to a protestant princess/prince would have done Umberto/Vittorio Emmanuele throne quite shaky.

4, great war, UK point of view) UK was not angry with italy for its neutrality, since italy would have in principle to join the CP rather than the Entente: it was just by doing word-tricks and playing on the treaty clauses (such as the one I reported) that Italy managed not to join the CP.
Italy had to be bribed heavily (or at least had to be promised a lot) by London pact 1915 to join the Entente.

5, great war, Italian point of view) the great war did NOT cause significant disruption neither in italian economy nor in italian politics. Italy's industrial base was kept safe from the war and foreign investments (part of 1915 bribe) increased a lot.
6-month-long-governments were an endemic problem of the italian political system which pre-dated the war by alòong time.
Disoccupation rate in italy was very high and the war absorbed unemployed rather than taking away workers from tha factories.
Actually, tha real problem came when the war ended, since military expenses were to cut back and a lot of ws-soldiers become unemployed which were now also more prone to solve matters with violent means
 
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just a few notes


3, Athetism and religion) Sure, Savoia were atheists.
But most of italians were deeply catholics, and church authority was de facto far deeper than the king's one, even after 1870.
The fascist regime had so much support despite its obvious faults because managed to win the church approval with the 1928 concordate.
An official declaration of non-interest in religion in the royal house would have triggered a revolt.
The official conversion of an italian royal prince/princess to the protestant faith would have triggered a revolt.
Even just the marriage a royal prince/princess to a protestant princess/prince would have done Umberto/Vittorio Emmanuele throne quite shaky.
This is not entirely true,believe me.

A thing that must be understood is that (for exemple) if Italian and Irish are both Catholic, the Catholicism of the Italians is very different.
The Italians believe in their manner,very lukewarm.
A Italian can kill his neighbor for money or women,but never for religion.
Revolt for the conversion of an italian royal prince/princess to the protestant faith?
Not in Italy.
Italians would say "well done,married a rich".
For the Church,before of Concordate of 1928 Catholic Church was treated very roughly from establishment.
And between peoples was several anti-clericals too.
The peoples don't revolt neither when Rome was conquered in 1870,imagine in XX century!
 
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Given the heavy emmigration from Italy (or pre-unification states) to the USA from 1880-1920 would not it be also a good TL to foster "A special relationship" between the USA and Italy - maybe even at the cost of the Anglo-American 'special relationship'?

An interesting crux to have the emerging world power aligned closely and culturally with Italy as opposed to a nation (the UK) that was already doomed to decline by 1900 and especially so after WWI.

Emmigration to USA 1880-1900: 960,000
Emmigration to USA 1900-1920: 3,200,000
Emmigration to USA 1920-30 (after quota laws): 455,000
Emmigration to USA 1930-WW2: 68,000
 
UK Emigration numbers:

In England and Wales, the 1871 census recorded an Italian population of 5,063 and in 1911 this number was 20,389.

In Scotland, census returns for these years were 268 and 4,594 Italians respectively.
 
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