Savoy Theatre
Original facade of the Savoy Theatre, 1881
Address	Savoy Street
City	Westminster, London, England
Coordinates	51°30′37″N 0°07′16″W / 51.510139°N 0.121°W / 51.510139; -0.121Coordinates: 51°30′37″N 0°07′16″W / 51.510139°N 0.121°W / 51.510139; -0.121
Architect	C. J. Phipps
Owned by	Ambassador Theatre Group
Capacity	c. 1,150 on 3 levels
Type	West End theatre
Opened	10 October 1881 (1881-10-10)
Rebuilt	1929 Frank A. Tugwell 1993 William Whitfield
Production	The Sunshine Boys
www.ambassadortickets.com/Savoy-Theatre/Information

The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, which became known as the Savoy Operas as a result.

The theatre was the first theatre, and the first public building in the world, to be lit entirely by electricity.^[1] In 1889, Richard D'Oyly Carte built the Savoy Hotel next to the theatre. For many years, the Savoy was the home of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and it was run by the Carte family for over a century. Richard's son Rupert D'Oyly Carte rebuilt and modernised the theatre in 1929, and it was rebuilt again in 1993 following a fire. It is a Grade II* listed building.^[2]

Apart from The Mikado and other famous Gilbert and Sullivan premières, the theatre has hosted such notable premières as Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit in 1941. In recent years it has presented opera, Shakespeare and other non-musical plays, as well as musicals, including revivals of Fiddler on the Roof and Carousel, and new shows like Never Forget. The original London production of Legally Blonde played from December 2009 to April 2012.

History of the site[link]

The House of Savoy was the ruling family of Savoy descended from Humbert I, Count of Sabaudia (or "Maurienne"), who became count in 1032. The name Sabaudia evolved into "Savoy" (or "Savoie"). Count Peter (or Piers or Piero) of Savoy (d. 1268) was the maternal uncle of Eleanor of Provence, queen-consort of Henry III of England, and came with her to London.

The Savoy Palace

King Henry made Peter Earl of Richmond and, in 1246, gave him the land between The Strand and the Thames where Peter built the Savoy Palace in 1263. On Peter's death, the Savoy was given to Edmund, 1st Earl of Lancaster, by his mother, Queen Eleanor. Edmund's great-granddaughter, Blanche, inherited the site. Her husband, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, built a magnificent palace that was burned down by Wat Tyler's followers in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. King Richard II was still a child, and his uncle John of Gaunt was the power behind the throne and so a main target of the rebels.

In about 1505, Henry VII planned a great hospital for "pouer, nedie people", leaving money and instructions for it in his will. The hospital was built in the palace ruins and licensed in 1512. Drawings show that it was a magnificent building, with a dormitory, dining hall and three chapels. Henry VII's hospital lasted for two centuries but suffered from poor management. The sixteenth-century historian Stow noted that the hospital was being misused by "loiterers, vagabonds and strumpets". In 1702, the hospital was dissolved, and the hospital buildings were used for other purposes. Part of the old palace was used for a military prison in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the old hospital buildings were demolished and new buildings erected.^[3]

In 1864 a fire burned everything except the stone walls and the Savoy Chapel, and the property sat empty until Richard D'Oyly Carte bought it in 1880 to build the Savoy Theatre specifically for the production of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, of which he was the producer.^[4] The new theatre was built speedily, and accounts noted that it "was situated on a site which, though rich in historical associations, was also rich in the olfactory sense. Mr Rimmeil's scent factory was close by as was Burgess's Noted Fish-Sauce Shop."^[3][5]

Richard D'Oyly Carte's theatre[link]

Carte bought the freehold of the site, then known as "Beaufort Buildings", early in 1880 for £11,000, but had begun planning his theatre several years before. In 1877, he employed Walter Emden, an architect whose work includes the Garrick and the Duke of York's theatres.^[6] Before purchase, Carte had been assured by government officials that they would open a new street on the south side of the plot, provided he paid half the cost. He paid his half in March 1880, but the officials caused lengthy further delays. Carte told The Times, "I am struggling in the meshes of red tape".^[7] He finally received the necessary agreement in June. At the same time he ran into another obstacle: Emden suddenly revised his estimate of building costs upward from £12,000 to £18,000. Carte dismissed Emden, who sued for £1,790 for services to date and £3,000 for wrongful dismissal.^[6]

Design of the theatre was given to C. J. Phipps. The builders were Patman and Fotheringham. Plans were drawn up and executed with speed and efficiency. Nonetheless, the advertised opening date had to be put back several times while the innovative electrical work was completed.^[6] The Savoy finally opened on 10 October 1881.^[8] Carte had at one time intended to call it the Beaufort Theatre,^[9] but he announced in a letter to The Daily Telegraph in 1881, "On the Savoy Manor there was formerly a theatre. I have used the ancient name as an appropriate title for the present one."^[6]

On the opening night Phipps took curtain calls along with Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte.^[6] The Times commented, "A perfect view of the stage can be had from every seat in the house."^[1] The decoration by Collinson and Locke was "in the manner of the Italian Renaissance", with white, pale yellow and gold predominating, including a gold satin curtain (instead of the usual printed act-drop), red boxes and dark blue seats. Exits on all four sides of the theatre were provided, and fireproof materials were used to ensure maximum safety.^[1] There were three tiers with four levels: stalls and pit, balcony, circle, and amphitheatre and gallery at the top. The total seating capacity was 1,292.^[10] The proscenium arch was 30 feet (9.1 m) high by 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, and the stage was 27 feet (8.2 m) deep from the proscenium to the back wall.^[11] The theatre originally had its main entrance on the Embankment. The parcel on which it was built is steep, stretching from the Strand down to the Embankment along Beaufort Street. After Carte built the Savoy Hotel in 1889, the entrance to the theatre was moved to the hotel's courtyard off the Strand, where it is today.

The Savoy was a state-of-the-art theatre and the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity.^[12] Sir Joseph Swan, inventor of the incandescent light bulb, supplied about 1,200 Swan incandescent lamps, and the lights were powered by a 120 horsepower generator on open land near the theatre.^[1][13] Carte explained why he had introduced electric light: "The greatest drawbacks to the enjoyment of the theatrical performances are, undoubtedly, the foul air and heat which pervade all theatres. As everyone knows, each gas-burner consumes as much oxygen as many people, and causes great heat beside. The incandescent lamps consume no oxygen, and cause no perceptible heat."^[14] The first generator proved too small to power the whole building, and though the entire front-of-house was electrically lit, the stage was lit by gas until 28 December 1881. At that performance, Carte stepped on stage and broke a glowing lightbulb before the audience to demonstrate the safety of the new technology. The Times described the electric lighting as superior, visually, to gaslight.^[15] Gaslights were installed as a backup, but they rarely had to be used.^[6] The Times concluded that the theatre "is admirably adapted for its purpose, its acoustic qualities are excellent, and all reasonable demands of comfort and taste are complied with."^[16] Carte and his manager, George Edwardes (later famous as manager of the Gaiety Theatre), introduced several innovations including numbered seating, free programme booklets, proper whisky in the bars, the "queue" system for the pit and gallery (an American idea) and a policy of no tipping for cloakroom or other services.^[17] Daily expenses at the theatre were about half the possible takings from ticket sales.^[12][18][19]

The work that opened the new theatre was Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Patience, which been running since April 1881 at the smaller Opera Comique.^[17] The last eight of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas were premièred at the Savoy: Iolanthe (1882), Princess Ida (1884), The Mikado (1885), Ruddigore (1887), The Yeomen of the Guard (1888) The Gondoliers (1889), Utopia, Limited (1893), and The Grand Duke (1896), and the term Savoy Opera has come to be associated with all their joint works. After the end of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership, Carte, and later his widow, Helen (and her manager from 1901–1903, William Greet), staged other comic operas at the theatre by Arthur Sullivan and others, notably Ivan Caryll, Sydney Grundy, Basil Hood and Edward German.^[20] The Savoy Operas of the 1890s, however, were far less successful than those of the Gilbert and Sullivan heyday. After Carte's production of The Chieftain ended in March 1895, the Theatre briefly hosted the Carl Rosa Opera Company and then closed until late 1895, when Carte resumed productions at the theatre. Sullivan died in 1900, and Richard D'Oyly Carte died in 1901.^[21]

In 1903, the theatre closed and was reopened under the management of John Leigh and Edward Laurillard from February 1904 (beginning with a musical, The Love Birds) to December 1906.^[9] The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company returned to the Savoy for repertory seasons between 1906 and 1909, in which year C. H. Workman took over the management of the theatre. He produced, among other works, Gilbert's final opera, with music by German, Fallen Fairies in 1909–10, which ran for only 51 performances.^[22] He also produced Two Merry Monarchs and Orpheus and Eurydice in 1910, the latter of which starred Marie Brema and Viola Tree in the title roles.^[23] The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company did not play in the theatre from 1909 until 1929,^[24] instead touring throughout Britain and playing London seasons in other theatres, and other works held the stage of the Savoy. George Augustus Richardson managed the theatre from November 1911 to February 1915.^[9]

Rupert D'Oyly Carte's theatre[link]

In 1915, Richard D'Oyly Carte's son, Rupert D'Oyly Carte, took over management of the theatre.^[9] After serving in the navy in World War I, Carte decided to bring the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company back to London in first-rate style. He began to mount seasons of updated and refreshed Gilbert and Sullivan productions at first at the Prince's Theatre in 1919.^[17] J. B. Fagan's adaptation of Treasure Island first played in December 1922 at the Savoy Theatre with Arthur Bourchier as "Long John Silver".^[25] This was so popular that it was revived every Christmas until the outbreak of WWII.^[26]

1926 costume for The Mikado

On 3 June 1929, Carte closed the Savoy Theatre, and the interior was completely rebuilt to designs by Frank A. Tugwell with elaborate décor by Basil Ionides. The ceiling was painted to resemble an April sky; the walls, translucent gold on silver; the rows of stalls were all richly upholstered in different colours, and the curtain repeated the tones of the seating. Ionides said that he took the colour scheme from a bed of zinnias in Hyde Park.^[17] The entire floor space had been replanned: the old cloakrooms and bar at the back of the theatre were relocated to the side, and instead of 18 boxes there was now only one. The new auditorium had two tiers leaving three levels: stalls, dress, and upper circle. The capacity of the old house, originally 1,292, had been reduced to 986 by 1912,^[27] and the new theatre restored the capacity almost completely, with 1,200 seats.^[28] The new stage was 29 feet, 4 inches wide, by 29 feet, 6 inches deep.^[9]

The theatre reopened on 21 October 1929 with a new production of The Gondoliers designed by Charles Ricketts and conducted by Malcolm Sargent.^[29] In the only box sat Lady Gilbert, the librettist's widow.^[17] There were Gilbert and Sullivan seasons at the Savoy Theatre in 1929–30, 1932–33, 1951, 1954, 1961–62, 1975, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Other famous works presented at the Savoy included the première of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit (1941, which ran 1,997 consecutive performances, setting a new record for non-musical theatre runs), Robert Morley in The Man Who Came to Dinner, and several comedies by William Douglas-Home starring, among others, Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft, and John Mills.

After Rupert D'Oyly Carte's death in 1948, his daughter, Bridget D'Oyly Carte, succeeded to the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and became a director and later president of the Savoy Hotel group, which controlled the theatre. Management of the theatre was assumed in 1948 by Sir Hugh Wontner, chairman of the Savoy hotel group.^[9] The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company closed in 1982, and Dame Bridget died childless in 1985, bringing the family line to an end. Wontner continued as chairman of the theatre until his death in 1992.^[30]

1990 fire and restored theatre[link]

The Savoy Theatre was refurbished in the early 1990s

While the theatre was being renovated in February 1990, a fire gutted the building, except for the stage and backstage areas. Tugwell's and Ionides's designs had been preserved, however, allowing the accurate restoration of the theatre under the direction of the architect Sir William Whitfield, Sir Hugh Wontner and the theatre's manager, Kevin Chapple.^[31] It reopened on 19 July 1993. The present theatre has a capacity of 1,158. During the renovation, an extra storey was added above the theatre that includes a health club for the hotel and a swimming pool above the stage. The reopened theatre was the venue for the World Chess Championship in 1993, won by Garry Kasparov.

In 1993, Noël Coward's Relative Values, played at the theatre, having premièred there in 1951. Tom Stoppard's Travesties, with Anthony Sher was next, and in 1994 the musical She Loves Me played, with Ruthie Henshall and John Gordon Sinclair. These were followed by Terry Johnson's Dead Funny; Alan Ayckbourn's Communicating Doors (which transferred to the theatre in 1996), with Angela Thorne; J. B. Priestley's When We Are Married, with Dawn French, Alison Steadman, and Leo McKern; and Ben Travers' Plunder, with Griff Rhys Jones and Kevin McNally. In 1997, a group led by Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen was given management of the theatre by The Savoy Group. Productions that followed included Simon Callow in The Importance of Being Oscar; Pet Shop Boys in concert, Ian Richardson in Pinero's The Magistrate; Edward Fox in A Letter of Resignation; the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Richard III, with Robert Lindsay; and Coward's Hay Fever, with Geraldine McEwan in 1999.

The Savoy Theatre and hotel entrance in 2003

In 2000, the briefly reconstituted D'Oyly Carte Opera Company produced H.M.S. Pinafore at the theatre. Donald Sutherland then starred in Enigmatic Variations, followed by a second D'Oyly Carte season, playing The Pirates of Penzance.^[32] In 2002, a season of Return to the Forbidden Planet was followed by the D'Oyly Carte productions of Iolanthe, The Yeomen of the Guard and The Mikado, and then a revival of Yasmina Reza's Life x 3. In 2003, the company revived Pinafore, followed by Bea Arthur at The Savoy, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Peter Pan and Pirates. These were followed by The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville performed by The Savoy Opera Company in 2004. Next were seasons of Lorna Luft starring in Songs My Mother Taught Me and the new salsa musical Murderous Instincts. Coward's Blithe Spirit was revived in 2004–05.^[32]

The Savoy Hotel group, including the theatre, was sold in 2004 to Quinlan Private which, in turn, sold the theatre in 2005 to the Ambassador Theatre Group (selling the Savoy Hotel to Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal).^[33][34] Productions under the new ownership have included The Rat Pack: Live From Las Vegas, which closed in October 2006, and a new musical version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, directed by Trevor Nunn, which premièred in 2006. Fiddler On The Roof, starring Henry Goodman as Tevye, played at the theatre from May 2007 to February 2008^[35] and has been followed mostly by other musicals, including Legally Blonde, which played from January 2010 to April 2012.^[36][37]

Recent notable productions[link]

• Never Forget (7 May 2008 – 15 November 2008), a new musical with a book by Daniel Brocklehurst, Guy Jones and Ed Curtis based on the 1990s songs of the band Take That and the music and lyrics of Gary Barlow.
• Carousel (29 November 2008 – 20 June 2009) by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, starring Lesley Garrett
• Dreamboats and Petticoats (22 July 2009 – 12 September 2009)
• Legally Blonde (13 January 2010 – 7 April 2012)
• The Sunshine Boys starring Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths (17 May 2012 – 28 July 2012)^[38]

Nearby tube stations[link]

• Charing Cross
• Embankment
• Covent Garden

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Savoy Theatre

• Official Savoy Theatre website
• Description of the theatre in The Times, 3 October 1881
• Description of the first opening night at the theatre in The Times, 11 October 1881
• Information about the 1929 re-opening of the theatre

Savoy Savoie (French) Savouè (Franco-Provençal) Savoia (Italian) Sapaudia (Latin)
Flag
Anthem: Le Chant des Allobroges The Song of the Savoyards/Allobroges
Capital (and largest city)		Chambéry
Official language(s)		French
Ethnic groups		French
Demonym		Savoisian (historic; today uncommon), Savoyard (in widespread use, pejorative[1])
Legislature		Sovereign Senate of Savoy(dissolved in 1860)
Annexed		Annexed to France on June 14, 1860
-	Savoy raised to a duchy by Emperor Sigismund	February 19, 1416
Area
-	Total	10,416 km2  4,022 sq mi
Population
-	2008 estimate	1,125,119
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the		right
Calling code		33

Savoy (/ˈsævɔɪ/; Arpitan: Savouè, IPA: [saˈvwɛ]; French: Savoie, IPA: [savwa]; Italian: Savoia) is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Dauphiné in the south.

The historical land of Savoy emerged as the feudal territory of the house of Savoy during the 11th to 14th centuries. The historical territory is shared between the modern republics of France and Italy.

Installed by Rudolph III, King of Burgundy, officially in 1003, the House of Savoy became the longest surviving royal house in Europe.^{[citation needed]} It ruled the County of Savoy to 1416 and then the Duchy of Savoy from 1416 to 1714.

The territory of Savoy was annexed to France in 1792 under the French First Republic, before being returned to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in 1815. Savoy was finally annexed to France, under the Second French Empire in 1860, as part of a political agreement brokered between the French emperor Napoleon III and King Victor Emmanuel II of the Kingdom of Sardinia that began the process of unification of Italy. Victor Emmanuel's dynasty, the House of Savoy, retained its Italian lands of Piedmont and Liguria and became the ruling dynasty of Italy.

Geography[link]

The County and Duchy of Savoy incorporated Turin and other territories in Piedmont, a region in northwestern Italy that borders Savoy, which were also possessions of the House of Savoy. The capital of the Duchy remained at the traditional Savoyard capital of Chambéry until 1563, when it was moved to Turin.

In modern France, Savoy is part of the Rhône-Alpes region. Following its annexation to France in 1860, the territory of Savoy was divided administratively into two separate departments, Savoie and Haute-Savoie.

Alpine landscape of Les Saisies, as seen from Mont Bisanne.

The traditional capital remains Chambéry (Ciamberì), on the rivers Leysse and Albane, hosting the castle of the House of Savoy and the Savoyard senate. The state included six districts:

• Savoie Propre, sometimes known as Ducal Savoy (capital Chambéry)
• Chablais (capital Thonon-les-Bains)
• Faucigny (capital Bonneville)
• Tarentaise (capital Moûtiers)
• Maurienne (capital Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne)
• Genevois (capital Annecy).

History[link]

Early history[link]

The region occupied by the Celtic Allobroges people^[2] became part of the Roman Empire. The name Savoy stems from the Late Latin Sapaudia, referring to a fir forest.^[3] It is first recorded in Ammianus Marcellinus (354), to describe the southern part of Maxima Sequanorum^[4] According to the Gallic Chronicle of 452, it was separated from the rest of Burgundian territories in 443, after the Burgundian defeat by Flavius Aetius.^[5]

Early and High Middle Ages[link]

By the 8th century, the territory that would later become known as Savoy was part of the Kingdom of the Franks, and at the division of Francia at the Treaty of Verdun in 843, it became part of the short-lived kingdom of Middle Francia. After only 12 years, at the death of Lothair I in 855, Middle Francia was divided into Lotharingia north of the Alps, Italy south of the Alps, and the parts of Burgundy in the Western Alps, inherited by Charles son of Lothair. This latter territory comprised what would become known as Savoy and Provence.

From the 10th to 14th century, parts of what would ultimately become Savoy remained within the Kingdom of Arles. Beginning in the 11th century, the gradual rise to power of the house of Savoy is reflected in the increasing territory of their County of Savoy between 1003 and 1416.

The County of Savoy was detached de jure from the Kingdom of Arles by Charles IV in 1361. It acquired the County of Nice in 1388, and in 1401 added the County of Genevois, the area of Geneva except for the city proper, which was ruled by its prince-bishop, nominally under the duke's rule: the bishops of Geneva, by unspoken agreement, came from the house of Savoy; this agreement came to an end in 1533.^[6]

Duchy of Savoy[link]

Map of Savoy in the 16th century, white lines are modern borders

On February 19, 1416, Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, made the County of Savoy an independent duchy, with Amédée VIII as the first duke. Straddling the Alps, Savoy lay within two competing spheres of influence, a French sphere and a North Italian one. At the time of the Renaissance, Savoy showed only modest development.^[7] Its towns were few and small.^[8] Savoy derived its subsistence from agriculture.^[9] The geographic location of Savoy was also of military importance.^[10] During the interminable wars between France and Spain over the control of northern Italy, Savoy was important to France because it provided access to Italy.^[11] Savoy was important to Spain because it served as a buffer between France and the Spanish held lands in Italy.^[12] In 1563 Emmanuel Philibert moved the capital from Chambéry to Turin, which was less vulnerable to French interference.^[13]

Vaud was annexed by Bern in 1536, and Savoy officially ceded Vaud to Bern in the treaty of Lausanne of 30 October 1564.

In 1714, as a consequence of the War of the Spanish Succession, Savoy was technically subsumed into the Kingdom of Sicily, then (after that island was traded to Austria for Sardinia) the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1720. While the heads of the House of Savoy were known as the Kings of Sardinia, Turin remained their capital.

French Revolutionary Wars[link]

Savoy was occupied by French revolutionary forces between 1792 and 1815. The region was first added to the département of Mont-Blanc, then in 1798 was divided between the départements of Mont-Blanc and Léman (French name of Lake Geneva.) In 1801, Savoy officially left the Holy Roman Empire.^[14] On September 13, 1793 the combined forces of Savoy, Piedmont and Aosta Valley fought against and lost to the occupying French forces at the Battle of Méribel (Sallanches). Two-thirds of Savoy was restored to the Kingdom of Sardinia in the First Restoration of 1814 following Napoleon's abdication; approximately one-third of Savoy, including the two most important cities of Chambéry and Annecy, remained in France. Following Napoleon's brief return to power during the Hundred Days and subsequent defeat at Waterloo, the remaining one-third of Savoy was restored to the Kingdom of Sardinia at the Congress of Vienna to strengthen Sardinia as a buffer state on France's southeastern border.

Modern history[link]

Robert Léopold Leprince - View of Savoy (Walters Art Museum)

From 1815 until 1860 Savoy was part of the Italian Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

Annexation to France[link]

The French Second Republic first attempted to annex Savoy in 1848. Corps were dispatched from Lyon and invaded the capital of Savoy [Chambéry] and proclaimed the annexation to France. On learning about the invasion countrymen rushed to Chambéry. The corps were chased away by the local population and many were massacred.^[15]

In order to secure an alliance against Austria in the wars of unification of Italy, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia Camillo Cavour met in secret with the French emperor Napoleon III on July 21, 1858 in Plombières (Vosges). During the discussion, Cavour promised that Sardinia would cede the County of Nice and Duchy of Savoy to France in exchange for military support in a planned war against Austria. Though this was a secret arrangement, it quickly became widely known.^[16]

The treaty annexing Nice and Savoy to France was signed in Turin on March 24, 1860 (Treaty of Turin).^[17] In the northern provinces of the Chablais and Faucigny, there was some sympathy for annexation to neighboring Switzerland, with which the northern provinces had longstanding economic ties. To help reduce the attractiveness of Switzerland, the French government conceded a free-trade Zone that maintained the longstanding duty-free relationship of northern Savoyard communes to Geneva. The treaty was followed on April 22–23 by a plebiscite employing universal male suffrage, in which voters were offered the option of voting "yes" to approve the treaty and join France or rejecting the treaty with a no vote. The disallowed options of either joining Switzerland, remaining with Italy, or regaining its independence, were the source of some opposition. With a 99.8% vote in favour of joining France, there were allegations of vote-rigging, notably by the British government, which opposed continental expansion by its traditional French enemy.

The correspondent of The Times in Savoy who was in Bonneville on April 22 called the vote "the lowest and most immoral farces which was ever played in the history of nations".^[18] He finished his letter with those words:

I leave you to draw your own conclusions from this trip, which will show clearly what the vote was in this part of Savoy. The vote was the bitterest irony ever made on popular suffrage. The ballot-box in the hands of those very authorities who issued the proclamations; no control possible; even travellers suspected and dogged lest they should pry into the matter; all opposition put down by intimidation, and all liberty of action completely taken away. One can really scarcely reproach the Opposition with having given up the game; there was too great force used against them. As for the result of the vote, therefore, no one need trouble himself about it; it will be just as brilliant as that in Nice. The only danger is lest the Savoy authorities in their zeal should fare as some of the French did in the vote of 1852, finding to their surprise rather more votes than voters inscribed on the list.

In his letter to the ambassador of Vienna Lord A. Loftus, the then Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell said "Voting in Savoy and Nice a farce ... we are neither entertained or edified".^[19]

The annexation was promulgated on June 14, 1860. On August 23, 1860 and March 7, 1861, two agreements were signed between the French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia to settle the remaining issues concerning the annexation.^{[20] [21]}

The Château de Chambéry, seat of government, was given a grand new façade following annexation

20th century[link]

In 1919, France officially (but contrary to the annexation treaty) ended the military neutrality of the parts of the country of Savoy that had originally been agreed to at the Congress of Vienna, and also eliminated the free trade zone - both treaty articles having been broken unofficially in World War I. France was condemned in 1932 by the international court for noncompliance with the measures of the treaty of Turin regarding the provinces of Savoy and Nice.^[22]

In 1960, the term annexation having acquired negative connotations in France, particularly after Germany's 1871 annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, the annexation was renamed Rattachement de la Savoie à la France (Incorporation of Savoy to France).^[23] It was the latter term which was used by the French authorities during the festivities celebrating the 100th anniversary of the annexation.^[24] Daniel Rops of the French Academy justified the new title with these words:

Savoy has begun to solemnize the feasts in 1960, commemorating the centenary of its incorporation (rattachement) to France. It is on purpose that the word incorporation (rattachement) is highlighted here: the Savoyards attach great value to it, and it is the only one they have resolved to use in the official terminology of the Centenary. In that, they are infinitely right. Yesterday another term that was used: annexation. Looking at it more closely it was wrong! Can we say annexation when we talk about a decision which was approved by 130,889 voters over 135,449? [...]. Savoy was not annexed [...] but actually incorporated freely and by the will of its inhabitants.

A former French deputy, P. Taponnier, spoke of the annexation:

In late March 1860, the betrothal ceremony of Savoy to France took place in Tuileries Palace (...), a ceremony which was a pact of love and fidelity [...] it is with free consent that she [Savoy] gave itself to France by a solemn plebiscite which our leaders can ignore neither the terms nor the commitments. [...] May the bells of our cities [...] in Savoy vibrate in unison to glorify, in this magnificent Centenary, the indefectible commitment of Savoy to France. The Savoyards did not feel Italian. Besides, they spoke French. This explains why in 1858-1859 when rumours ran of the Plombières secret agreement, where Napoleon III and Cavour decided of the fate of Savoy, the Savoyards themselves took the initiative to ask for the incorporatoin (rattachement). [...] Incorporation, not annexation [...] The incorporation was an act of free will, in the logical order of geography and history [...].

Modern regionalist politics[link]

Since the mid twentieth-century, regionalist movements have appeared in Savoy much as in other historic provinces of France. The Mouvement Région Savoie (Savoy Regional Movement) was founded in December 1971 as a 'movement' (rather than a traditional political party) in favour of regional autonomy. Unlike other historic provinces, including Alsace and Brittany, Savoy does not currently have its own region within France and is part of the Rhône-Alpes region. In the 1996 local elections, the Savoy Regional Movement received 19,434 votes; it received 4,849 in the 1998 regional elections. A new non-party organisation, La Région Savoie, j’y crois ! (I believe in the Savoy Region!), was founded in 1998. The organisation campaigns for the replacement of the Savoie and Haute-Savoie departments with a regional government, separate from the Rhône-Alpes region, with greater devolved powers.

A very marginal separatist movement has also appeared in Savoy within the past twenty years, most prominently represented by the Ligue Savoisienne, founded in 1994. In the March 1998 regional elections, 1 seat (out of 23) was won by Patrice Abeille, leader of the Ligue, which won a total of 17,865 votes across the two departments. In 2004, Waiting for Freedom in Savoy^[25] was founded to promote the peaceful separatist cause to young people.

According to surveys conducted in 2000, between 41% and 55% of the population were in favour of the proposal for a separate Savoy region, while 19% to 23% were in favour of separation from France. Towards the end of 2005, Hervé Gaymard called for Savoie to be given special status, similar to a French region, under his proposed 'Conseil des Pays de Savoie'.^[26]

Modern historiographical debates[link]

In recent years, sparked by the admittedly tiny Savoyard separatist movement, much attention has been focused on questioning the validity of the 1860 annexation. The Ligue Savoisienne, for example, rejects the Treaty of Turin and subsequent plebiscite as null and void, arguing that the plebiscite did not meet the standards of a free and fair vote. Today, historians generally acknowledge that the plebiscite of 1860 did feature irregularities, but they also affirm that the annexation instrument was the Treaty of Turin and not the plebiscite, whose main purpose was to demonstrate favorable public opinion in Savoy for the annexation after the signature of the treaty.^[27] In an interview for the newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré, Sylvain Milbach, a historian at the University of Savoy, qualifies the vote as Napoleonic, but also argues that a completely free and fair vote would not have dramatically changed the outcome, as the majority of Savoyards wished to become French.^[28] This is today the official stance of the General Council of Savoie.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Savoy

• House of Savoy
• Italian Savoyards
• List of active autonomist and secessionist movements

External links[link]

• The History of the Annexation of Savoy and Nice to France according to the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the others...
• Universal Suffrage under Napoleon III by Adams, Charles Kendall
• Savoy Region Movement (in French)
• Ligue Savoisienne (in English)
• La Région Savoie, j’y crois ! (in French)
• Francia Media}: a territorial and genealogical disambiguation of Lorraine and Burgundy, with a section on Savoy

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