| Charles Albert | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Portrait by Pietro Ayres, c. 1832, wearing the collar of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation | |||||
| King of Sardinia Duke of Savoy | |||||
| Reign | 27 April 1831 – 23 March 1849 | ||||
| Coronation | 27 April 1831 | ||||
| Predecessor | Charles Felix | ||||
| Successor | Victor Emmanuel II | ||||
| Prime ministers | |||||
| Born | 2 October 1798 Palazzo Carignano, Turin | ||||
| Died | 28 July 1849 (aged 50) Porto, Portugal | ||||
| Burial | 14 October 1849 | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Victor Emmanuel II Prince Ferdinando, Duke of Genoa Princess Maria Cristina | ||||
| |||||
| House | Savoy-Carignano | ||||
| Father | Charles Emmanuel of Savoy | ||||
| Mother | Maria Christina of Saxony | ||||
| Religion | Catholic Church | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
Charles Albert (Italian: Carlo Alberto I; 2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard state from 27 April 1831 until his abdication in 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constitution, the Statuto Albertino, and with the First Italian War of Independence (1848–1849).
During the Napoleonic period, he resided in France, where he received a liberal education. As Prince of Carignano in 1821, he granted and then withdrew his support for a rebellion which sought to force Victor Emmanuel I to institute a constitutional monarchy. He became a conservative and participated in the legitimist expedition against the Spanish liberals in 1823 known as the "Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis".
He became king of Sardinia in 1831 on the death of his distant cousin Charles Felix, who had no heir. As king, after an initial conservative period during which he supported various European legitimist movements, he adopted the neo-Guelph idea of a federal Italy, led by the Pope and freed from the House of Habsburg in 1848. In the same year, he granted the Albertine Statute, the first Italian constitution, which remained in force until 1947.
Charles Albert led his forces against the Imperial Austrian army in the First Italian War of Independence but was abandoned by Pope Pius IX and Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and was defeated in 1849 at the Battle of Novara, after which he abdicated in favour of his son, Victor Emmanuel II. Charles Albert died in exile a few months later in the Portuguese city of Porto.
The attempt to free northern Italy from Austria represents the first attempt of the House of Savoy to alter the equilibrium established in the Italian peninsula after the Congress of Vienna. These efforts were continued successfully by his son Victor Emmanuel II, who became the first king of a unified Italy in 1861. Charles Albert received several nicknames including "the Italian Hamlet" (given to him by Giosuè Carducci on account of his gloomy, hesitant, and enigmatic character)[1] as well as "the Hesitant King" (Re Tentenna) because he hesitated for a long time between the establishment of a constitutional monarchy and the reinforcement of absolute rule.