The Aostas did not attend Jolanda's baptism

June 20, 1901

The Duke and Duchess of Aosta were "conspicuous by the absence at the royal christening" of Princess Jolanda of Savoy, the first born daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele and Queen Elena, reports the Marquise de Fontenoy. 

Relations between the King and Queen and the Duke and Duchess "are so strained that all intercourse otherwise than strictly official has been suspended."    The Duchess of Aosta, who was Princess Helene of Orléans before her marriage, is "almost insanely ambitious."  She married the Duke of Aosta on the "understanding that King Victor Emanuel would never wed."   She has looked upon the King's marriage to Princess Elena of Montenegro as a "breach of faith," but she would have been "disposed to forgive" if the King's marriage had remained childless.

It is only natural that the young Queen "should have become a mother" and provided the nation with an heir to the throne, but the Duchess of Aosta has taken the birth to be a "mortal personal injury," since her prospects of becoming Queen of Italy are now diminished. 

But until the Queen gives birth to a son,  the Duke of Aosta remains the heir presumptive to the throne.