So to another of the pizzas of Naples, Pizza Margherita, which tends to be served in rounds, not slices, and which has a raised edge. That is made of basil, buffalo mozzarella, and tomatoes- or, if you have not noticed already, the colours of the Italian flag, green, white and red.
As for our card, it is rather devious, for actually it is not the man portrayed, King Umberto I, that we celebrate today, it is his wife - or, it may be his wife, as many think this story apocryphical. But if we are willing to go with it, on the 10th of June, 1889, his wife, Queen Margherita, paid a visit to the Royal Palace of Capodimonte.
Then the story gets a little foggy, because some versions say that the palace commissioned Raffaela Esposito, without her knowing, to create a pizza just like the Italian flag in her honour, whilst others say that several varieties of pizza were simply on the menu, and she chose, or just preferred, the one in those colours. And so it was named after her, then, and now. And the same event led to Raffaela Esposito becoming known as the inventor of pizza, which he was not - though he was the first person to be known by name for making it. In any event, this sort of pizza was well known in Naples, almost a century before, and in 1866 it was included in a book by Francesco de Bourcard, as one of the traditions of Naples. That kind of rules out that the pizza of the flag was created for Queen Margherita, but not that she may have said she liked it best - even if, in doing so, she was only being patriotic.
You can also find King Umberto I on the rather long-windedly titled, but unnumbered, Kinney set of "50 International Cards - Combining Portrait of Ruler, Flag and Highest Order of the Various Countries of the World", issued in 1888, and the Allen & Ginter set of 50 "World`s Sovereigns", issued one year later.
As for his Queen, she does also appear as part of Felix Potin`s "Celebrites Contemporaines" but its black and white and this one I use of her husband is much more fun, and more colourful.
The set appears to be European royals, and so far I know of :
- Alphonse XIII - place not named (1886-1941)
- Don Carlos - Lisbonne (1889-1908)
- Francois-Joseph - Luxembourg (?)
- Oscar II - Stockholm (1872-1905)
- Umberto I - Rome (1878-1900)
- Victoria - Windsor (1837-1901).
- Wilhelmine - Haye (1890-1948)
We also know that the set was issued by other companies
- Chocolat de la Grande Trappe - no idea of location - chocolate
- La Kabiline - no idea of location - dyes
- Le Cafe de Malt, Kneipp - Usine a Juvisy sur Orge, France - coffee
- Le Sans Rival - chocolate
And if anyone can add any more of either the royals or the issuers, do please let us know