Luigi Amedeo di Savoy, Duke of Abruzzi [1873 - 1933] Was born in Madrid to the then king of Spain also a Savoy, who abdicated his throne only a few weeks after his son's birth and returned to Italy. When he was six years old, young Luigi was assigned to the Italian Navy and received his entire education in military schools. A man of great energy and imagination, at the age of 24 he organised and led the expedition that made the first ascent of Mount St Elias [5,484 metres] in Alaska in 1897. Two years later he led an expedition to the North Pole which reached a latitude 86^34' north, a new record at the time. In 1906 he led the Rwenzori expedition which climbed all the major peaks and made the most extensive exploration of the range before or since. A few years later, in 1909, he organised an expedition to the Karakoram and set the record for the highest altitude yet achieved by ascending the second highest mountain in the world, K2, to a height of about 7,500 metres [24,600 feet], along the route that today bears his name, the Abruzzi ridge. On the same journey he increased this record when he ascended Chogolisa (Bride Peak) to an even higher altitude, 7.654 metres (about 25.110 feet), but did not reach the summit. The first ascent to the summit of Chogolisa was not made until 45 years later. During his great period of adventure and exploration, the Duke of Abruzzi remained a professional naval officer and on 30 September 1911 he commanded the squadron that attacked Preveza, Greece, in the first action of the Italian ? Turkish War. Later, he commanded the Adriatic fleet of the Italian navy in World War I and is warmly remembered in Italy for his heroic rescue of more than 100.000 Yugoslav refugees from Albania. In his final years he became interested in the exploration and agricultural development of Somalia and Ethiopia, eventually marrying a Somali wife. After several expeditions to the region and the establishment of various agricultural schemes, he died in Ethiopia on 18th March 1933, where he was buried. In the 1980s the Duke?s family hoped to have his remains exhumed and returned to Italy, but bowed to the wishes of the Ethiopian villagers who refused to allow the exhumation, wanting to keep his remains ? and memory ? with them.