The first Parliament of a united Italy met in Turin and unanimously passed a bill designating Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia as the first king of a new nation. Victor Emmanuel retained the "second" in his title, in honor of his father and his royal house. The vote took place of the new king's forty-first birthday. He signed the edict three days later. Britain quickly recognized the new Italy as did the United States a short time later. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Pietro Orsi, Cavour and the Making of Modern Italy, 1810-1861 (New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1914), 329-330.