In 1868, after his marriage, he was made vice admiral of the Italian Royal Navy, but the position ended when he ascended the Spanish throne.

[1] In 1867, his father yielded to the entreaties of the parliamentary deputy Francesco Cassins, and on 30 May of that year, Amedeo was married to Donna Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo.

The King initially opposed the match on the grounds that her family was of insufficient rank and that he hoped for his son to marry a German princess.

She was, however, the sole heir to her father's vast fortune,[2] which subsequent Dukes of Aosta inherited, thereby obtaining wealth independent of their dynastic appanage and allowances from Italy's kings.

[2] The wedding day of Prince Amedeo and Donna Maria Vittoria was marred by the death of a station master, who was crushed under the wheels of the honeymoon train.

[2] After the Glorious Revolution deposed Isabella II in September 1868, the new Cortes began the task of searching for a suitable liberal-leaning candidate from a new dynasty to replace her.

[4] Amadeo then had to deal with difficult situations, with unstable Spanish politics, republican conspiracies, Carlist uprisings, a pro-independence war in Cuba, interparty disputes, fugitive governments and assassination attempts.

The progressives were divided into monarchists and constitutionalists, which worsened the country's instability, and in 1872 a violent outburst of interparty conflicts hit a peak.

[1] With the possibility of reigning without popular support, Amadeo issued an order against the artillery corps and then immediately abdicated from the Spanish throne on 11 February 1873.