Charles Emmanuel III (27 April 1701 – 20 February 1773) was Duke of Savoy, King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard states from his father's adbication on 3 September 1730 until his death in 1773.

Charles Emmanuel was born in Turin to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and his first wife the French Anne Marie d'Orléans.

Victor Amadeus was forced to exchange Sicily for the less important Kingdom of Sardinia in 1720 after objections from an alliance of four nations, including some of his former allies.

He established himself in Moncalieri, but Charles Emmanuel managed to have the former king arrested by the Crown Council, in order to prevent him from attacking Milan and probably causing an invasion of Piedmont.

Charles Emmanuel sided with Maria Theresa of Austria in the War of the Austrian Succession, receiving financial and naval support from Great Britain and the Dutch Republic.

After noteworthy but inconclusive initial successes, he had to face the French-Spanish invasion of Savoy and, after a failed allied attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples, the County of Nice.

In 1747, he obtained a crushing victory over the French at the Battle of Assietta, and his territories were saved when the main battleground moved northwards to the Netherlands.

The outcome was the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which revealed his qualities as a negotiator, in as much as he both regained the lost provinces of Nice and Savoy, and obtained Vigevano as well as other lands in the Pianura Padana.

He declined to participate in the Seven Years' War (1756–63), preferring to concentrate on administrative reforms, maintaining a well-disciplined army and strengthening his fortresses.