She was the daughter of Prince Ferdinand of Savoy, Duke of Genoa and Princess Elisabeth of Saxony, and the mother of the King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.

[1] In 1867, the royal council president Luigi Federico Menabrea, pressed the king to arrange a marriage between Margherita and her cousin, the heir to the Italian throne.

[1] The attempted assassination of the king by Giovanni Passannante in November 1878 reportedly made her work even more forcefully to strengthen the prestige of the crown and build loyalty to the institution by gathering followers and making connections.

[1] As when she was a crown princess, she was actively assisted in this networking and image building by her favorite courtiers, marchioness Paola Pes di Villamarina and marquis Emanuele Pes di Villamarina, who were appointed her dama d’onore (senior lady in waiting) and cavaliere d’onore (senior lord in waiting), respectively.

Queen Margherita was also involved in state affairs: viewing democracy as a potential threat to the monarchy, she supported Francesco Crispi against parliament.

[1] As a central figure of the conservative forces, she supported the repressive actions toward the rioters in Milan in 1898, which lead to the Bava Beccaris massacre.

[1] On 18 August 1893, in the company of various guides, porters, Alpini, politicians and aristocrats, Margherita climbed the Punta Gnifetti (or Signalkuppe), a peak of the Monte Rosa massif on the Swiss–Italian border, for the inauguration of the mountain hut named after her.

[1] As queen dowager, Margherita took a step back and allowed her daughter-in-law to take precedence, as this was a part of the monarchical system which was her ideal;[1] however, this did not mean that she retired from public life, and she remained a dominant public figure, performing what she regarded as her dynastic duties by making official visits to hospitals and churches until her death.

She disliked the tolerance of democracy displayed by her son, the king, which she viewed as a form of socialist monarchy, and worked to ensure the monarchic traditions as much as she could against democratic tendencies.

[citation needed] Dowager Queen Margherita died in her villa in Bordighera on 4 January 1926, aged 74, after having a long attack of pleurisy.

In this occasion showed all the affection popular at the passage of the railway train, when an emotional crowd hindered and slowed down the progress of the same, in order to be able to approach and throw flowers.

[5][6] The Pizza Margherita, whose red tomatoes, green basil, and white mozzarella cheese represent the Italian flag, was named after her in 1889.