 In response to objections from the CLN, Bonomi in practice accepted their claim that they represented the Italian people rather than the Crown while still swearing an oath of loyalty to Umberto as the Lieutenant General of the Realm when he took the prime minister's oath.An attempt by Umberto to have Churchill issue a public statement in favor of the monarchy led Macmillan to warn Umberto to try to be more politically neutral as regent.However, Churchill during a visit to Rome in January 1945 called Umberto "a far more impressive figure than the politicians".