 In the fall of 1943, many Italian monarchists, like Benedetto Croce and Count Carlo Sforza, pressed for Victor Emmanuel III to abdicate and for Umberto to renounce his right to the succession in favor of his 6-year-old son, with a regency council to govern Italy as the best hope of saving the monarchy.Sforza, who tried to interest the British members of the ACC in this plan as he called Victor Emmanuel a "despicable weakling" and Umberto "a pathological case", saying neither were qualified to rule Italy.But given the unwillingness of the king to abdicate, nothing came of it.