As time reached June of 1877, a message from the Kingdom of Italy caused Carlo to change his travel plans for the second half of the year.
Carlo's father, Vittorio Emanuele II, had suffered from rapidly deteriorating health ever since unifying Italy, and the poor state of Italian affairs left Emanuele II overwhelmed every day.
Since January of this year, Vittorio Emanuele II had passed the majority of his governmental duties to his eldest son, Crown Prince Umberto, while he himself resided in a villa outside of Rome to recuperate.
However, the medical technology of this era proved unreliable, and after half a year of recuperation, Vittorio Emanuele II's health had not improved. Instead, it worsened, leaving him bedridden and seemingly with little time remaining.
