The House of Savoy (Italian: Casa Savoia) is one of the oldest royal families in the world, being founded in year 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to the attainment of kingly dignity (Sicily) in 1713. Through its junior branch, the House of Savoy-Carignano, it led the unification of Italy in 1861 and ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II and, briefly, the Kingdom of Spain in the 19th century. The Savoyard kings of Italy were Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III, and Umberto II. The last monarch ruled for a few weeks before being deposed following the Constitutional Referendum of 1946, after which the Italian Republic was proclaimed.