Count Gian Galeazzo Ciano and Edda Mussolini at their wedding reception at the Villa Torlonia, official residence of Il Duce at Rome, 24 April, 1930.  Not sure whether Edda is waving or saluting.  To the left of the 'photo stands the Duce himself - looking somewhat uncomfortable in formal morning dress.  Best regards, JR.

Happy Couple.

Edda, eldest child of Benito Mussolini, with her husband, Italian diplomat Gian Galeazzo Ciano, second Count of of Cortelazzo and Buccari.  Ciano, son of a WW1 war hero and Fascist loyalist, served in diplomatic posts in Brazil and (two periods) at the Italian Consulate at Shanghai.  He later served as Information Minister and (most famously) Foreign Minister in his father-in-law's government.  However, having supported the palace coup that ousted Mussolini in 1943, and failed to flee to Spain with his family, he was tried and executed for treason against the Italian Social Republic.  Count Ciano was executed by shooting at Verona, 11 January, 1944.  Best regards, JR.

Handsome couple.

Edda Mussolini-Ciano (in fantastic bathing cap) and Count Galeazzo Ciano on the beach.  Hard to know what to make of this marriage.  On the one hand, Ciano (like Papa Mussolini) was an inveterate womaniser and (in his case) brothel patron.  Edda did rather a lot of drinking, and was also known for "consoling" herself on the amorous front.  On the other, they had three children (Edda is supposed to have wanted only one), and were a very good working partnership, with Edda having a huge talent for the role of the old-fashioned diplomatic wife.  She remained loyal to him to the end, attempting to flee with him to Spain (their plane was forced down by the Germans with Mussolini's agreement, and they were sent back to the RSI), and pleading with the Duce for clemency on Ciano's behalf.  That the Duce did not heed this plea may be due to anger at Ciano's betrayal (as he would have seen it) at the Fascist Grand Council; though I am inclined to think it had more to do with the hostility of the Germans towards Ciano (he did not like them very much, either), and Mussolini was not in much of a position to say no to the Germans at this stage.  However much he loved his daughter - and he seems to have loved her very much.  Best regards, JR.