The second King of Sardinia, he was born in Turin on the 27th of April 1701 the fourth-born child of Vittorio Amedeo II and Anna di Borbone d’Orleans.
In 1722 Carlo Emanuele married Anna Maria di Baveria Sultsback (1704-1723), he then married Polissena Cristina d’Assia Rhinfels Rottemburg who give him six children (1706-1735) and lastly in 1737, Elisabetta Teresa di Lorena (1711-1741) with whom he fathered three children, the last of whom is Benedetto Maria Maurizio, Duke of Chiablese who will receive the landed estate and the Castle of Agliè from his father.
Following the death of his brother Vittorio Amedeo Filippo, (1715) Carlo Emanuele became the Prince of Piedmont and the heir to that throne onto which he would rise on the 20th of September 1730 due to renunciation of the crown by his father Vittorio Amedeo II.
In forty-three years of reign he strengthened the army and the fortifications and participated in the wars of Polish and Austrian succession. An able leader, in the first conflict he was on the side of France and Spain, against Austria and hoping to take Milan.
The peace of Vienna, in 1735, gave him Novara, Tortona and the Langhe.
In the Austrian war of succession he was on the side of Maria Teresa of Austria, against France and Spain.
He was a lover of art which he considered "decorations of royal power".
In 1741 he purchased the collection of Prince Eugenio.
In his government he availed himself of ministers such as the Marquis of Ormea and Giambattista Bogino.
He published good laws and granted Royal Constitutions.
He was active in the expansion of the Scientific Museums of the University and supported and financed the scientific and commercial dispatch of Vitalino Donati to Egypt, from whom the materials that constitute the initial nucleus of the Egyptian Museum of Turin originated.
He had numerous children: Vittorio Amedeo Teodoro (who died in infancy), Vittorio Amedeo (who succeeded him to the throne), Eleonora Teresa, Maria Ludovica Gabriella, Maria Felicita, Emanuele Filiberto Duke of Aosta, Carlo Romualdo, Carlo Francesco, Maria Vittoria, Benedetto Maria Maurizio, Duke of Chiablese, who married his niece Maria Anna di Savoia in 1775.
As a form of appanage for the latter in 1764 the King purchased the Castle of Agliè from Carlo Emanuele and Francesco Flaminio di San Martino along with the assets within the territories of Bairo, Ozegna and Torre Canavese.
He died on the 20th of February 1773 and was buried in Superga.
