She appeared wearing tinted glasses on the square in front of Turin Cathedral.
Marina Doria indeed attended the funeral of her husband Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, this Saturday, February 10.
The son of the last king of Italy died a week earlier, at the age of 86, after ten days of hospitalization in Geneva.
An ordeal during which Marina de Savoie was able to count on the support of their only son, Emmanuel-Philibert, her daughter-in-law Clotilde Courau and her granddaughters Vittoria, 20 years old, and Luisa, 17 years old.
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All her life, the 88-year-old widow was nevertheless considered the pillar of the family.
In particular that of her husband Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, at the heart of multiple scandals.
Born Marina Ricolfi Doria on February 12, 1935 in Geneva, she met her husband twenty years later, during a stay at the ski resort of Crans-Montana.
The life of this young woman from a family of five, raised by a Swiss banker father of Italian origin, René Italo Ricolfi Doria, and a mother from Pallanza, in Piedmont, will be forever changed.
Read alsoIn pictures, the funeral of Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, son of the last sovereign of Italy
Water skiing champion
When she met Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, it had been more than a decade since he fled Italy, in June 1946, after his fellow citizens voted in favor of the establishment of a Republic.
A refugee in Switzerland, the young man does not lead an orderly life.
This speed enthusiast almost killed himself at the wheel of his Ferrari and spent several stays in hospital.
A taste for risk that does not frighten Marina Doria.
Together, they will face many trials.
Including within their own entourage.
The one who once frequented the German millionaire Gunther Sachs is struggling to find favor in the eyes of her father-in-law Humbert II, the last sovereign of Italy.
And this, despite his impressive career.
In 1957, Marina Doria became the first European water skier to win the gold medal at the World Championships.
A competition in which she already won the silver medal two years previously.
She won a total of four world titles from 1953 to 1957, twelve European titles and twenty-three Swiss titles during her career.
But also entered the
Hall of Fame
of the International Water Ski Federation in 1991.
A forbidden love
Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, Marina Doria and their son Emmanuel-Philibert, immortalized in Gstaad.
(1973.) Abaca
It would take more to impress Humbert II, skeptical of this young woman who had no noble ancestry.
“I think he expected something else from his son,” said Marina de Savoie.
It's normal.
It's a very traditional family.
He must have expected his son to marry a princess of royal blood.”
No matter: Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy is not a man to let his conduct be dictated to him.
And find a way to get around this ban.
In 1969, he signed a decree proclaiming him king, then created a duchess title specifically for Marina Doria.
He married the latter in 1970, in Las Vegas, against the advice of his father.
On October 7, 1971, their religious marriage was celebrated in Tehran.
The couple welcomed a son, Emmanuel-Philibert, in 1972. However, their family was exposed to many challenges.
Scandals throughout which Marina de Savoie will remain her husband's rock.
A “heavy burden”
During the sunny days of 1978, the couple was staying at their home in Cavallo, in Corsica, when Victor-Emmanuel discovered that an Italian boater had stolen the boat moored to his yacht.
He then flies into a rage.
He threatens the said boater with his rifle.
During the altercation, one of his shots injured Dirk Geerd Hamer, a 19-year-old German, present at the scene.
The young man died a few weeks later.
The incident made international headlines.
A long legal procedure began at the time, which ended in 1991, before the Paris Court of Appeal.
The prince is acquitted of homicide, but convicted of violating weapons laws.
An ordeal during which Marina de Savoie acts as a pillar for her husband.
“We probably wanted to spare my father,” their son Emmanuel-Philibert de Savoie argued in the press.
It was my mother who had to face it.
From that moment on, she had to carry a much heavier burden than she had had to carry until then.”
Other problems with the law followed, notably in 2006, when Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie found himself involved in a pimping case in the management of a casino near Lake Como.
He was then sentenced to a week in prison and a month under house arrest in Italy.
Marina de Savoie will never stop defending him publicly.
And is by his side in good times and bad.
The “most important day”
Princess Marina, Prince Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy and Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy pose together.
(Geneva, May 11, 2006.) Abaca
In addition to these scandals, the couple fortunately experienced certain moments of happiness.
Marina de Savoie thus stood alongside her husband at Rome airport, when the latter improvised a press conference, in 2002. The Italian Parliament had then just lifted the exile of Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie, thanks to a law of Silvio Berlusconi.
“It’s the most important day for our family,” he emphasizes, calmly.
Extreme happiness for this couple who shared everything, the joys and the sadness.
Since the death of Victor-Emmanuel, Marina de Savoie has benefited from the support of their son Emmanuel-Philibert, who has become her own rock.
He recently expressed in
Gala
the wish to abdicate "when the time comes, in ten or fifteen years perhaps", for the benefit of his eldest daughter Vittoria.
Now queen de jure - a Latin expression often used for dethroned royal houses, whose lineage passes the torch but does not really reign -, Clotilde Courau, the latter's wife, also supported her mother-in-law during the funeral of Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, this Saturday February 10.