In another life, he could have become king.
Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, however, never had the opportunity to wear the crown.
Condemned to long years of exile, the son of the last sovereign of Italy experienced a stormy existence, full of excesses and scandals.
A destiny evoked in the Netflix documentary
The Shadow of the Throne
, signed Beatrice Borromeo and unveiled on July 4, 2023 on the platform.
Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie, 86, died on Saturday February 3, after ten days of hospitalization in Geneva, Switzerland.
Plunged into a coma during his last moments, the octogenarian died in the country that welcomed him for decades.
His funeral takes place in Turin, Italy, this Saturday, February 10.
A country with which he has maintained a turbulent relationship throughout his life.
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The “King of May”
Prince Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy poses with his sisters Marie-Pia and Marie-Gabrielle.
(Date unknown.) Abaca
Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie was born on the Mediterranean shore on February 12, 1937. The little boy grew up in Naples, alongside his three sisters Marie-Pia, born in 1934, Marie-Gabrielle, born in 1940, and Marie- Béatrice, born in 1943. Her life changed a few months after her ninth birthday.
In 1946, Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy attended the coronation of his father Humbert II, who had become monarch of the country.
A most ephemeral reign.
So much so that the Italians nicknamed him the “King of May”.
The sovereign was in fact forced to relinquish power a month later, after a referendum organized in June 1946.
Also read: Prince Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy will “abdicate” in favor of his daughter Vittoria, 19 years old
The choice of his fellow citizens, for whom the royal family is now a symbol of compromise with fascism, falls on the Republic.
The family of Humbert II was, for its part, condemned to exile.
Direction Portugal, then Helvetia, where the clan takes up permanent residence.
For Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie, this new residence was not synonymous with stability.
During his young years, the son of Humbert II increased his excesses.
Passionate about speed, the prince almost killed himself at the wheel of his Ferrari and spent several stays in hospital.
During the summer, Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie frequented the social evenings of Saint-Tropez.
In winter, it gains height in Crans-Montana, in the canton of Valais.
Live Las Vegas
Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, Marina Doria and their son Emmanuel-Philibert, immortalized in Gstaad.
(1973.) Abaca
It was in this same Swiss resort that he met Marina Doria.
Very quickly, the prince fell in love with this former world water skiing champion.
A love story that Humbert II is far from approving.
The patriarch refuses to allow his son, who has become a consultant for various Italian companies abroad, to marry a woman without noble ancestry.
Like any self-respecting rebel, Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy found a way to circumvent this ban.
In 1969, he signed a decree proclaiming him king.
And creates a duchess title specifically for Marina Doria.
The following year, he married her in Las Vegas, then celebrated their religious wedding in Tehran.
The couple gave birth to a son, Emmanuel-Philibert de Savoie, in 1972.
A homicide in Corsica
This family life does not make Victor-Emmanuel a tidy man.
Quite the contrary: for the prince, the troubles have only just begun.
During the sunny days of 1978, he was staying at his home in Cavallo, in Corsica, when he discovered that an Italian boater had stolen the boat moored to his yacht.
Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy then went 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.
The “most important day”
Princess Marina, Prince Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy and Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy pose together.
(Geneva, May 11, 2006.) Abaca
In her Netflix documentary, Italian journalist Beatrice Borromeo also evokes the dark side of Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy.
In addition to the Cavallo drama, Caroline of Monaco's daughter-in-law, whose family is close to that of the victim, returns to Victor-Emmanuel's past membership in the scandalous P2 Masonic lodge.
The program also highlights that the prince's name appears in an investigation into Italian arms sales to Middle Eastern countries, for which he is said to have acted as intermediary.
Since then, his file has disappeared under mysterious circumstances, according to an investigating magistrate interviewed in the series.
And if the prince finally reconnected with Italy in 2002, thanks to a law by Silvio Berlusconi repealing his ban on entering the country, scandals continued to erupt.
First, the prince refuses to apologize for his grandfather's choice to sign racial laws, which allowed the deportation of thousands of Italian Jews starting in 1943. Then, he is asked to swear loyalty to the Republic.
He nevertheless ended up complying when the Italian Parliament voted to lift his exile.
And finally sets foot in Italy.
“This is the most important day for our family,” he said during an impromptu press conference at Rome airport.
Dark secrets
But one controversy leads to another, the father of the family finds himself once again thrust into the spotlight for dark reasons.
The following year, his visit to Naples was marked by the presence of fascist activists and those nostalgic for the fallen house of Bourbon, who came to welcome him during a mass at the cathedral.
Three years later, Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie found himself involved in a pimping affair in the management of a casino near Lake Como.
He was then sentenced to one week in prison and one month under house arrest.
Wiretapped, he confides having “duped” the Paris Assize Court in the Hamer affair.
He later denied having made these comments.
In 2007, Victor-Emmanuel was once again in the spotlight.
In a letter to the President of the Italian Republic, he asks for 260 million euros in moral compensation for his exile, as well as the restitution of the family's property, held by the State.
However, he ended up giving up, faced with the scale of the controversy in Italy.
No doubt burned by these repeated scandals, Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy will spend the rest of his life between Switzerland and La Botte, away from prying eyes.
Queen of swear
Emmanuel-Philibert de Savoie and Clotilde Courau, photographed in Rome.
(January 16, 2011.) Abaca
His son Emmanuel-Philibert indicates for his part in
Gala
that he will abdicate "when the time comes, in ten or fifteen years perhaps", for the benefit of his daughter Vittoria, now aged 20 - the prince also being a father of Luisa, 17 years old.
A decision made possible by the abolition of Salic law, decided by Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy in person.
In the meantime, his wife, actress Clotilde Courau, will bear the title of “queen de jure”, a Latin expression often used for dethroned royal houses, whose lineage passes the torch but does not actually reign.
Sentenced to remain on Italian territory after the pimping case which led to his conviction in 2006, Victor-Emmanuel declared: “Life is sometimes very strange.
I waited fifty-six years to return to Italy, and now I can’t leave it.”
After his funeral, he will rest in the basilica of Superga, necropolis of the Savoy family, near the Piedmontese capital.