Prince
Victor Emmanuel of Savoy
, son of the last king of Italy, died this Saturday
in Geneva, Switzerland, at the age of 86
and after a long exile.
He is the last heir of
Umberto II
, who held the throne briefly between May and June 1946, when the Italians became a Republic.
It was the Royal House of Savoy that confirmed the news with an official statement: "His Royal Highness Victor Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy and
Prince of Naples
, passed away
peacefully
in Geneva surrounded by his family."
The text specifies that the place and date of the
funeral
will be announced in the next few hours.
The Prince's lawyer, Sergio Orlandi, stated that the death occurred during the morning, the AFP news agency reported.
The aristocrat left his country at the age of 9,
exiled
along with all the male descendants of the royal house by the 1946 Constitution, as a
sanction
for the collaboration of his grandfather, Victor Emmanuel III, with the
fascist regime of Benito Mussolini
and the signature of two racial laws.
Victor Emmanuel of Savoy: exile, return and a life dotted with scandals and controversies
Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, born on February 12, 1937 in Naples,
was the patriarch of the house of Savoy
, who reigned in unified Italy from 1861 to 1946, and the son of the last monarch that Italy had.
Exiled,
he returned to his country in December 2002
, after the lifting of exile voted by the Italian Parliament.
To obtain it, he had to
swear allegiance to the Republic,
a gesture he had
long rejected
.
In 1978 he was
accused of shooting dead
a young German tourist, Dirk Hamer, in southern Corsica.
After a long trial, the prince, who claimed his innocence,
was acquitted in 1991
.
Netflix narrates this event in the series "
In the shadow of the throne
", broadcast on the platform since July 2023.
In 2006 he was involved in a
pimping
and slot machine case that earned him
a week in prison
and a month of house arrest.
The monarch married in 1970, in a civil marriage, the heiress of a rich family of Swiss industrialists of Italian origin, Marina Recolfi-Doria, a water skiing champion.
Víctor Manuel and Marina de Saboya, when they went to the royal wedding of King Felipe of Spain and Letizia Ortiz.
AP Photo
Because Umberto II was opposed to the marriage, the religious ceremony was held
a year later in privacy
and with the Shah of Iran as a witness.
With information from agencies.
D.S.