Prince Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, son of the last king of Italy, died this Saturday in Geneva, Switzerland at the age of 86, his lawyer Sergio Orlandi told AFP, confirming information from Italian media.
“His royal highness, Victor Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy and Prince of Naples died peacefully in Geneva surrounded by his family,” indicates a brief press release from the royal house of Savoy cited by the media, specifying that the place and date Funeral services will be announced at a later date.
His son, Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy, prince of Piedmont, is now pretender to the throne of Italy.
Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, born February 12, 1937 in Naples, was the head of the House of Savoy who ruled unified Italy from 1861 to 1946 and the son of the last king, Umberto II, who only occupied the throne only from May to June 1946.
Some trips to prison
He left Italy at the age of 9, banished with all male descendants of the royal house by the Constitution of 1946 to sanction the collaboration of his grandfather, Victor Emmanuel III, with the fascist regime and the signing racial laws.
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He was only able to return to the peninsula in December 2002, after the lifting of the exile voted by the Italian Parliament.
To obtain it, he had to swear loyalty to the Republic, a gesture he refused for a long time.
Imprisoned in 2006 in connection with a case of corruption, pimping and trafficking in slot machines, he was acquitted four years later.
In 1978, he was implicated in the death of a young German man after a gunshot wound.
The prince was only sentenced, 13 years later, to a six-month suspended prison sentence for possessing and carrying weapons.