Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy. between murder and forbidden love, the dark past of the son of Italy’s last king

In another life, he could have become a king. Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, however, never had the opportunity to wear the crown. Condemned to exile for many years, the son of the last sovereign of Italy lived a turbulent existence, full of excesses and scandals. A fate awakened in a Netflix documentary Shadow of the Throne, signed by Beatrice Borromeo and released on July 4, 2023 on the platform. Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie, 86, died on Saturday, February 3, in Geneva, Switzerland, after a ten-day hospitalization. An eight-year-old in a coma in his final moments has died in the country that welcomed him for decades. His funeral will take place in Turin, Italy this Saturday, February 10. A country with which he maintained intense relations throughout his life.

“May King”

Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie was born on the Mediterranean coast on February 12, 1937. The little boy grew up in Naples alongside his three sisters: Marie-Pia, Marie-Gabriel born in 1934, Marie-Gabriel born in 1940 and Marie-Beatrice. born in 1943. Her life changed a few months after her ninth birthday. In 1946, Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy participated in the coronation of his father, Humbert II, who became the country’s monarch. The most ephemeral kingdom. So much so that the Italians called him the “king of May”. The sovereign was actually forced to abdicate a month later, after a referendum organized in June 1946.

The choice of his fellow citizens, for whom the royal family is now a symbol of compromise with fascism, falls to the Republic. Humbert II’s family, in turn, was sentenced to exile. Head to Portugal, then Helvetia, where the clan settles permanently. For Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie, this new residence was not synonymous with stability. In his youth, the son of Humbert II increased his extravagances. In a frenzy of speed, the prince nearly killed himself behind the wheel of his Ferrari and ended up in hospital several times. During the summer, Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie attended the social evenings of Saint-Tropez. In winter, it gains altitude in Crans Montana in the canton of Valais.

Live Las Vegas

It was at this same Swiss resort that he met Marina Doria. Very quickly, the prince fell in love with the former world champion in water skiing. A love story that Humbert II is far from approving of. The patriarch refuses to allow his son, who has become a consultant for various Italian companies abroad, to marry a woman of non-noble origin. Like any self-respecting rebel, Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy found a way around this ban. In 1969, he signed a decree declaring himself 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 had a son in 1972, Emmanuel-Philibert de Savoie.

Murder in Corsica

This family life does not make Victor-Emmanuel a tidy person. The opposite. The troubles for the prince have only just begun. On a sunny day in 1978, he was staying at his home in Cavallo, Corsica, when he discovered that an Italian boatman had stolen a boat moored to his yacht. Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy was then furious. He threatens the boatman with his rifle. During the dispute, one of his shots injured 19-year-old German Dirk Gerd Hamer, who was at the scene. A few weeks later, the young man died. The incident became international news. A long legal process then began, which ended in 1991 at the Paris Court of Appeal. The prince is acquitted of murder, but convicted of violating the gun law.

“The most important day”.

In her Netflix documentary, Italian journalist Beatrice Borromeo also recalls the dark side of Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy. In addition to the Cavallo drama, Monaco’s daughter-in-law Carolina, whose family is close to the victim’s, goes back to Victor-Emmanuel’s former membership in the scandalous P2 Masonic lodge. The report also highlights that the prince’s name appears in the investigation into the sale of Italian arms to countries in the Middle East, for which he acted as an intermediary. His case has since disappeared under mysterious circumstances, according to an investigating magistrate interviewed in the series.

And while the prince finally reconnected with Italy in 2002, thanks to a law lifting Silvio Berlusconi’s ban on entering the country, the scandals continued. First, the prince refuses to apologize for his grandfather’s choice to sign the racial laws that allowed the deportation of thousands of Italian Jews from 1943. He is then asked to swear an oath of allegiance to the Republic. However, he ended up complying when the Italian parliament voted to lift his exile. And finally he sets foot in Italy. “This is the most important day for our family,” he said at a press conference at Rome’s airport.

Dark secrets

But one controversy leads to another, the father of the family once again finds himself in the spotlight for dark reasons. His visit to Naples the following year was marked by the presence of fascist activists and nostalgics of the ruined House of Bourbon, who came to greet him at a mass in the cathedral. Three years later, Victor-Emmanuel de Savoy found himself involved in pimping in the management of a casino near Lake Como. Then he was sentenced to one week of imprisonment and one month of house arrest.

Under interrogation, he admits that he “deceived” the Asiatic Court in Paris in the Hamer case. He later denied making these comments. In 2007, Victor-Emmanuel was again in the spotlight. In a letter addressed to the President of the Italian Republic, he demands 260 million euros in moral compensation for his exile, as well as the return of the family’s property, which belongs to the state. However, he eventually gave in, 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 Bot, away from prying eyes.

Oath Queen

His son Emmanuel-Philibert notes his participation Gala that he will abdicate “when the time comes, maybe in ten or fifteen years” in favor of his daughter Vittoria, now 20. The prince is also father to Louisa, 17. A decision made possible by the abolition of the Slab Law, decided by Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy himself. Meanwhile, his wife, actress Clotilda Cura, will hold the title of “queen de jure,” a Latin phrase often used for deposed royals whose lineages pass the torch but don’t actually reign.

Sentenced to stay in Italy after the pimping case that led to his conviction in 2006, Victor-Emmanuel stated: “Life is very strange sometimes. I waited fifty-six years to return to Italy, and now I cannot leave it.” After his funeral, he will be laid to rest in the Basilica of Superga, the Savoy family necropolis, near the Piedmontese capital.