Vita gazette – The son of Umberto II, the last king of Italy and queen Maria José, Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, has died in Geneva. The funeral will be celebrated in Superga on Saturday 10th, at 3 pm, where he will be buried.

Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, son of Umberto II, the last king of Italy, and Maria José, has died. He would have turned 87 on February 12. The death occurred in Geneva. The announcement was made in a Royal House of Savoy note. “At 7.05 this morning, February 3 2024, Vittorio Emanuele, Duke of Savoy and Prince of Naples, surrounded by his family, passed away peacefully in Geneva.”

His full name was Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria, and upon his birth (in Naples on February 12 1937), he was immediately acclaimed as “the prince of the Empire” then recently proclaimed by the fascist regime.

His father, Umberto II, had been king in May 1946 before the referendum of June 2 swept away the monarchy, which, with his grandfather, Vittorio Emanuele III, had compromised itself with fascism, racial laws and war.

The last attempt to save what could be kept with the abdication that had placed Umberto on the throne and his wife Maria Josè was useless.

After the Republic’s proclamation, the royal family’s male descendants were exiled after the end of the monarchy in Italy in 1946. They remained in exile between Switzerland, France, and Corsica until the end of 2002.

The Italian Parliament lifted the entry ban in 2002.

Following the abolition of the constitutional rule that forced the male heirs of the House of Savoy into exile, they could return to Italy.

King Umberto’s son Vittorio Emanuele and son Emanuele Filiberto, who spent most of their time in exile in Switzerland, renounced their claims to the throne.

In 2002, with a statement issued by Geneva, he officially distanced himself from the racial laws for the first time in the history of the House of Savoy. Also, in 2002, declarations were published in which he accepted the end of the monarchy. With his son, he swore in writing unconditional fidelity to the Republican Constitution and the President of the Republic, thus explicitly renouncing any dynastic claim on the Italian State.

In 2007, however, he asked for compensation from the Italian State of 260 million euros for the exile and the restitution of the assets confiscated in 1948. In 2022, however, he asked for the restitution of the family jewels, which have long been kept in the chests of the Bank of Italy.

Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, after 13 years of engagement, despite the opposition of his father Umberto, married Marina Doria with a civil ceremony in Las Vegas on January 11 1970 and with a religious ceremony in Tehran on October 7 1971. The marriage with Marina Doria was born in 1972, and his son Emanuele Filiberto, who, in the meantime, had also become a well-known television personality.