Victor Manuel de Savoy, the son of the last king of Italy, Humbert II, died yesterday, at the age of 86, at his residence in Geneva, as announced by the office of the self-styled Royal House of Savoy. The pretender to the non-existent Italian monarchy died in the early hours of the morning in the Swiss city after a life marked by exile and high-profile scandals, such as the episode for the murder of the German Dirk Hamer in the illa de Cavallo in 1978 or the fight at the Zarzuela palace with another pretender to the non-existent Italian throne, his cousin Amadeu d’Aosta, during the wedding of the then princes of Asturias Felipe de Borbó and Letizia Ortiz, an incident which cornered him from the rest of the European royal houses.
Victor Emmanuel of Savoy was born in Naples on February 12, 1937, the son of Maria Joseph of Belgium and Humbert II, known as “the King of May” because he barely reigned for 33 days in 1946, after Victor Emmanuel III abdicated after the disaster that the Second World War caused for Italy. His father intended to abdicate and make him king, but the result of the referendum that turned Italy into a Republic ended his dream of ascending the throne.
The Republican Constitution stipulated that the male descendants of the Savoy family had to go into exile, without being able to set foot in the country. His reputation was greatly damaged by the connivance of his grandfather, King Victor Manuel III, with the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. The family then settled between Portugal, Switzerland, France and Corsica, until they were able to return to the homeland of their ancestors when the Italian Parliament, in 2002, abolished the measure after they swore loyalty to the Republic and distanced themselves for the first time from fascist racial laws.
Victor Emmanuel of Savoy hoped that his return to Italy would arouse a huge monarchical outcry, but it was not so. Several episodes ended up convincing the Italians that they had chosen well in the plebiscite by getting rid of this family. The first was the inquest into the death of Dirk Hamer in 1978, a German boy who was sleeping in a boat among his friends off an island in Corsica and ended up with a bullet wound after Victor Manuel took the rifle and started shooting
Once in Italy, in June 2006, Víctor Manuel Vaser was arrested for alleged corruption, forgery and exploitation of prostitutes at the Campione d’Italia casino, an Italian enclave in Switzerland. Two years earlier, invited to the princes’ meeting, he threw a prank in the face of his cousin and rival, Amadeu d’Aosta. The fight caused great discomfort to Juan Carlos I, who kicked them both out of the Zarzuela saying: “Never again”.
Despite everything, Víctor Manuel de Savoy never stopped his desire to claim what he considered his rights: in 2007 he asked the Italian State for compensation of 260 million euros for the exile and the restitution of the confiscated property in 1948, something that irritated the Italians. And in 2022, on the other hand, the family sued Italy for the jewels of the royal family kept in an armored room of the Bank of Italy for almost 80 years.
As for his personal life, Víctor Manuel married, despite his father’s opposition, the ski champion Marina Doria, in a civil ceremony in Las Vegas in 1970 and another religious ceremony in Tehran in next year From this marriage was born his son, Manuel Filibert de Savoia, who has also never stopped providing gossip. He has participated in TV competitions such as the national versions of Mira quién baila, has dedicated himself to appearing in commercials for luxury goods, tried to enter politics and even started a business selling pasta in the States United under the name of one of their titles, “Prince of Venice”.
