Royal House of Savoy current events 1: 2002- March 2007

[Jacqueline]

Monday, 23 December, 2002, 14:59 GMT
Italy's royals return home

Victor Emmanuel, the son of Italy's last king, has returned to Italy after more than half a century in exile.

He and his family landed at Rome's Ciampino military airport in a private plane on Monday morning, ahead of a private audience with Pope John Paul II.

Victor Emmanuel spoke of experiencing "indescribable emotion" at his return.

Hours later the family left for the return flight to Switzerland, after a lightning visit which had taken commentators by surprise.

But Victor Emmanuel's decision to make his first visit to the Vatican - rather than to the Italian president or Naples, which he left as a nine-year-old boy in 1946 - has earned criticism from some who saw it as inappropriate.

The former royal family swore their loyalty to the Italian republic as part of the terms of the lifting of the post-war ban on them returning to Italy.

It is Victor Emmanuel's first visit since he was a boy
Sergio Romano, a former ambassador and an influential commentator, described the decision to go to the Vatican as "a combination of arrogance, political insensitivity and bad upbringing."

But Victor Emmanuel told reporters: "We are Catholic and I am returning to my country which, with the Pope, is the seat of Catholicism.

"The first thing I do is see the Pope, then we shall see all the others."

The visit was made possible by a series of votes in the Italian parliament earlier this year, reversing the post-war ban on the male royals' return.

"I have come back to Rome after 56 years and I cannot find words to express my feelings at this moment," Victor Emmanuel said, as he stood on Italian soil for the first time in his adult life.

The family has been in Geneva since 1946 when it was exiled for supporting the fascist government of Italy's wartime leader Benito Mussolini.

Monarchy discredited

The BBC's Rome correspondent, David Willey, says Victor Emmanuel, his wife, Marine Doria, and their son, Emmanuel Filiberto, were whisked away from the airport in two cars provided by the Vatican.

The 65-year-old prince was nine years old when he left his homeland, while Emmanuel Filiberto, 30, has never set foot in Italy.

They are the direct descendants of Italy's last king, Umberto II, who died in Switzerland in 1983.

Umberto's father, Victor Emmanuel III, reigned while Mussolini was in power, before eventually dismissing the former dictator in 1943.

The king, disgraced for collaborating with the fascist regime, including having endorsed the deportation of thousands of Italian Jews during World War II, abdicated in May, 1946.

Two years later the Italian constitution barred Umberto's descendants from Italy.

Campaign

The royals have led a long campaign to visit their homeland and earlier this year the Italian parliament relaxed the ban on the grounds that the family presented no danger to the Italian republic set up after the fall of fascism.

Our correspondent says the visit had been planned for some time, but the family kept secret the date of this whirlwind trip.

He says there is little public support in Italy for the return of the monarchy, who are regarded as slightly anachronistic in the Italy of the third millennium.

The family have renounced all claims to the Italian throne.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2600533.stm

[Julia]

Thanks for the article, Jacqueline! It is quite interesting that Vittorio Emanuele decided on returning when he had a back injury that required him to leave for treatment back in Switzerland the same day. I guess it will be interesting to see how often they frequent Italy now that they are no longer exiled.

Julia

[Julia]

Here is a link to quite a few pictures of the Savoys on return visit to Rome....1st time in 56 years...Life Press

[Julia]

11 MARCH 2003
The head of Italy's royal dynasty has said he will not lay claim to the country's Crown jewels, days before his planned return to the Mediterranean country.

Sixty-five-year-old Prince Victor Emmanuel, who as the son of Italy's last reigning king Umberto II has spent the greater part of his life in exile, confirmed that the Crown properties, confiscated by the State in 1946, "are no longer ours". "For that matter we have no claim on the Crown jewels," he said. "We have nothing in Italy and we are not asking for anything."

The prince did say, however, that he hopes the priceless gems, which are currently stored at the Bank of Italy, will be placed on public display. "I hope this with all my heart," he said. "There is no point in keeping them in a dark bank vault."

In addition, a case at the European Court of Human Rights in which the prince charged that his lengthy exile violated his rights, has been dropped.

The announcement comes nearly 60 years after Italy voted for the formation of a republic and all male heirs of the house of Savoy were banned from Italian soil. The parliament overturned the ruling in December 2002, and in January the prince, who has spent most of his life in Switzerland, made a brief visit to the land where his family once reigned.

The prince, who has renounced all claims to the Italian throne, will arrive in Naples on Saturday, with his wife and 30-year-old son Prince Emmanuel Filiberto. It has not been disclosed how the family plan to divide their time between Italy and Switzerland.

[Etienne,DuchessofBurgundy]

Italy's exiled royal family shunned as they return
By Bruce Johnston in Rome
(Filed: 16/03/2003)


Italy's former royal family returned to their homeland yesterday after 57 years in exile - to a barrage of criticism which threatened to overshadow the lavish parties and welcoming dinners.

The three-day visit to Naples by Prince Victor Emmanuel, the 65-year-old head of the House of Savoy, his wife, Marina Doria, and their son, Emmanuel Filiberto, 30, was intended to be a grand official homecoming from Switzerland.

Instead, the prince's expressions of "love" for his native land have been met by hostility within Naples - where he was born and from where he sailed into exile at the age of nine - and derision throughout much of Italy.

The family has lived in exile since 1946, when the male line was banished after the late King Victor Emmanuel III, the prince's grandfather, collaborated with Mussolini's fascist regime.

Their return was orchestrated by Silvio Berlusconi's centre-Right government, which pushed the Italian parliament to lift the constitutional ban last year. But feelings still run deep. "I am sorry Naples is receiving with all the honours the people who have been our assassins," said Pasquale Squitieri, the Neapolitan film maker.

Posters lambasting the royal family as "traitors of Italy" and "slaughterers of the South" have appeared around Naples - the latter a reference to the rough treatment meted out to southern "brigands" when the Savoys became rulers of a newly-united Italy in the 19th century.

There is added hostility in the South because Naples was the seat of the rival Bourbon dynasty until it was displaced by the Savoys. Outside Naples cathedral, where the Savoys are expected to attend Mass today, the hard-Right Movimento Sociale is planning a sit-in, demanding that the family "apologise" for their wrongs.

An impulsive man, the present-day Victor Emmanuel, who has renounced all claims to the throne, did little to enhance the family reputation when, five years ago, he described Mussolini's racial laws - which eventually led to the deportation of 8,000 Jews to concentration camps - as "not all that bad".

Some, at least, were clamouring to see him. Naples socialites battled for invitations to drinks at the Circolo dell'Unione, the city's stuffiest club, or to a gala dinner at the glitzy Vesuvius Hotel, where the Savoys are staying.

But to the Savoys' astonishment, the city's mayor, Rosa Russo Jervolino, turned down a 15,000-euro (£10,000) donation by the prince to a city hospice, claiming it was a publicity stunt. She said that the family had wanted a plaque unveiled in Victor Emmanuel's honour. "Charity must be done quietly and not ostentatiously," she said.

The Neo-Bourbon Movement in Naples, meanwhile, printed thousands of stickers showing the Savoy coat of arms surmounted with a "no entry" sign and the words "Indietro Savoia" - "Savoys, go home".

Professor Gennaro De Crescenzo, the movement's president, said: "The South has nothing to celebrate with the Savoys' return. From unification onwards, they have spelt nothing but death, repression and the plunder of our resources."

[Lyonnaise]

PARIS - DECEMBER 8: Prince Victor Emmanuel de Savoie with his wife Marina attends The Best Awards at the Pavillon Gabriel on December 8, 2004 in Paris, France.

[asma]

Please, can anyone tell me if there is a connection between savoy royal family and the famous international group of hotels savoy?I mean is the royal family investing its money in these hotels?thank you.

[emily62_1]

Originally Posted by asma

Please, can anyone tell me if there is a connection between savoy royal family and the famous international group of hotels savoy?I mean is the royal family investing its money in these hotels?thank you.

no, not at all, they would have never invested in hotels.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by asma

Please, can anyone tell me if there is a connection between the Savoy Royal Family and the famous international group of Savoy hotels?

The first Savoy Hotel was in London in the Strand and was built by the owner of the nearby Savoy Theatre. The first manager of the hotel was César Ritz, who later spun off his own brand. The hotel's name came from the Savoy Palace which had occupied the site in Plantagenet times (John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster lived there). Henry III granted the land to Peter, Count of Savoy (who was the Queen's uncle) and he built the palace.
source: Wikipedia

[Jil]

I collect old postcards of Royalty. Here is a link that you can click on to see my collection of Italian Royalty Postcards:

http://photobucket.com/albums/y138/l...yCirca1907.jpg

If anyone has any old photos of the Italian Royals-then please share them with us! Thanks!

[CasiraghiTrio]

I thought the King was restored to his throne in 2002 (?). Why is this forum under "non-reigning" houses?

[jcranma]

Originally Posted by CasiraghiTrio

I thought the King was restored to his throne in 2002 (?). Why is this forum under "non-reigning" houses?

Are you kidding? Italy is still a republic with President Ciampi as the head of state. You must be refering to the agreement the Savoys signed in order to return to Italian soil during that year. Besides, the current Italian PM and his media empire might have a thing or two to say about restoring a Savoy to the throne....

[purple_platinum]

December 7, 2005
Marina Doria di Savoia shops in Via Della Spiga in Milan with Marta Brivio Sforza



(pictures from newscom)

[LaPlusBelle]

Okay, this might be slightly off topic, but how, if at all, are the Savoys and the Calabrias related?
Thanks.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by LaPlusBelle

Okay, this might be slightly off topic, but how, if at all, are the Savoys and the Calabrias related?
Thanks.

Not very closely. For starters the Bourbon Two-Sicilies were an outposted branch of the Spanish Royal House, and they and the Savoys were rivals over dominance in what we now call Italy; the Savoys triumphed at the expense of the Kings of the Two Sicilies, the Dukes of Parma, the Grand Dukes of Tuscany etc, who all lost their thrones at the time of unification in 1861.

There had been a couple of Savoy-Two Sicilies marriages, but not of great significance. The only standout would be Princess Maria Cristina, daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele I, who married Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies, in 1832 (she died four years later).

However, 1938 was a big year, and marked the reconciliation between the two Royal Houses. Prince Eugenio of Savoy, Duke of Ancona, 5th Duke of Genoa, married Princess Lucia, the daughter of Ferdinando (III), Duke of Calabria, Count of Caserta, Head of the Royal House of the Two Sicilies (and the last undisputed Head!).

[Tosca]

Princess Marina and Prince Carlo Giovannelli at a party in Gstaadt (dagospia)

[Merca]

I have a question about Princess Marina. Does anyone know anything about her ancestors? Is she an aristocrat by birth? How did she meet Victor Emanuelle in the first place?

[Tosca]

Originally Posted by Merca

I have a question about Princess Marina. Does anyone know anything about her ancestors? Is she an aristocrat by birth? How did she meet Victor Emanuelle in the first place?

Prince Vittorio Emanuele and Marina Ricolfi Doria first met at a party in 1945 when they both were still kids.
Then they met again in 1954 when she was 19 and he was 17 and fell in love. She won the world's water skiing championship four times. She was born in Switzerland, the daughter of a wealthy bakery owner, for this reason she was often referred as the "bakeress" by the press. She is the descendant of Genua's doge Andrea Doria. She's ana ristocrat, but not a royal.
The Prince parents didn't approve their relationship, so they first got married in a civil ceremony in Las Vegas in 1970, then they a married in a religious ceremony in Teheran in 1971, since VE was a good friend of Reza Pahlavi.

Marina Ricolfi Doria when she was young (liberonews.)

[Tosca]

Prince Vittorio Emanuele with his two sisters, Maria Gabriella (nicknamed Ella) on the left, and Maria Beatrice (Titti) at a gala (OLYCOM)

[Tosca]

Pricess Maria Beatrice di Savoia (Titti), her late husband Luis Reyna and their late son Raffaello at his christening in 1972 (Olycom)