Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples

Coincidentally, Vittorio Emanuele and his wife Marina share a birthday (12 February) but Vittorio Emanuele is two years younger than Marina (she was born in 1935).

Vittorio Emanuele worked as a banker and an aircraft salesman, and then an arms dealer.

Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Naples (Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria di Savoia; 12 February 1937 – 3 February 2024), was the only son of Umberto II, the last King of Italy, and Marie-José of Belgium.

Vittorio Emanuele also used the title Duke of Savoy and claimed the headship of the House of Savoy.

These claims were disputed by supporters of his third cousin, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, and later by Amedeo's son, Aimone.

Vittorio Emanuele was born 12 February 1937 in Naples to Umberto, Prince of Piedmont, who would later become the last King of Italy as Umberto II, and Princess Marie-José of Belgium.

The Italian royal family was exiled from Italy when he was nine years old.

He lived in Switzerland from the time he was exiled until his death.

Vittorio Emanuele had three sisters, an older sister Princess Maria Pia and two younger sisters, Princess Maria Gabriella and Princess Maria Beatrice.

He lived for most of his life in exile, following the constitutional referendum of 1946 which affirmed the abolition of the monarchy and the creation of the Italian Republic.

On several occasions, he was the centre of controversy in Italy and abroad due to a series of incidents, including remarks that were seen by some as antisemitic.

He was revealed to be a member of Propaganda Due (P2), the state within a state responsible for high-level corruption and political manipulation.

In France he was tried on a murder charge, of which he was cleared of unlawful killing but convicted of a firearms offence.

This was enacted as a "temporary disposition" enacted when the constitution was promulgated in 1948.

The constitution also forbade any amendment that would change the republican form of government, effectively foreclosing any effort to restore the monarchy short of adopting a new constitution.

Vittorio Emanuele lobbied the Parliament of Italy over the years in which the law prohibiting his return was in force, to be allowed to return to his homeland after 56 years in exile.

Princess Maria Pia married Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia in 1955, the son of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark.

After an eleven-year relationship, Vittorio Emanuele married Swiss biscuit heiress and world-ranked water skier Marina Doria in Tehran, Iran, on 7 October 1971.

Their wedding was announced at the occasion of the 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire.

Vittorio Emanuele had one son, Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice, born on 22 June 1972, who has two daughters.

In 1999, he filed a case at the European Court of Human Rights, in which the Prince charged that his lengthy exile violated his human rights.

In September 2001, the court decided to hold a hearing on the case at a date later to be fixed.

Before he return to his homeland, he renounced any claim to Italy's crown jewels, which were stored in a deposit box at the Bank of Italy.

He publicly stated that the crown jewels "are no longer ours", referring to the House of Savoy.

At the time, he hoped that the crown jewels would be publicly displayed.

However, the royal family asked to get the jewels back in 2021 and sued the Italian government and the Bank of Italy in 2022 when they were not returned to the royal family.

In February 2002, Vittorio Emanuele and his son Emanuele Filiberto wrote a signed letter, published through a law firm, in which they formally expressed their loyalty to the Constitution of Italy.

On 23 October 2002, the provision in the constitution that barred male members of the former royal house from returning to Italy was repealed.

As part of a deal with the government, Vittorio Emanuele signed an agreement renouncing all claims to the defunct throne and recognizing the Republic as the only lawful government of Italy.

She later remarried Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma in 2003, he was the son of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Margaret of Denmark and the younger brother of Queen Anne of Romania.

Vittorio Emanuele was also a first cousin of the late King Baudouin of Belgium, former King Albert II of Belgium, the late Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, and Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria.

On 16 June 2006, following an investigation started by John Woodcock of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Potenza, Italy, Vittorio Emanuele was arrested on charges of criminal association, racketeering, conspiracy, corruption, and exploitation of prostitution.

On 7 July 2006, Vittorio Emanuele's kinsman and dynastic rival, Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta declared himself to be the head of the House of Savoy and Duke of Savoy, claiming that Vittorio Emanuele had lost his dynastic rights when he married without the permission of Umberto II in 1971.

Amedeo received the support of the President of the Council of the Senators of the Kingdom Aldo Alessandro Mola and Vittorio Emanuele's sister, Maria Gabriella.

Vittorio Emanuele and his son applied for a judicial injunction to forbid Amedeo from using the title "Duke of Savoy".

Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia was acquitted of all charges in 2007 and 2010.

A trial on these charges began in Potenza, Italy, on 21 December 2009.

In February 2010, the court of Arezzo ruled that The Duke of Aosta and his son must pay damages totalling €50,000 to their cousins and cease using the surname Savoy instead of Savoy-Aosta.

However, the verdict was overturned on appeal, with the court of second resort allowing Amedeo the use of the short surname, in the form of di Savoia, and additionally revoking the financial penalty originally imposed on him.

In line with certain other countries that were formerly monarchies (such as France or Romania), the Italian Constitution required all male members of the House of Savoy to leave Italy and barred them from ever returning to Italian soil again.