Death of Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, son of the last king of Italy, at the age of 86.

Prince Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, son of the last king of Italy, died this Saturday in Geneva, Switzerland, at the age of 86, his lawyer Sergio Orlandi told AFP, confirming the Italian media.

“His Royal Highness Victor Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy and Prince of Naples died peacefully in Geneva, surrounded by his family,” states a brief press release from the Royal House of Savoy, quoted by the media, specifying that the place and date of the funeral will be set. will be announced later. His son, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, is now a contender for the throne of Italy.

Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, born 12 February 1937 in Naples, was the head of the House of Savoy, which ruled a united Italy from 1861 to 1946, and the son of the last king, Umberto II, who only occupied the throne from May to June. 1946

Some trips to jail

He left Italy at the age of 9, exiled along with all male descendants of the royal house by the 1946 Constitution, to sanction his grandfather Victor Emmanuel III’s collaboration with the fascist regime and the signing of racial laws.

He was able to return to the peninsula only in December 2002, after the exile was lifted, voted by the Italian parliament. To receive it, he had to swear allegiance to the Republic, which he refused for a long time.

Convicted in 2006 on charges of corruption, pimping and slot machine trafficking, he was acquitted four years later. In 1978, he was involved in the death of a young German from a gunshot wound. Only 13 years later, the prince was sentenced to six months of suspended imprisonment for possessing and carrying weapons.