Everyone can agree that the exiled last heir to the Italian throne, Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, has always been a very divisive figure due to his legal issues. After all, he was suspected of being involved in the 1978 death of a German teen, as revealed in Netflix’s “The King Who Never Was,” and he was also charged with corruption and sex trafficking. We now have the information you need if you just want to discover more about him, with an emphasis on his history, his claimed transgressions, and his current situation.
Who is Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy?
Vittorio is a full-blooded royal in every meaning of the word. He was born on February 12, 1937, in Naples as the lone heir apparent of Princess Marie-José of Belgium and then-future King of Italy Umberto II. He definitely did nothing wrong, but he was pushed into eviction at the age of 9 when the 1946 Italian institutional referendum that followed World War II dissolved the monarchy. As a result, he spent the most of his childhood in Switzerland, where he later made a permanent home with his own family because the law of his native country forbade male members of the House of Savoy from ever returning.
However, Vittorio was later able to forge Italian connections because he had technically lost his dynastic rights by wed Marina Doria in 1971 without his father’s consent. In reality, the Prince of Naples worked as an armaments dealer for famed businessman Corrado Agusta in the original production in addition to his roles as a banker and an aviation salesman. As a result, he worked hard to acquire the skills necessary to build a comfortable life for himself. He was also helped by the fact that, despite some legal issues, he never completely quit using the title of Duke of Savoy.
But then his collapse started, beginning with his involvement in the shooting of Dirk Geerd Hamer on August 18, 1989, off the coast of Cavallo, France, which led to the teenager’s demise on December 7. Due to supporting witness accounts and his own account, Vittorio was actually detained shortly after the incident but was later released due to a lack of evidence two months later. Even though he was indicted on criminal charges in October 1989, this case was never resolved because he was exonerated in 1991 of all charges except one involving a firearm because he was discovered admitting in 2006.
Vittorio was even discovered to be a part of Propaganda Due (P2), a radical Italian organisation charged with high-level corruption and political manipulation, during this protracted era. The Duke was also arrested in June 2006 on charges of racketeering, corruption, prostitute exploitation, and criminal association related to a company he was reportedly a member of. He later went before a jury and was twice completely exonerated, but this case changed everything because he had confessed to Dirk’s death on video while being jailed originally on these serious charges.
Where is Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy Now?
According to accounts, Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy said, in part, “I was in the wrong… but I must say I fooled them [the French judges to acquit me]” in this jailhouse recording. But Dirk’s sister Birgit didn’t actually get her hands on this audio until the 2010s, when she shared it with the il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper and gave credibility to his accusations that it was fake. The Prince did go on to sue these two parties for defamation, but he was publicly defeated in 2015 when the courts ruled that the information in the video was accurate. However, because of his prior formal 1991 acquittal, The Prince will never be prosecuted again in relation to this case.
Regarding Vittorio’s current position, it appears that he still wants to be based in Geneva, Switzerland, even if a clause in the Italian constitution from 2002 enabled the Savoys to return. As far as we can tell, he does periodically and cheerfully travel back to his native country; nevertheless, considering his family’s entire history, Geneva has been his home for a much longer period of time. We should also point out that after 2006, he requested legal action to prevent a distant cousin from using the title of Duke of Savoy. In early 2010, a court ruled in his favour. In other words, he is the head of the Savoy family, which descends directly from him.
