Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont

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Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy
Prince of Venice and Piedmont
Spouse Clotilde Courau
Issue
Princess Vittoria of Savoy
Princess Luisa of Savoy
Full name
Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Ciro René Maria
House House of Savoy
Father Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples
Mother Marina Ricolfi Doria
Born (1972-06-22) 22 June 1972 (age 40)
Geneva, Switzerland
Italian Royal Family
Great coat of arms of the king of italy (1890-1946).svg

HRH The Prince of Naples
HRH The Princess of Naples

HRH Princess Maria Pia
HRH Princess Maria Gabriella
HRH Princess Maria Beatrice

Extended family

Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont (Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Ciro René Maria di Savoia; born 22 June 1972) is an Italian television personality, a member of the House of Savoy and the son and heir of Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples. He is the only male-line grandson of Umberto II, last King of Italy. Although addressed as Prince of Venice and Piedmont by monarchists, those titles are not recognized by the Italian republic.

Filiberto grew up as an exile from Italy, in accordance with the provision of the Italian constitution prohibiting the male issue of the Savoy kings of Italy from entering or staying on Italian territory (see also Birth of the Italian Republic).[1] Since returning to Italy he has made many appearances on national television, including his participation as a contestant in Ballando con le stelle (the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars), and the Sanremo Music Festival.

He is married to French actress Clotilde Courau.

Contents

Early life and family [edit]

Emanuele Filiberto was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the only child of Vittorio Emanuele, head of the House of Savoy, and his wife, the former Marina Doria, a Swiss water ski champion.[2]

Filiberto married Clotilde Courau, a French actress and daughter of Jean Claude Courau and Catherine du Pontavice des Renardières, in Rome at the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, on 25 September 2003. The basilica is where Filiberto's great-grandfather, King Victor Emmanuel III, married Princess Elena of Montenegro in 1896. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, who introduced the couple in 2003, was the best man. Approximately 1,200 people are thought to have attended the wedding.[3] The bride, then six months pregnant, wore a Valentino dress, a veil held in place by a diamond tiara and gems belonging to the House of Savoy.

The couple has two daughters:

  • Princess Vittoria of Savoy, born on 29 December 2003
  • Princess Luisa of Savoy, born on 16 August 2006

Return to Italy from exile [edit]

(See also: Vittorio Emanuele) On 10 November 2002, he accompanied his father and mother to Italy, following revocation of the provision in the Italian constitution that forbade the male Savoy descendants of kings of Italy from setting foot in the country. On the three-day trip, he accompanied his parents on a visit to the Vatican for a 20-minute audience with Pope John Paul II.[4]

Other activities [edit]

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Filiberto spent his youth in Swiss exile, dreaming of one day returning to his ancestral nation. Since winning Italy’s version of “Dancing with the Stars” in 2009, seven years following his long-awaited homecoming, the former Geneva hedge fund manager and philanthropist has embraced a new desire: to export his TV-friendly persona and princely charm to America. While the would-be Crown Prince of Italy might have been king, as Prince William eventually will assume the throne of England, Filiberto (whose full name, Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Maria di Savoia, speaks to his royal lineage) is blithe about what might have been. He’s too busy exploring production partnerships in the U.S. to develop a slate of reality-based programs, including those that introduce him to American viewers and even poke fun at his royal status. “I’ve always loved America. I lived in New York for several years, so the idea of coming back to the U.S. doesn’t seem foreign to me,” says Filiberto, who turns 39 in June. Having developed Italian programming that showcases his wide appeal as a host and performer, he looks forward to refracting his pedigreed image through the fun-house prism of American reality television. Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia was born in Geneva in 1972. By Italian law, the heirs of the deposed King Umberto II could not set foot on Italian soil, and so Filiberto, the Prince of Piedmonte and Venice, a member of the House of Savoy, spent his childhood in Switzerland. Originally aiming to study architecture at the Gamma Institute in Lausanne, instead a knack for finance led him to focus on international banking. He spent five years at Republic National Bank in New York and ten at Syz Bank in Geneva. Among other financial vehicles, he created the Altin Fund, the first hedge fund listed on the Zurich Stock Exchange. When Italy changed its constitution to allow the Savoy family back, Filiberto left banking in 2002 and, with it, Switzerland. After 30 years of exile, he sought to embrace the responsibility to fulfill his role as a prince for the betterment of his ancestral country. In late 2001 he established the Prince of Venice Foundation, in the spirit of his grandmother, Queen Maria Josè, to promote cultural diversity and utilize art as a vehicle of communication between peoples. In 2012 the Foundation will mark its tenth anniversary with a gala celebration. More recently he established the Emanuele Filiberto Charity Fund Foundation, which supports Italian nonprofits in such areas as health, education and poverty. He regularly travels worldwide to visit poor and disaster-struck areas and, in 2008, tried his hand at national politics as a candidate for the European Parliament, coming in a strong and respectable second place.

Emanuele Filiberto’s TV career began in 1994, while still in exile in Switzerland, commenting on foreign soccer matches for RAI. Fifteen years later, he impressed television audiences with his footwork and grace on RAI’s “Ballando con le Stelle (“Dancing with the Stars”), the Italian version of “Strictly Come Dancing,” becoming the only male contestant ever to win, and by an overwhelming margin. Other appearances include serving as co-host of the primetime Friday night talent show “Ciak... si Canta! (“Cut... the Singer!”) and a presenter on award shows including “Miss Italy 2010.” He also took second place at the 2010 Grand Festival of Sanremo, singing a song with original lyrics, “Italia Amore Mio” (“Italy My Love”). A licensed airplane and helicopter pilot, and an avid water skier among other hobbies, Filiberto has also written two books, Sognando L’Italia (Dreaming of Italy), a memoir about growing up in exile, and the novel Mi Fai Stare Bene (You Make Me Feel Good), a fictional love story published this past March about the exploits of a well-known Italian radio DJ. He divides his time between Rome, Paris and now Los Angeles, and is married to three-time César-nominated French actress Clotilde Courau, with whom he has two young daughters, Vittoria and Luisa.

Titles and honours [edit]

Filiberto is, by strict primogeniture in the male-line, the heir apparent to the House of Savoy, Italy's former ruling dynasty.[2] As such, royalist Italians consider him their crown prince and the titular Prince of Venice and Piedmont, though this has been disputed since June 2006 when his distant cousin Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta declared himself to be head of the house and rightful Duke of Savoy. Amedeo maintains that Vittorio Emanuele forfeited his dynastic rights when he married Emanuele Filiberto's mother, Marina Ricolfi Doria, in 1971 without the legally required permission of his father and sovereign-in-exile, Umberto II.[5] Emanuele Filiberto and his father applied for judicial intervention to forbid Amedeo from using the title "Duke of Savoy". The lawsuit was successful with the court of Arezzo ruling in February 2010 that the Duke of Aosta and his son must pay damages totalling 50,000 euros to their cousins and cease their use of the arms of the Royal House and those of the Prince of Piedmont. They were also forbidden to use the name "di Savoia", instead they must resume the name "di Savoia-Aosta".[6] The Duke of Aosta is appealing the ruling.[7]

Foreign honours [edit]

House orders [edit]

Ancestry [edit]




References [edit]

  1. ^ C.E.D.R.E. Les Manuscrits du C.E.D.R.E.: Le Royaume d'Italie, volume I. Paris, 1992, pp. 89-93. French. ISSN 0993-3964.
  2. ^ a b Enache, Nicolas. La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg. ICC, Paris, 1996. p.204
  3. ^ John Hooper (26 September 2003). "Italy hosts rare royal wedding". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 
  4. ^ Willan, Philip (2002-12-24). "Exiled Italian royals go home". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
  5. ^ Enache, Nicolas. La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg. ICC, Paris, 1996. p.213
  6. ^ "LE LL.AA.RR. I PRINCIPI VITTORIO EMANUELE ED EMANUELE FILIBERTO DI SAVOIA VINCONO LA CAUSA CONTRO AMEDEO D'AOSTA". Royal House of Savoy. Retrieved 13 April 2011. 
  7. ^ "Savoia sì o no? Giurista 'boccia' sentenza che vieta il cognome ad Amedeo". Tuttosport. Retrieved 13 April 2011. 
  8. ^ Nomination by Sovereign Ordonnance n° 15703 of 1st March 2003 (French)

External links [edit]

Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont
Born: 22 June 1972
Italian royalty
Preceded by
first in line		 Line of succession to the former Italian throne Succeeded by
Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta
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