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Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice

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Emanuele Filiberto
Prince of Venice and Piedmont
SpouseClotilde Courau
IssuePrincess Vittoria of Savoy
Princess Luisa of Savoy
Names
Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Rene Maria
HouseHouse of Savoy
FatherVittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples
MotherMarina, Princess of Naples
House of Savoy

The Prince of Venice
The Princess of Venice

The Dowager Princess of Naples

Extended royal family
The Dowager Duchess of Aosta
  • The Duke of Aosta
    The Duchess of Aosta
    • The Duke of Apulia
    • The Duke of the Abruzzi
    • Princess Isabella
  • Princess Bianca, Countess Arrivabene-Valenti-Gonzaga
  • Princess Mafalda, Baroness Lombardo di San Chirico
Princess Maria Isabella

Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont (Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Rene Maria di Savoia; born 22 June 1972) is a member of the House of Savoy and the only child and heir of Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples. He is the grandson of Umberto II, last reigning King of Italy. Athough addressed as Prince of Venice and Piedmont by monarchists, those titles are not recognized by the Italian republic, where he is commonly known as Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia.

Emanuele Filiberto grew up as an exile from Italy, in accordance with the provision of the Italian constitution prohibiting the male line of the House of Savoy from entering Italy (see also Birth of the Italian Republic). 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.

Titles and honours

Emanuele Filiberto is, by strict primogeniture in the male-line, the heir apparent to the House of Savoy, Italy's former ruling dynasty.[1] 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 Doria, in 1971 without the legally required permission of his father and sovereign-in-exile, Umberto II.[2] Emanuele Filiberto and his father applied for judicial intervention to forbid Amedeo from using the title "Duke of Savoy". An initial hearing was scheduled in the court of Arezzo, with a ruling expected by 6 June 2008.[3]

Early life and family

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.[1]

Emanuele Filiberto married Clotilde Courau, a French actress and daughter of Jean Claude Courau and Catherine du Pontavice des Renardières, in Rome, Italy 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 Helen of Montenegro in 1896. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, who introduced the couple in 2003, was the best man. Around 1,200 people are thought to have attended the wedding. 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 have two daughters:

The couple also adopted two boys from Kenya in January 2011

  • Alan
  • Moses

Return to Italy from exile

(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 barred the male-line descendants of the House of Savoy 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.

Other activities

Emanuele Filiberto works in Geneva as a hedge fund manager. Since returning to Italy in 2002, he has also appeared on Italian television on football discussion programmes and in commercials for olives.

Emanuele Filiberto is involved in charitable and cultural activities. In 2001, he founded the Prince of Venice Foundation to promote 'cultural diversity'.[citation needed] He is a licensed pilot for helicopters and planes. Emanuele Filiberto has also published two books, including Sognando L'Italia (Dreaming of Italy), a memoir about growing up in exile.

In 2007 Emanuele Filiberto requested formally that the State of Italy pay him financial damages of 90 million Euro. The financial damages claim is based on having suffered moral injustice during the exile and submitted along his father's request for 170 million Euro. The government of Italy has rejected the demand and, in response, indicated that it may seek damages for historic grievances.[4]

Minister of interior Roberto Calderoli, then a senator of Lega Nord, proposed a constitutional law to repeal the previous one which allowed Emanuele Filiberto and the father to return in Italy.

In 2009, Emanuele Filiberto participated as a contestant in the 5th series of Ballando con le Stelle, the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars, and won the contest.

That same year he announced he was a candidate for the Union of the Centre party at the 2009 European Parliament election.[5] He received 22,000 votes and was not elected.

In October 2009 the Italian news agency ANSA reported that Emanuele Filiberto had stated that he had abused drugs in his youth.[6]

In 2010, he participated as a contestant in the Sanremo Music Festival. At the finals, he came in second place losing out to Valerio Scanu.

Ancestry

Family of Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice
16. Umberto I of Italy
8. Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
17. Princess Margherita of Savoy
4. Umberto II of Italy
18. Nicholas I of Montenegro
8. Princess Elena of Montenegro
19. Milena Vukotić
2. Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples
20. Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders
10. Albert I of Belgium
21. Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
5. Princess Marie-José of Belgium
22. Duke Karl-Theodor in Bavaria
11. Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria
23. Infanta Maria Josepha of Portugal
1. Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont
24. Francesco Adriano Ricolfi-Doria
12. Giuseppe Silvio Uberto Ricolfi-Doria
25. Evelina Claparède
6. René Italo Ricolfi-Doria
13. Victorina Pianzola
3. Marina Ricolfi-Doria
7. Iris Benvenuti

References

  1. ^ a b Enache, Nicolas. La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg. ICC, Paris, 1996. p.204
  2. ^ Enache, Nicolas. La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg. ICC, Paris, 1996. p.213
  3. ^ Vincent Meylan (21 May 2008). "Duc d'Aoste ou Duc de Savoie?". Point de Vue: 79.
  4. ^ Phil Stewart, Reuters (21 November 2007). "Fallen savoy royals seek damages over Italy exile". {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ "Italian king's grandson waltzes back into politics". The Guardian. 29 April 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
  6. ^ Italiensk prins erkender stofmisbrug
Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice
Born: 22 June 1972
Italian royalty
Preceded by
first in line
 Line of succession to the Italian Throne Succeeded by

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