Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, son of the last king of Italy, dies

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, shared the news with AFP, confirming information from several Italian media outlets.

"His Royal Highness Victor Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy and Prince of Naples, passed away peacefully in Geneva surrounded by his family," indicates a brief statement from the Royal House of Savoy, cited by the local press.

Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, born on February 12, 1937 in Naples (Italy), was the patriarch of the house of Savoy, who reigned in Italy from 1861 to 1946, and the son of the last monarch, Umberto II, who held the throne briefly between May and June 1946, when Italy became a Republic.

The aristocrat left the country at the age of nine, banished along with all the male descendants of the royal house by the 1946 Constitution. This was part of a sanction for the role his grandfather, Victor Emmanuel III, played in the fascist regime. He signed two racial laws during that time.

He returned to the country in December 2002, after the Italian parliament voted to lift a ban that exiled the family from Italy. To obtain it, he had to swear allegiance to the Republic, something he had long rejected.