Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont

Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia
Prince of Venice and Piedmont
Spouse Clotilde Courau
Issue
Princess Vittoria of Savoy
Princess Luisa of Savoy
Full name
Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Rene Maria
House House of Savoy
Father Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples
Mother Marina, Princess of Naples
Born 22 June 1972 (1972-06-22) (age 39)
Geneva, Switzerland
Italian Royal Family

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 Rene Maria di Savoia; born 22 June 1972) is an italian television personality and 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 King of Italy. Although 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.

Contents

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 sponsor two boys from Kenya since January 2011

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'. 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 Italian Republic 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

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 (2008-05-21). "Duc d'Aoste ou Duc de Savoie?". Point de Vue: 79. 
  4. ^ Phil Stewart, Reuters (2007-11-21). "Fallen savoy royals seek damages over Italy exile". http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKL2050234020071121. Retrieved 2008-10-06. 
  5. ^ "Italian king's grandson waltzes back into politics". The Guardian. 2009-04-29. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/29/emanuele-filiberto-italy-european-parliament. Retrieved 2009-05-02. 
  6. ^ Italiensk prins erkender stofmisbrug

External links

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