After an 11-year engagement, Vittorio Emmanuel, then a banker and helicopter salesman, married Swiss biscuit heiress Marina Doria (born Geneva, February 12, 1935) in Teheran on October 7, 1971. A gold-medal-winning trick-ski champion, Doria -- a daughter of René Ricolfi Doria and Iris Benvenuti -- also had been a star attraction at the Florida amusement park Cypress Gardens in the 1950s, highlights that did not endear the groom's father to the marriage; the former king refused to attend. The Prince and Princess of Naples have one son, Emanuele Filiberto Umberto Reza Rene Maria, Prince of Venice, born Geneva, June 22, 1972. He was married to a pregnant French actress, Clotilde Courau, on September 25, 2003.
On the night of August 17/18, 1978, off the island of Cavallo (Corsica), disturbed by a late night party, and armed with a rifle, Umberto attempted to board a yacht anchored near his to recover a rubber dinghy. He was accused of shooting at and missed a passenger he had awakened, but hit Dirk Hamer, a passenger on another yacht nearby. Victor Emmanuel admitted civil liability for the shooting in a letter dated August 28, 1978. Mr. Hamer died of his wounds on December 7, 1978, and Victor Emmanuel was arrested. On October 11, 1989, Victor Emmanuel was indicted on charges of fatal wounding and offensive weapons possession, but the Paris Assize Court found him guilty on November 18, 1991, of unauthorised possession of a US30MI rifle only, acquitting him of the fatal wounding and unintentional homicide charges.
His name was found in the list of Licio Gelli's "P2" masonic lodge.
In 2002, a provision in the Italian constitution that barred the male descendants of the House of Savoy from setting foot in the Italian Republic was abolished, permitting Victor Emmanuel to re-enter the country after November 10. On his first trip home in over half a century, he and the Princess of Naples paid a courtesy call on Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
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Preceded by: Umberto II |
House of Savoy |