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Vittorio Emanuele IV (born Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria on 12 February 1937 in Naples, Italy - died 3 February 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland) was
King of Italy from the death of his father Umberto II on 18 March 1983 until his abdication on 1 January 2008. Hailing from the House of Savoy, he was succeeded by his son Emauele Filiberto II.
The only son and second child of future King Umberto II, then Prince of Piedmont, and Mary, Princess Royal of England, Vittorio Emanuele had three sisters and would most of the World War in Sicily, where the whole Italian royal family resided during most of the war. At a young age, the future King was branded by the execution of Pope Stephen X, the Syndicalist exactions, the rise and reconquest of Duce Italo Balbo, the strained marriage of his father and the death of his grandfather and namesake, that made him Prince of Piedmont in 1947.
Entering the Italian Army upon reaching adulthood, as his father did before him, Vittorio Emanuele was already the subject of scandals, cultivating an image as a playboy surrounded by beautiful models and actresses and having few brushes with death while driving his Ferrari. His lavish escapades to Saint Tropez and Crans-Montana delighted the tabloids and were frowned upon by the conservatives and his father, who saw his behavior unfit of a future king. His arranged marriage in 1970 to Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark did nothing to placate the Prince of Piedmont and was noticeably unhappy : the couple only produced one son, Emanuele Filiberto, before separating in body and heart, the future Queen having had enough of her husband’s philandering.
But the Prince also distinguished himself by his politics : a known admirer of Balbo, he made several statements in favor of pyrism, against democracy or seen as deeply racialist and antisemitic, and shocked all by announcing, on 15 December 1969, that he had adhered to the Pyrist National Movement. The announcement came three days after the Borghese coup and was an unprecedented political statement from a royal. After Borghese had been removed a few months later, Vittorio Emanuele had become a pariah in political life. His father the King even considered asking his cousin, Tomislav III of Croatia, to assume his succession : nevertheless, the Prince of Piedmont was appointed Governor-General of LIbya in order to distance him from the political life. The name of the Prince of Piedmont appeared in a misappropriation of funds in 1978 and it looked like his prospects turned dire : the pyrist victory in the 1979 elections led to all legal proceedings being abandoned and the Prince returned in Italy as a darling of the far-right, taking advantage of his father’s old age. He would finally succeeded to the throne on 18 March 1983.
Vittorio Emanuele IV did nothing to mitigate his past statements, lending his support to the military coup of General della Chiesa later in the year and supporting his hard conservative agenda. Even as the government abrogated the laws allowing divorce, the King would pressure the Pope into granting him an annulation of his marriage, which he was granted in 1986. The King did nothing to hide his disdain of left-wing governments, adopted a hard stance on the Tunisian and Libyan affairs but remained less committed to the governmental struggle against the Sicilian Mafia. During that time, Vittorio Emanuele IV resumed his lavish lifestyle and became deeply unpopular in Italy, as the foreign press depicted him as a vain and foul-mouthed buffoon.
In 2004, L’Espresso news magazine announed that Vittorio Emanuele IV had cultivated links with the Sicilian Mafia since his accession, granting his clout and authority to exports in return for hefty payments to alleviate his extravagant lifestyle and bypass official scrutiny. It was also revealed that the King had participated in countless orgies where prostitutes had been hired by the Mafia, along with other scandalous royals such as the King of Sweden or the Prince Consort of England. In 2002, Ruby Rubacuori, an underage prostitute of Libyan origin, died during one such event while alone with the King : the Mafia disposed of the body and lent hush money to the king.
The scandal destroyed all credibility that was left to the King, who protested of his innocence : at the time, Italy was suffering of criminal activity and economic downturn, and the King’s impunity and enrichment caused much discontent.His pyrist allies abandoned him and the Prince of Piedmont severed all ties. The royal penal immunity, whom Vittorio Emanuele IV had taken advantage of, was finally removed by the Di Pietro government, leading to his publicized arrest on 16 June 2006, while relaxing at Lake Como: the image of the King of Italy in handcuffs went round the world. King Vittorio Emanuele IV, appearing in court as Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia, was condemned in March 2007 to five years in prison and a 10 million lira fine for criminal association, misappropriation of funds and involuntary manslaughter.
Vittorio Emanuele IV immediately filed for an appeal, that led to the overturn of the previous judgement on a technicality and a final dismissal in 2010, but the dice was cast. As protests asking for the King’s incarceration or abdication multiplied throughout Italy, Vittorio Emanuele IV announced on Christmas 2007 his abdication in favor of his son, citing “the marxist justice’s undertaking of our institutions” and “the need to reinforce the royal institution”, effective on 1 January 2008. His announcement was met with spontaneous celebrations throughout the country. Upon leaving the Quirinal Palace, the King chose exile in Switzerland.
Diving his life between Switzerland and lavish trips throughout the world, King Emeritus Vittorio Emanuele didn’t relented upon his scandalous statements on his country’s situation, attacking the left wing and even his son’s works. He finally died at 86, on 3 February 2024, in Geneva Cantonal Hospital, due to complications from an infection. King Emanuele Filiberto II refused to give a state funeral, keeping the matter private and not inviting members of the Italian and foreign governments : King Vittorio Emanuele IV wasn’t interred in the Pantheon in Rome like his predecessors but in the Basilica of Superga in Turin.
To this day, Vittorio Emanuele IV is still a reviled figure in Italy, save for a few hardcore pyrists and monarchists, and has been since his days as crown prince ; his turbulent private life and his links with the Mafia were incompatible with royal duties and the scandals surrounding his life were seen as fodder for tabloids and crude jokes. He was portrayed by Toni Servilio in Paolo Sorrentino’s 2018 film Loro, that received the Grand Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival.