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Luigi Speranza
“Dominique Claudel? Oh, no! Absolutely out of the question.
I never said I intended to marry her.
She’s a good friend and that’s all there is to it.”
“But, Your Highness, it has been said, as well as written, that your family….”
“Well, whatever’s been said and written simply isn’t true.
There was never any family council called to discuss the matter, neither in regard to little Dominique Claudel, nor any other girl. And if you want the truth, I didn’t leave Dominique. She was the one who dumped me. I’d gone off to the States for six months and when I got back, I found her going out with somebody else.”
We were seated in the splendid Château of Merlinge.
Back from one of his many business trips, Vittorio Emanuele had consented to receive us and talk about himself, his past and his plans for the future.
He is blond, taller than he looks in photographs, and couldn’t be more friendly.
Beside him (the three of us had been talking for over two hours) sat a beautiful girl with intense eyes, Marina D'oria.
Vittorio had granted us the most sincere and searching interview he had ever consented to.
He had decided to emerge from his reserve and speak out about everything and everyone, once and for all, to put a stop to the rumors and gossip that have been making life hard for him of late.
It may seem strange, but for some time now the resentment of quite a number of people seems to have concentrated on this young man of 26 with his mild simplicity and open gaze.
He has been under fire from criticisms and demands for “explanations” about anything he does.
Some have written him insulting letters, anonymous of course.
Vittorio Emanuele (IV) is quite conscious of the fact that he is not only a royal prince but also a “man in the news.”
He never challenges the criticisms, nor does he bear resentment towards his critics.
If he has made up his mind to speak out now, it is only because the attacked are not only aimed at himself.
They also strike at Marina D'oria, the girl the princes has considered himself engaged to for the last two years, and who will in all probability, before the end of 1963 and at the latest early in 1964, become a Savoy.
Marina D'oria smiles.
She gazes at her “Vittorio Emanuele (IV)” as she affectionately calls the prince with a look half tender and half protective.
It’s obvious she is grateful to him and after so much tattle and gossip, happy to be conscious of his strong-armed support. She now breaks into conversation:
“It’s perfectly true. It’s exactly as Victor says. I began going out with him when his heart was already free, so I wasn’t cutting in on anybody else.”
“The first time Victor and I met was just after the war, in 1948, at Crans-sur- Sierre, in the Vaud.
From that moment on we became the greatest of friends until about two years ago we realized that, right through the last five or six months, we’d been going out together almost every day.”
Marina D'oria is 28, two years older than Vittorio.
She has a good head on her shoulders and here in Geneva they say that ever since she became his inseparable companion, there has been a complete change in the prince.
Before coming on to Merlinge we were guests in Geneva, where Marina lives with her parents in a modern villa on the lake.
Courteous, friendly and simple, this young woman had much to tell us about her position in regard to the Italian prince and the royal family.
Granddaughter of a Genoan marquis (D'Oria) who renounced his title when acquiring Swiss nationality, and daughter of the Chairman of the board of directors of a number of important companies, Marina has an innate refinement and outgoing friendliness.
She is the eldest and prettiest of three sisters.
“Signorina, do you find it at all irksome being the girl, and probably the future bride, of the heir to the throne of Italy?”
“MY MOTHER KNOWS ALREADY”
“Not in the least.
We have taken lots of trips together, in the United States, Central and South America, Africa. I’ve had the chance of meeting lots of people, but never, for one moment, have I felt as happy as I feel today. Besides Victor is in the same situation and he won’t mind admitting it.”
There has certainly been a change in Vittorio Emanuele ever since he has got to know Marina Doria.
A certain touchiness and impetuosity have subsided.
We ask the Prince his intentions towards this girl.
Whether he has spoken to his parents about her and whether, before or after getting to know her, he had ever considered the idea of marrying a princess.
“Before the end of 1963 we shall have come to a decision. Either make a clean break or else get married. I am now 26 years old and I have given the matter careful thought lately. In a few months time I shall speak to my father. Till now I have said nothing to him about Marina, nor about my feelings for her. But I am quite sure that on the day I do his answer will be: ‘If this means your future happiness, then go ahead.’”
“My mother already knows. As I live with her there is no difficulty about discussing my problems and telling her what I intend to do. And then, Marina has often been our guest in Merlinge, lunched with us, she’s been a close friend of my sisters.”
“Mother knows Marina. On the whole she agrees. She isn’t against it, and I feel sure she approves.”
“Besides, I think I can say that the ultimate decision will rest with myself, alone. I have always listened to my father’s advice, and shall continue to do so. But the decision to marry is one which a man must make for himself for the sake of everyone’s happiness.”
“As to the possibility of marrying a princess, it’s something I’ve never even bothered to think about. I have met a lot of them but never found one who has really charmed me. Just between ourselves I must say very few of them are really beautiful. I’m joking of course, but what I really think is that in this day and age it would be absurd, for me or anyone else, to marry a woman simply because she is a princess.”
We asked Vittorio Emanuele if he felt this “progressive” view of royal marriages appealed to his sisters. There has been much controversy on this question; in fact Maria Gabriella has been “accused” of holding ideas on the same lines as Vittorio.
“The best things my sisters can do is to marry the man they are in love with, whether he is a prince or not.”
“While we are on the subject, there’ something I’ve always wondered about. Is there any truth in that story, a while ago, about the Shah of Persia proposing marriage to Maria Gabriella?”
“I know nothing about it. In any case I think the difference in religion would be the real cause of the refusal.”
We asked the prince to tell us, once and for all, what really happened in his famous accident in 1962, where he nearly lost his life with Marina, the time his car crashed into a tree just outside of Lausanne.
“First of all I want to make it perfectly clear, not by way of excuse but simply to state the facts, that I was not drunk, as some people have made out. I had had half a glass of whisky and was driving from Geneva to Lausanne with Marina. We were to meet up with some friends of ours who were leaving Switzerland for good. Just before getting into Lausanne, the surface of the road was less than perfect and it was raining and my car skidded and ended up against a tree. I was going at 70, maybe 80, kilometers an hour, certainly no faster than that.”
“The consequences of the accident were rather serious. After a few days in hospital in Lausanne I had to go to Paris for a complicated operation on my knee, which was perfectly successful. Marina had some problems at first, but luckily she has made a complete recovery. She is quite well now, walks almost normally and very soon, this summer probably, she can start water skiing again.”
While we were on the subject we decided to clear up two other unpleasant “rumors” about Vittorio Emanuele, which have been going the rounds. “Was there any truth,” we asked him, “about your romance with a very young American girl, Nicole Le Vien, whom you met on the Côte d’Azur in 1959 and saw again in America at the end of 1960? And what was the story about Antea Nocera’s attempted suicide, when she threw herself out of the window because of you, (at least that’s what the papers wrote at the time.)”
“There was no such thing as a romantic episode with Nicole Le Vien. All it was, was a publicity stunt engineered by the Americans. The day I left for Italy I found a crowd of news photographers at the airport that somebody or the other had arranged to be there. Nicole and her father were with me; they took pictures of the three of us together and the next day I read in the papers that I was in love with little Nicole, while Dominique Claudel was eating her heart out in Geneva. Pure fiction.”
“As for Antea Nocera I want to make it quite clear that there is absolutely no truth at all in the story of her ‘suicide’ over me. I had met her in Geneva and only saw her again once. When the incident occurred I had been in Cannes with Marina for at least a fortnight. I’ve still never understood whether Antea declared she threw herself out the window because of me, or whether someone else invented the whole thing. In any case my name was dragged into it without the slightest justification.”
THE RIGHTS OF SUCCESSION
The prince made no hesitation in answering. Marina Doria listened and from time to time nodded in agreement. For ten years this young man has been traveling the world. Unlike what has sometimes been written he is seriously at work creating a solid position for himself in the world of business. His familiarity with different kinds of people and knowledge of different environments has made a resolute young man of Vittorio Emanuele. Using a cliché, perhaps, though it gives us a pretty good idea of his outlook on life, we would be inclined to say that this young Savoy prince thinks and speaks in the way of Americans; that is, he speaks his mind and unhesitatingly assumes responsibility for his actions.
We said, “One reads that your father is not always happy with you. In fact he has decided to contact young Amedeo of Aosta to discuss the problem of the succession to the throne.”
“My father never consulted Amedeo of Aosta. Or anyone else for that matter. There isn’t a word of truth in what you’ve read. Amy more than it’s true to say that by marrying Marina Doria, or any girl not of royal blood, I would lose my rights to the succession.”
The question of the succession and its institutional implications: these are two topics that have always been taboo for Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy. Until today. We tackle it without mincing words, and suddenly the interview changes tack. The prince weighs his words before answering. From the end of the war till today this is the first time a member of the House of Savoy has spoken so clearly on questions as delicate as this.
“Your Highness? What do you think of the chances for a restoration of the monarchy in Italy?”
“We must face facts. A restoration of the monarchy is practically impossible in Italy. There may of course be ample historical justification for a Scandinavian type monarchy, and it would probably benefit the country. As far as I am concerned I would return to Italy only if I felt quite sure I could help all the people, without distinction, and that I could support the development of the country.”
“However the world goes on turning. Today my real ambition is to establish myself in the world of commerce, the stock exchange, and become a specialist. I love my work. I decided on it after gaining a good deal of experience, and with a certain amount of success. I sit in my office from nine till noon and from two till six in the afternoon. My salary is 250 thousand lire a month, not the millions one reads about.”
“I do quite a bit of traveling but I try not to be away too long when work is piling up. Recently, I’ve been in the United States, where ‘Bache,’ the American company I work for in Geneva, sends its collaborators from time to time. It has been a truly interesting experience, and given me the chance to come into contact with the great stock exchange on Wall Street.”
We asked the prince if it is true that Umberto’s decisions have been influenced by Maria Pia and some Italian monarchists.
“I am perfectly certain they are not. My father never allows himself to be influenced by Maria Pia or anyone else. Advice he accepts from everybody, but the decisions he makes himself.”
“Over the last years, your mother and father have been living separated, at considerable distance. Do you find this situation has influenced the development of your character? Has it been painful for you?”
“Of course. It is painful for all children whose parents are no longer living together. However, I’m sure that before very long the day will come when they’ll be together again. There are many reasons for their separation but my sisters and I have great hopes that the day of their reunion won’t be too far off.”
The young prince’s face clouded. We changed the subject and asked Vittorio what he thinks about Italian politics.
“I I follow Italian politics as much as I follow international politics. As far as the Monarchical Party is concerned, in my opinion they are passing through an extremely serious crisis. Probably they should have dissolved straight after the referendum, when my father left for Portugal. The main upholders of the kingdom disappeared. They were no longer in Italy. In my modest opinion that’s when votes were lost, and even more so today.”
“I WOULD LIKE TO LIVE IN NAPLES”
In everything the young Savoy prince tells us his nostalgia for Italy shows through. “I would like to live in Naples. It’s a city I’m very attached to (I’m Neapolitan myself) although I don’t remember too much about it. The last time I was there I was nine years old. But I’d also like to live in other Italian cities. Even today I still feel very touched when I remember something that happened in 1962 when I was flying back to Europe from Africa. The plane made a stop-over at Fiumicino. As you know I cannot enter Italian territory. So I had to stay onboard, and I can’t tell you just how friendly and caring the airport staff were towards me on that occasion.”
We asked the prince how he keeps up with everything going on in Italy.
“By reading the newspapers thoroughly every day. I’m a great admirer of Indro Montanelli, and I also follow literary events.”
“Croce is my passion among the ‘classics.’ I also follow what is happening with the trade unions and the economy. I take a pile of specialized bulletins. I’m very interested in problems of the workers. When I was working in Washington, in the aeroplane industry, my best friends were workers. I often went out with them and talked things over. That was how I became so interested in industrial problems and the unions.”
The interview with Vittorio Emanuele and Marina Doria is over. The two young people have spoken calmly, now and then exchanging glances and prompting each other. He brimming with enthusiasm, she much quieter. We couldn’t help sharing the opinion of their friends that they seemed to complement each other. We might even bet that by the end of the year, when Vittorio announces his decision, Marina will be a girl greatly envied by many princesses.
Crown Prince Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro
Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria of Italy
Prince of Naples
12.II.1937 -
Vittorio Emanuele is the only son of the last King of Italy, Umberto II. Although the titles and distinctions of the Italian royal family have not been legally recognized in Italy since 1946 he is often styled Prince of Naples out of courtesy, particularly by supporters of the former monarchy, he is also commonly known in Italy as Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia.
Vittorio Emanuele also uses the title Duke of Savoy and claims the headship of the House of Savoy and he is also a claimant to the title of King of Jerusalem. However, these claims are disputed by supporters of his third cousin, Prince Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta.
Although he has lived for most of his life in exile, following a tightly contested referendum in 1946 in which a majority of the Italian people voted for Italy to become a republic, he is known to some Italian monarchists as King Vittorio Emanuele IV.
Throughout his adult life, on several occasions Vittorio Emanuele has been the center of controversy in Italy and abroad due to a series of incidents, including remarks that were seen by some as anti-semitic. In France he was tried on a murder charge, of which he was cleared of unlawful killing but convicted of a firearms offence. More recently, Vittorio Emanuele was arrested on June 16, 2006, following an investigation started by Henry John Woodcock of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Potenza, Italy, on charges of criminal association, corruption and exploitation of prostitution. A trial on these charges began in Potenza, Italy on December 21, 2009. He has been also listed among the members of the pseudo-Masonic illegal lodge called P2, accused by the magistrates to be a criminal organization.
King Umberto II Of Italy
Queen Marie-José Of Italy
Even from the time of his birth on February 12, 1937 in Naples, Vittorio Emanuele, only son of Umberto, Prince of Piedmont, who would later become the last King of Italy, and Princess Marie-José of Belgium has been surrounded by controversy.
On the day of Vittorio Emanuele's birth, the Viceroy of Italian East Africa Rodolfo Graziani decided to celebrate the birth of the heir by handing out alms at the Palace in Addis Ababa. Graziani sat in the portico of the (built for the exiled Emperor Haile Selassie with Ethiopian and Italian notables, when two Eritrean rebels tossed hand grenades at him. A deacon who served as an attendant for the Coptic Archbishop Kirilos was killed, and the Viceroy and several others were wounded. The Italians then launched a savage massacre in Addis Ababa in which hundreds were killed over the next week. Although the attempted assassins were later found to be Eritreans, the Italians targeted Amhara, specifically Shewan Amharas for vengeance, and any Ethiopians who had a modern education. Many were burned alive in their homes. The fascist authorities also took the opportunity to burn the Orthodox Cathedral of St. George. A few weeks later, upon learning that the wives of the conspirators had taken refuge briefly at the Debre Libanos Monastery, the Italians went there on the feast day of St. Tekle Haimanot, the founder of the Monastery, and massacred all the monks and the pilgrims who had traveled there for the feast.
When Umberto II left Italy after a referendum abolishing the monarchy in 1946, the Savoy family lived in exile, mostly in Switzerland and Portugal. Following the separation of the exiled ex-King and ex-Queen, Prince Vittorio Emanuele lived with his mother in an estate in Merlinge, Switzerland. Even today Vittorio Emanuele and his family currently still live in Switzerland and reside in Geneva.
Vittorio Emanuele unilaterally declared himself King of Italy on December 15, 1969. He argued that by agreeing to submit to a referendum on his place as head of state, his father (Umberto II) had thereby abdicated. Vittorio Emanuele took this action after his father allegedly called for Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta to visit him in Portugal to name him his heir. Under his self-assumed powers as King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele conferred the title of Duchess of Sant'Anna di Valdieri on his then fiancee, Marina Doria.
After an 11-year engagement, Vittorio Emanuele married Swiss biscuit heiress and world-ranked water skier Marina Ricolfi-Doria in Tehran on October 7, 1971, at the occasion of the 2,500 year celebration of Iran's monarchy.
Vittorio Emanuele has worked as a banker and an aircraft salesman, and then an arms dealer.
Vittorio Emanuele and his wife have one child, a son, Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont, born in Geneva, June 22, 1972.
In the night of August 17th or the morning of August 18, 1978, on the island of Cavallo, which lies off the south coast of Corsica, Vittorio Emanuele discovered his yacht's rubber dinghy had been taken and attached to another nearby yacht. Arming himself with a rifle, he attempted to board the yacht. He shot at a passenger he had awakened; the shot missed the passenger but mortally wounded Dirk Hamer, the nineteen-year-old son of Ryke Geerd Hamer, a passenger sleeping on the deck of another adjacent yacht. The prince admitted civil liability for the death in a letter dated August 28, 1978. Dirk Hamer died of his wounds on December 7, 1978, and Vittorio Emanuele was arrested.
On October 11, 1989, Vittorio Emanuele was indicted on charges of fatal wounding and offensive-weapon possession. But on November 18, 1991, after thirteen years of legal proceedings, the Paris Assize Court acquitted him of the fatal wounding and unintentional homicide charges, finding him guilty only of unauthorized possession of an M1 Garand rifle and he received a six month suspended prison sentence.
Vittorio Emanuele and his family hold no official titles, nor do they have royal or governmental duties due to Italy being a republic. The Constitution of Italy, in Temporary Provision XIV, states that noble titles are no longer recognized in Italy. Nevertheless, their royal titles and honors are still used as courtesy titles by certain other European royals, and also by some monarchists in Italy and elsewhere.
Since King Umberto II, the last king of Italy, did not abdicate his position as “fons honorum” (or Fount of honor), when he left Italy, he purported to take the hereditary Grand Masterships of the dynastic orders of his royal house with him. These orders were Ordine Supremo della SS. Annunziata (The Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation) and Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro (The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus). Umberto II claimed to hold these until his death in 1983.
Vittorio Emanuele is a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and a Bailiff Grand Cross of Justice of the Constantinian Order of St George.
He also claims to hold several Russian dynastic orders, including the Order of Saint Andrew, Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky, the Order of the White Eagle, and the Order of Saint Anne. He is also a Knight of the Order of the Redeemer of Greece, and the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa. He is the heir to the Savoy claim to the title of "King of Jerusalem".
In line with certain other countries that were formerly monarchies, Italian law restricted the male line of the House of Savoy from entering Italy. This was enacted via a special constitutional "temporary disposition", in force from 1948.
Vittorio Emanuele lobbied the Parliament of Italy over the years in which the law prohibiting his return was in force, to be allowed to return to his homeland after 56 years in exile. In 1999, he filed a case at the European Court of Human Rights, in which the prince charged that his lengthy exile violated his human rights. In September 2001, the court decided to hold a hearing on the case at a date later to be fixed.
In order to achieve a return to his homeland, he renounced any claim to the throne and to Italy's crown jewels. He publicly assured the Italian government that the nation and the crown properties, confiscated by the State in 1946, "are no longer ours", referring to the House of Savoy. "For that matter we have no claim on the Crown jewels", he said. "We have nothing in Italy and we are not asking for anything".
Vittorio Emanuele also dropped his case at the European Court of Human Rights. In February 2002, Vittorio Emanuele and his son Emanuele Filiberto wrote a signed letter, published through a law firm, in which they formally expressed their loyalty to the Constitution of Italy. In line with the provisions of the Italian Constitution, in temporary disposition XIV, which deals with the abolition of titles of nobility, Vittorio Emanuele renounced his title of prince.
On October 23, 2002, the provision in the Constitution of Italy that prohibited Vittorio Emanuele's return to Italy was repealed, after he signed an agreement recognizing the Republic as the valid government of the state. Vittorio Emanuele was permitted to re-enter the country from November 10, 2002. On December 23, 2002, he made his first trip home in over half a century. On the one-day visit he, his wife and his son had a 20-minute audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
Upon their first visit in 2003 to Naples, where Vittorio Emanuele was born, and from where his family sailed into exile in 1946, the reception of the Savoys was mixed; most people were indifferent to them, some hostile, few supportive. The media reported that many in Naples were not happy to see the return of the family, when hundreds of noisy demonstrators chanted negative slogans as they progressed through the city. Demonstrations were staged by two traditionally opposing factions: anti-monarchists on one hand, and supporters of the Bourbon Kings of the Two Sicilies, whose family was deposed when Italy was united in 1861 under the House of Savoy.
Vittorio Emanuele also said in recent years that the anti-Semitic laws passed under Mussolini's regime were "not that terrible". Other senior members of the House of Savoy have also in the past downplayed the significance of the anti-Jewish laws signed by Vittorio Emmanuele's grandfather. "I'm not saying it was he who signed the racial laws in 1938. But, as a Savoy heir, Victor Emmanuel has never distanced himself from them," the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Amos Luzzatto, said in an interview with Il Corriere della Sera newspaper.
On May 21, 2004, following a dinner held by King Juan Carlos I of Spain on the eve of the wedding of his son Felipe, Prince of Asturias, Vittorio Emanuele punched his third cousin and arch-rival Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta, twice in the face. Part of the background to his behavior during this incident is the support Duke Amedeo has received from monarchists as legitimate heir to the Italian throne, since Vittorio Emanuele officially had to recognize the Italian republic as the valid government of the country in order to return to Italy.
On January 27, 2005, in a letter published by Il Corriere della Sera, Vittorio Emanuele issued an apology to Italy's Jewish leadership asking forgiveness from the Italian Jewish community, and declaring that it was an error for the Italian Royal Family to have signed the racial laws of 1938.
On June 16, 2006 he was arrested in Varenna and imprisoned in Potenza on charges of corruption and recruitment of prostitutes for clients of the Casinò di Campione Casino of Campione d'Italia. The enquiry was conducted by Italian magistrate John Woodcock, of British ancestry, famous for other VIPs' arrests.
After several days, Vittorio Emanuele was released and placed under house arrest instead. He was released from house arrest on July 20, 2006, but he had to stay inside the Italian borders. He is now free to leave Italy but he is still under investigation.
While still incarcerated in June 2006, on the unconnected charges of corruption, Vittorio Emanuele was recorded admitting that "I was in the wrong, [...] but I must say I fooled them, the French judges," leading to a call from Dirk Hamer's sister for Vittorio Emanuele to be retried in Italy for killing her brother. He also described, in a phone call, the magistrates investigating him about the corruption charges as "penniless, envious turds whose wives are probably cuckolding them while they keep track of me."
Prince Emanuele Filiberto
On July 7, 2006 Vittorio Emanuele's kinsman and dynastic rival, Prince Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta declared himself to be the head of the House of Savoy and Duke of Savoy, claiming that Vittorio Emanuele had lost his dynastic rights when he married without the permission of King Umberto II in 1971. Amedeo has received the support of the President of the Council of the Senators of the Kingdom Aldo Alessandro Mola and of Vittorio Emanuele's sister Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy.
Vittorio Emanuele and his son have applied for judicial intervention to forbid Amedeo from using the title "Duke of Savoy".
Due to the continued controversy and cloud of scandal surrounding his father, Emanuele Filiberto, has distanced himself from Vittorio Emanuele.
In 2007, Vittorio Emanuele and his son Emanuele Filiberto requested formally that the State of Italy pay financial damages of 260 million Euros and initiate full restitution of all properties and belongings that had been confiscated from the royal house after the abdication. The financial damages claim is based on having suffered moral injustice during the exile. The government of Italy has rejected the request and, in response, indicated that it may seek damages for historic grievances.
Marina Ricolfi-Doria
12.II.1935
Crown Princess of Italy
Princess of Naples
Marina Ricolfi-Doria is the daughter of René Italo Ricolfi-Doria (Cologny, 30.IV.1901 – Geneva, 4.II.1970) and wife Iris Benvenuti (Pallanza, 14.I.1905 – Geneva, 10.IX.2004), who owned a Swiss biscuit business, sister of Silvia, Nina and Alda and brother Dominique.
In 1955 Doria went to Florida and became a star attraction at the Florida amusement park Cypress Gardens. She was a world-renowned water ski champion winning world titles on three occasions to gain the titles of Women Tricks World Champion in 1955 and 1957, and Women Slalom World Champion in 1957. In addition, she won four consecutive overall titles in the European Championships from 1953 to 1956 and multiple national titles in her native Switzerland. In 1991 Doria was selected as member in the International Water Ski Federation Hall of Fame.
May 9, 1955
MARINA DORIA
Until four summers ago, pretty Marina Doria had done all of her skiing on snow in her native Geneva, Switzerland. But "because I wanted to try something new," she switched to water skiing. Her success was almost immediate. Marina won the Swiss championship in 1952 and the European title a year later. Now 20, she does her water skiing at Florida's Cypress Gardens, placed second in a recent intercontinental meet, winning the slalom division. She will try for the world championship at Beirut, Lebanon, next August.
September 23, 1955
MARINA DORIA
Marina Doria, curvy Swiss beauty, displayed perfect form in 17-nation world water-ski tournament over Cypress Gardens course at Winter Haven, Fla. gracefully bouncing and gliding to women's slalom, trick riding and overall titles.
After an eleven-year engagement and against the wishes of the groom's father, her marriage to Vittorio Emanuele, then a banker and helicopter salesman, took place in Tehran on October 7, 1971, at the occasion of the 2,500 year celebration of Iran's monarchy. They have one son, Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont, who was born in Geneva, on June 22, 1972.
When her husband, the Italian pretender, was allowed to return to his homeland in 2002, they moved from Switzerland to Italy.
Always supportive of her husband, she commented on the June 2006 arrest of Vittorio Emanuele concerning corruption and abetting in prostitution was: “It is folly. Victor is a clean man.”
Italian Aristocrat Cousins Fight Over Defunct Throne
The family of Italy's last king are locked in a bitter court feud over who has the right to lay claim to the country's defunct throne more than 60 years after the monarchy was abolished.
By Nick Squires
The Telegraph
Feb 16, 2010
The battle pitches Prince Victor Emmanuel, the son of Umberto II, against his third cousin, Duke Amadeo of Aosta, both of whom are descended from the 19th century king of Italy, Umberto I.
The dispute has reached court after four years of public bickering which divided the country's small but ardent band of monarchists.
It began when the duke declared he, rather than his cousin, was the real head of the House of Savoy, the name of the Italian royals until the monarchy was abolished by referendum at the end of the Second World War.
The duke, 66, argued that his cousin was no longer eligible to call himself Prince of Savoy because he had failed to secure the legally-required permission of his father, king-in-exile Umberto II, to marry a Swiss biscuit manufacturer heiress and champion water skier, Marina Doria, in 1971.
The duke also argued that the prince forfeited his right to the dynastic title because in order to be allowed to return to Italy from exile in 2002, Victor Emmanuel had to formally recognise the Italian republic as the country's legitimate government.
The feud even erupted into violence when Victor Emmanuel was accused of punching the duke twice in the face following a dinner held by King Juan Carlos I of Spain in honour of the wedding of his son.
But now a court in Tuscany has finally ruled the 73-year-old prince is the true heir to the dynasty, which has its roots in the north-east of Italy and ruled the whole country after it was unified in 1861.
It ruled the Savoy royal title can now only be used by Prince Victor Emmanuel and his son, Prince Emmanuel Filiberto, who is best known to Italians as the recent winner of a reality television show, Dancing with the Stars.
It also ordered the Duke of Aosta to pay his cousin £43,000 in compensation as well as the costs of the trial.
The court pointed out that the "dynastic squabbles underlying this affair" had no legal relevance to the modern Italian state because the monarchy had been abolished more than 60 years ago.
It also highlighted the fact the prince was descended from the last king of Italy while the duke came from only a "junior branch" of the royal family.
The court ruled that the duke's use of the Savoy name had been "unmerited" and ordered him to bring his "harmful conduct" to an immediate end.
Prince Emmanuel, who has been embroiled in a series of scandals including an incident in which he fatally shot a German tourist who climbed aboard his yacht off Corsica in 1978 and, more recently, charges of recruiting prostitutes for clients at a Swiss casino, praised the court's decision.
"The judge understood the vile and harmful action that Duke Amadeo had construed against me, my son and the Royal House of Savoy, an action which has been rightly punished," he said.
But a furious Duke Amadeo vowed to fight on. "I respect the judgment but naturally I don't agree with it and I'm going to appeal," he said.
It was not just the claim to a long defunct royal line that was at stake. The Savoy name also confers the control of various charitable institutions and entitles the holder to call himself prince of Venice and Piedmont – although the positions are purely titular.
NR
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