Grandson of Italy's last king and queen wants their remains returned to Rome, decades after forced exile

The grandson of Italy's last king, who was banished just 35 days into his reign, is fighting for his remains to be returned home so they can be laid to rest with other Italian monarchs.King Umberto II died in exile in 1983, aged 82. His wife Marie-José of Belgium died in 2001, aged 94.They are buried in Hautecombe Abbey in France, where several members of the House of Savoy are interred.READ MORE: Prince Harry's US visa documents unsealed after drug claimsBut King Umberto II's grandson Prince Emanuele Filiberto wants their remains transferred to Rome's Pantheon, the temple once intended to be the final resting place for Italian monarchs."It would be a gesture of reconciliation between the Italian republic and the Savoy family," Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 52, told The Times."There is really nothing that can be held against these two figures, who respected the Italian republic until the end of their lives."READ MORE: On board the luxury cruise ship with a royal seal of approvalIf permission is granted, they would join Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I, and Margherita of Savoy, his wife and queen, in the rotunda.Umberto II reigned from May 9 to June 12, 1946 – just 35 days – after his father, King Vittorio Emanuele III, abdicated in an attempt to save the monarchy that had been discredited by his support of Benito Mussolini's fascist regime during World War II and the dictator's anti-Semitic 1938 race laws.READ MORE: Inside the Bernadotte dynasty, Sweden's ruling royal familyWhen Italians voted to abolish the monarchy in 1946, the royals were obliged to go into exile. An article of the Constitution of the new Italian Republic prevented previous kings of the House of Savoy, their wives and male descendants of the family from entering Italian soil.The ban was lifted in 2002 and moves to bring royal remains back to Italy began in 2011.In February last year, King Umberto II's son Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy died in Geneva, aged 86.He had lived in Switzerland since the family were exiled from Italy when he was nine years old.Prince Vittorio Emanuele's private life was marred by a string of judicial troubles.In 1999, he was acquitted of manslaughter by a court in Paris at the end of a 13-year legal battle. He had been accused of firing a rifle from his yacht while it was moored off Corsica, fatally wounding a German tourist who was sleeping in a vessel nearby.The controversial case inspired a 2023 Netflix series: The King Who Never Was, which was directed by Beatrice Borromeo, who is married to Monaco's Pierre Casiraghi.But Umberto II and his wife Marie-José were largely unblemished from the scandals involving their son.Umberto II's grandson, who is heir to the monarchy, said his grandfather spent the rest of his life in exile in Portugal after accepting the result of the referendum."He decided to put his personal affections in second place and to go into exile to avoid further bloodshed," he said, adding his grandmother "was longstanding anti-fascist who helped to bring in arms from Switzerland for the partisans".Prince Emanuele Filiberto said his grandfather had played a significant role in international diplomacy during World War II and had earned the appreciation of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and American president Dwight D Eisenhower.He wants his grandparents to be buried in the Pantheon, one of Rome's biggest tourist attractions.The return of the king and queen's remains would follow those of Umberto II's father – the disgraced King Vittorio Emanuele III – whose body was returned from exile in Egypt.He is now buried in the Vicoforte sanctuary in Piedmont, a move that took place in 2017."The return could be carried out tomorrow morning, since the exile law has been abolished. What my father's sisters and I want is a worthy burial place, which would be the Pantheon," Prince Emanuele Filiberto said.He said he already has the permission of Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Vatican.But he is waiting for a reply from Italy's president, Sergio Mattarella.Prince Emanuele Filiberto has become somewhat of a celebrity in recent years.He's now the highest-profile member of the former royal dynasty (he won Italy's version of Dancing With the Stars in 2009) and had previously announced his intention to renounce his claim to the country's throne so that the title passes to his daughter, Vittoria.Prince Emanuele Filiberto is in the process of launching his latest business venture RoyaLand, described as an "immersive, fantasy-based, royalty-themed game".He's enlisted the help of other royal families including those from Russia, Albania, France, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Lesotho and Germany.The prince said he was inspired by the "enormous public interest in series such as The Crown and in the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, and the coronation of King Charles".He is currently dating former Miss Mexico Adriana Abascal after separating from his French wife, the actress Clotilde Courau.FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. 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