Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, heir to Italy’s last king, has made a strong statement demanding an end to speculation surrounding his late father’s name. His outrage was sparked by a documentary series that he says distorts the facts and is nothing but pure sensationalism, seeking to attract viewers by exploiting an old family tragedy.
The controversy centers on the Netflix series ‘Il Principe che non voleva essere re’, released in 2023. The film was directed by aristocrat and journalist Beatrice Borromeo. It focuses on the controversial figure of Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Emanuele Filiberto’s father, and sheds light on the darkest chapters of his biography. Although the series originally generated significant public interest, the prince’s son now believes it’s time to let the past rest.
The documentary’s central event is a 1978 incident that led to the death of a young German, Dirk Hamer. Vittorio Emanuele was the main suspect in the case. In 1991, a Paris court acquitted him of manslaughter but found him guilty of illegally possessing a firearm. The verdict remains controversial and a sensitive subject for everyone involved.
Beatrice Borromeo’s motivation for making this film is deeply personal. Her mother, Paola Marzotto, is a close friend of Birgit Hammer, the sister of the deceased young man. It was this friendship and the desire to seek justice for the Hammer family that inspired Beatrice to take on her own investigation and present her version of events to the public.
In a recent interview with the press, Emanuele Filiberto emphasized that his father lived a difficult life. He was groomed from childhood to be a monarch, but the abolition of the monarchy in Italy inflicted serious psychological trauma from which he never recovered. The heir believes that the documentary only deepens the family’s suffering by exposing old wounds. His stance, incidentally, is shared by his former wife, actress Clotilde Courau.
During the interview, the prince also touched on other personal matters. He openly admitted to being unfaithful to his ex-wife, having had a relationship with Adriana Abascal, with whom he now maintains a warm friendship. At present, his main focus is caring for his mother, Marina Doria. In addition, an ongoing dynastic dispute with his cousin Aymone, Duke of Aosta, over the headship of the House of Savoy continues to stir debate among monarchists about who would occupy the Italian throne in the event of a hypothetical restoration.
