Prince of Showbiz: Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy

The Miss Italy Contest transmissions are amongst the block buster transmissions for Italian television. The hype usually starts months in advance and a first high is reached when the moderators are announced. This year, RAI 1 announced it a bomb-shell with last year’s Milly Carlucci as presenter being assisted by HRH Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy. Milly Carlucci is a well-known Italian TV presenter, actress, singer, and goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. She became the first women presenter to host the Miss Italy Contest in 2009.

Emanuele Filiberto was born in Geneva in 1972 as a Swiss citizen. He is the son of Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Duke of Naples and Marina Doria Ricolfi, a Swiss Water Skiing Champion. He is the grandson of the last King and Queen of Italy, Umberto II and Marie-José of Belgium. Umberto II had to leave Italy on pressure from the government after the Second World War before a ballot was held to turn Italy into a Republic.

The Savoyans as a whole had been completely in the pockets of fascist leader Mussolini with two of their exponents serving as Vice-King of Ethiopia and nominal King of Croatia respectively under King Vittorio Emanuele III during the war. In 1948, the Republic passed a law stripping the male members of the house of Savoy of their Italian citizenship and forbidding them entry into Italy.

The ban was lifted in 2002 after both Prince Vittorio Emanuele and Emanuele Filiberto renounced their putative claims to the crown and acknowledged the Republic of Italy. The Italian citizenship was returned to the family members; Emanuele Filiberto is a citizen of both Italy and Switzerland since then. He grew up in Switzerland where he attended schools and universities in Geneva and Lausanne.

In 2003, he married French actress Clotilde Courau at the cathedral of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome; with her he has two daughters, Princess Vittoria and Princess Luisa. The prince and the actress had been introduced to each other by Prince Albert of Monaco.

Emanuele Filiberto is working as a fund manager in Geneva, but since his marriage has taken to showbiz as a second calling in earnest. In 2008, he appeared as a judge in Canale 5’s Dance Of The Debutants (Il ballo delle debutanti); in 2009 he won Italy’s Strictly Come Dancing (Ballando con le stelle); in 2010 he co-hosted a reality and a variety show on RAI 1. Also in 2010, he took part as a contestant in the San Remo Song Festival, where he ended runner-up.

The Miss Italy Contest will be aired from September 11 through 13. Emanuele Filiberto’s part will be conducting all the interviews with the contestants as well as the celebrity guests. Expected to appear are Sharon Stone, Vivienne Westwood and Diane von Furstenberg.

Prince Emanuele Filberto of Savoy is also styled Prince of Piedmont and Venice. He runs two charities: The Emanuele Filiberto Charity Fund to support education of poor Swiss and Italian children, and the Prince of Venice Foundation for cultural purposes.

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