Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy dead in Switzerland at age 86

Royal watchers everywhere are marking the death this weekend of Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, whose father, Umberto II, was the last king of Italy, as the Associated Press reports.

The prince's death at the age of 86 in Geneva, Switzerland, was confirmed in a statement issued by the Savoy Royal House.

Tangled royal history

As the AP noted, the prince had been a resident of Switzerland ever since his family was exiled from its home country when he was just nine years of age.

Born to Umberto, Prince of Piedmont and Princess Marie-Jose of Belgium, Vittorio Emanuele's father was crowned king of Italy, but his tenure lasted a mere 34 days.

Umberto ascended to the throne upon the abdication of his own father, who endeavored to salvage the Italian monarchy, the survival of which was placed in jeopardy by his wartime support of Benito Mussolini.

Once the Italian people voted for the monarchy's abolition in 1946, the royal family had no choice but to go into exile, as constitutional language was adopted by the Italian Republic barring previous kings of the House of Savoy and all male descendants from any presence inside the country.

Subsequent return to Italy

It was in 2002 that the aforementioned ban was lifted, and Vittorio Emanuele and his own son returned to their homeland.

The duo then pursued multi-million euro claims for compensation as a result of the family's decades of exile.

However, the former royals eventually abandoned those efforts due to public outrage and opposition at the perceived injustice of such a move.

Legal controversies

In addition to the tumultuous history of his family's royal claims, Vittorio Emanuele also found himself embroiled in legal difficulties related to the 1978 death of a German teenager, as the Daily Mail reported, though he was eventually acquitted in a Paris court.

The prince also later secured acquittal on 2006 charges of racketeering and involvement in prostitution that were leveled against him in the southern Italian town of Potenza, evidence of the troubled and very complicated life of the man described by the title of a recent Netflix series as The King Who Never Was.”

According to the AP, Vittorio Emanuele leaves behind wife Marina Ricolfi Doria as well as his aforementioned son, Emanuele Filiberto.