The funeral of Vittorio Emanuele of
Savoy, the son of Italy's last king Umberto II who died at the
age of 86 in Geneva a week ago, was held at Turin cathedral on
Saturday.
The funeral brought a number of European royals to Italy,
including Sofia of Spain, Albert II of Monaco and Jean of
Luxembourg, and during the service a message of condolences from
Pope Francis was read out.
But the funeral only attracted a relatively small crowd of
ordinary mourners to the square outside the Duomo.
Vittorio Emanuele's widow Marina Doria and son Emanuele
Filiberto kissed the coffin before it was taken to the family's
crypt in the Superga Basilica overlooking Turin.
Vittorio Emanuele would have turned 87 on February 12.
The House of Savoy ruled Italy from unification in 1861 to 1946,
when Italians voted in an institutional referendum on June 2 to
abolish the monarchy and create the Italian republic.
Reviled by many Italians for collaborating with Fascist dictator
Benito Mussolini before and during World War II and fleeing Rome
in 1943 to avoid the invading German army, after the referendum
Umberto II and his family went into exile in Switzerland.
A constitutional ban on the return to Italy of male heirs to the
discredited royal family was lifted in 2002.
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