Remains of ex-Italy king returned from Egypt

The remains of an exiled Italian king have been repatriated back to northwest Italy from Egypt in a family mausoleum 70 years after his death.

King Victor Emmanuel III’s remains were placed in a coffin which was draped with the royal House of Savoy’s flag yesterday upon arrival at a basilica in Vicoforte near the Italian town of Cuneo.

It is believed the former king was exiled in Egypt after Italy’s post-war Constitution banned male descendants of the royals from Italy because the family had supported Dictator Benito Mussolini. The ban was lifted in 2002.

The remains arrived from St Catherine’s Cathedral in Alexandria, Egypt, where Emmanuel died in 1947 after the remains of his wife, Queen Elena, were transferred to Vicoforte from France where she died in 1959.

Victor Emmanuel ruled Italy from 1900-1946 and was abdicated in favour of his son Umberto II. Rejected by a vote, the family went into exile and died outside of Italy.

Read: Italy to return its ambassador to Egypt