Italy's last prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy dies aged 86

Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, the son of Italy's last king, died at the age of 86 at his home surrounded by his family in Geneva, the House of Savoy said on Saturday.

Vittorio Emanuele was officially the last crown prince of Italy and the head of the house for a long time after the death of his father.

In the Middle Ages, the family ruled over Savoy, which is located in parts of present-day Italy, France and Switzerland, and Piedmont in northern Italy. The royal house provided the kings of Italy between 1861 and 1946.

Italians by a narrow margin voted in a 1946 referendum to abolish the monarchy, sending Vittorio Emanuele's father, King Umberto II, who had been on the throne for just three weeks, into exile to Switzerland.

Officially, Vittorio Emanuele was therefore only crown prince for one month. He spent the majority of his life outside Italy.

King Umberto's father, King Victor Emmanuel III, who abdicated in favour of his son at the end of World War II, tarnished the family's name in the eyes of many Italians because of his ties to Fascism.

In 1922, Victor Emmanuel invited Benito Mussolini to form a government, paving the way for two decades of dictatorship and in 1938 he signed into law racist legislation banning Jews from public office and schools.