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Vittorio Emanuele IV (born Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria on 12 February 1937 in Naples, Italy - died 3 February 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland) was King of Italy from the death of his father Umberto II on 18 March 1983 until his abdication on 1 January 2008. Hailing from the House of Savoy, he was succeeded by his son Emauele Filiberto II.
The only son and second child of future King Umberto II, then Prince of Piedmont, and Mary, Princess Royal of England, Vittorio Emanuele had three sisters and would most of the World War in Sicily, where the whole Italian royal family resided during most of the war. At a young age, the future King was branded by the execution of Pope Stephen X, the Syndicalist exactions, the rise and reconquest of Duce Italo Balbo, the strained marriage of his father and the death of his grandfather and namesake, that made him Prince of Piedmont in 1947.
Entering the Italian Army upon reaching adulthood, as his father did before him, Vittorio Emanuele was already the subject of scandals, cultivating an image as a playboy surrounded by beautiful models and actresses and having few brushes with death while driving his Ferrari. His lavish escapades to Saint Tropez and Crans-Montana delighted the tabloids and were frowned upon by the conservatives and his father, who saw his behavior unfit of a future king. His arranged marriage in 1970 to Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark did nothing to placate the Prince of Piedmont and was noticeably unhappy : the couple only produced one son, Emanuele Filiberto, before separating in body and heart, the future Queen having had enough of her husband’s philandering.
But the Prince also distinguished himself by his politics : a known admirer of Balbo, he made several statements in favor of pyrism, against democracy or seen as deeply racialist and antisemitic, and shocked all by announcing, on 15 December 1969, that he had adhered to the Pyrist National Movement. The announcement came three days after the Borghese coup and was an unprecedented political statement from a royal. After Borghese had been removed a few months later, Vittorio Emanuele had become a pariah in political life. His father the King even considered asking his cousin, Tomislav III of Croatia, to assume his succession : nevertheless, the Prince of Piedmont was appointed Governor-General of LIbya in order to distance him from the political life. The name of the Prince of Piedmont appeared in a misappropriation of funds in 1978 and it looked like his prospects turned dire : the pyrist victory in the 1979 elections led to all legal proceedings being abandoned and the Prince returned in Italy as a darling of the far-right, taking advantage of his father’s old age. He would finally succeeded to the throne on 18 March 1983.
Vittorio Emanuele IV did nothing to mitigate his past statements, lending his support to the military coup of General della Chiesa later in the year and supporting his hard conservative agenda. Even as the government abrogated the laws allowing divorce, the King would pressure the Pope into granting him an annulation of his marriage, which he was granted in 1986. The King did nothing to hide his disdain of left-wing governments, adopted a hard stance on the Tunisian and Libyan affairs but remained less committed to the governmental struggle against the Sicilian Mafia. During that time, Vittorio Emanuele IV resumed his lavish lifestyle and became deeply unpopular in Italy, as the foreign press depicted him as a vain and foul-mouthed buffoon.
In 2004, L’Espresso news magazine announed that Vittorio Emanuele IV had cultivated links with the Sicilian Mafia since his accession, granting his clout and authority to exports in return for hefty payments to alleviate his extravagant lifestyle and bypass official scrutiny. It was also revealed that the King had participated in countless orgies where prostitutes had been hired by the Mafia, along with other scandalous royals such as the King of Sweden or the Prince Consort of England. In 2002, Ruby Rubacuori, an underage prostitute of Libyan origin, died during one such event while alone with the King : the Mafia disposed of the body and lent hush money to the king.
The scandal destroyed all credibility that was left to the King, who protested of his innocence : at the time, Italy was suffering of criminal activity and economic downturn, and the King’s impunity and enrichment caused much discontent.His pyrist allies abandoned him and the Prince of Piedmont severed all ties. The royal penal immunity, whom Vittorio Emanuele IV had taken advantage of, was finally removed by the Di Pietro government, leading to his publicized arrest on 16 June 2006, while relaxing at Lake Como: the image of the King of Italy in handcuffs went round the world. King Vittorio Emanuele IV, appearing in court as Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia, was condemned in March 2007 to five years in prison and a 10 million lira fine for criminal association, misappropriation of funds and involuntary manslaughter.
Vittorio Emanuele IV immediately filed for an appeal, that led to the overturn of the previous judgement on a technicality and a final dismissal in 2010, but the dice was cast. As protests asking for the King’s incarceration or abdication multiplied throughout Italy, Vittorio Emanuele IV announced on Christmas 2007 his abdication in favor of his son, citing “the marxist justice’s undertaking of our institutions” and “the need to reinforce the royal institution”, effective on 1 January 2008. His announcement was met with spontaneous celebrations throughout the country. Upon leaving the Quirinal Palace, the King chose exile in Switzerland.
Diving his life between Switzerland and lavish trips throughout the world, King Emeritus Vittorio Emanuele didn’t relented upon his scandalous statements on his country’s situation, attacking the left wing and even his son’s works. He finally died at 86, on 3 February 2024, in Geneva Cantonal Hospital, due to complications from an infection. King Emanuele Filiberto II refused to give a state funeral, keeping the matter private and not inviting members of the Italian and foreign governments : King Vittorio Emanuele IV wasn’t interred in the Pantheon in Rome like his predecessors but in the Basilica of Superga in Turin.
To this day, Vittorio Emanuele IV is still a reviled figure in Italy, save for a few hardcore pyrists and monarchists, and has been since his days as crown prince ; his turbulent private life and his links with the Mafia were incompatible with royal duties and the scandals surrounding his life were seen as fodder for tabloids and crude jokes. He was portrayed by Toni Servilio in Paolo Sorrentino’s 2018 film Loro, that received the Grand Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival.
For Want of A Sandwich - A Franz Ferdinand Lives Wikibox TL
- Thread starter MaskedPickle
- Start date
Speaking of which, this raises the question of how popular republicanism is in Italy by the present day.
I would suppose that support for monarchy/republic is very close 50/50. So you hardly need many scandals to getting monarchy being abolished.
I can also see the main left-wing parties in Italy to be openly Republican in their platform as well with how hated the monarchy must be ITTL.
I mean, it's one thing for your monarchy to be super corrupt like the Spanish monarchs OTL, and it's another like Victor Emmanuel IV here to have been best friends with the mafia, a pedophile and then kill an underage prostitute in his mass prostitute orgy, not to mention being a notFascist. I don't see how VE abdicating and then passing onto his son who the Italian public has no reason to trust or like would magically fix the situation unless EF is a living saint. It kills my suspension of disbelief and makes this Italy look like a backwards state.
If republicanism is too associated with syndicalist violence I could see it - but yes, this does make Juan Carlos seem like child’s play
Thank you for your remarks. In fact, in this timeline, monarchism is still going strong as being tied to conservatism and nationalism and is seen as a prerequisite for being civilized. Republicanism suffers bad press : in Italy moreover, the Savoys are seen as architects of the Risorgimento and the growth of Italy as a major power. Even if republicanism is high and a sentiment shared by most of the left, conservatism is still going strong and it would need a revolution to abolish the throne. Emanuele Filiberto is an average monarch but seen as better than his father.
Huh. Apparently, in real life, Vittorio Emanuele IV killed a man's son and traumatized him so hard that he became a neo-Nazi pseudoscientist in the process.
en.wikipedia.org
Ryke Geerd Hamer - Wikipedia
So, the Italian monarchy is basically running on inertia, especially with the Italian left and a sizable proportion of the populace openly republican in sentiment?
Jesus Christ…Huh. Apparently, in real life, Vittorio Emanuele IV killed a man's son and traumatized him so hard that he became a neo-Nazi pseudoscientist in the process.
Ryke Geerd Hamer - Wikipedia
With Fethullah Gulen a Turkish leader ITTL, what became of Recep Tayyip Erdogan ITTL?
Erich Hartmann
Erich Alfred Hartmann (Weissach, Württemberg, Germany 19 April 1922 - Weil im Schönbuch, Württemberg, Germany 20 September 1993) was a German fighter pilot and spaceman who, aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight, became the first human to journey into outer space. Travelling on Walhalla 1, Hartmann completed one orbit of Earth on 19 August 1960. By achieving a major milestone for Germany amidst the Space Race, he became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Germany’s highest decorations, the Pour le Mérite and the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.
The son of a doctor and one of the first female glider pilots in Germany, Hartmann spent his childhood in China until the troubles there forced the family to return to Germany. Hartmann received his pilot’s licence at 15 and enlisted in the Luftwaffe.
Hartmann quickly gained prominence as a flying ace, being able to shoo 62 Syndicalist planes in combat, winning the monikers of “Bubi” (the Kid) and “Der Schwarze Teufel” (the Black Devil) until the invasion of Germany forced the unit to take shelter in Hungary, where, along with all German units retrating there, he was forced to stand down, as a forced host of the Hungarians. Hartmann was able to make a living as a flight instructor, before resuming combat when Hungary entered the Alliance in 1948, raising his World War tally with 148 enemy aircraft in total. Serving later in the Polish War, Hartmann’s total victories numbered in a total of 202 enemy aircrafts, making him one of the most successful fighter aces in the history of the Luftwaffe.
Erich Hartmann was already 37 and a Major when he was selected for the Walhalla programme of human spaceflight that had been constructed by the German Aerospace Center : Director Wernher von Braun had insisted in the recruitment of seasoned military pilots to meet the hazards of an endeavour never seen before in the history of mankind : Hartmann thus became one of the first twelve spacemen ever officialized by Germany, beginning training throughout the year. Erich Hartmann was finally selected personally by the Ministry of War along with Director von Braun owing to his vast experience and, according to many, “his distinct Aryan features”.
On 19 August 1960, the Walhalla 1 spacecraft was launched from Peenemünde Space Center, with Erich Hartmann aboard, becoming the first human into space and orbit the Earth, as the spacecraft orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Norway. Erich Hartmann’s words are still symbols of the early Space Rush, such as “Vorwärts” (Let’s go) that became the motto of the German Spacemen Corps and “it is so beautiful” when he arrived into orbit and saw the Earth in its entirety.
When he returned to Earth, Hartmann had become a household name internationally, a true triumph for the German space programme, receiving an official tinker-tape parade in all large cities of Germany and being awarded with a Pour le Mérite and a knighthood by Kaiser Louis Ferdinand, before embarking in a worldwide tour, where his charisma and daredevil nature would balance his almost stereotypical military demeanor ; in the United States, Hartmann was called “the Prussian from outer space”. Nevertheless, becoming such a propaganda asset, along with his advanced age relatively to other German spacemen led to Hartmann’s effective retirement : serving the space program as an advisor and as Deputy Training Director of the spacemen training facility, he would retire in 1972 with the specially created rank of General of the Spacemen, unique in the Luftwaffe, and being one of the few recipients of the highest ranks of the Iron Cross. Having witnessed from Daressalam mission control room the liftoff of Wotan 9 in 1968, that led to the first man in the Moon, he unsuccessfully petitioned the German Aerospace Agency for joining one of the manned crews on the Moon.
Retiring into private life, enjoying private flights and regularly returning for military parades and other events, Hartmann died in 1993 at 71, in his hometown of Weil in Schönburch. He is interred, alongside his wife, in the Space Explorers’ Mausoleum in Invalidenhof in Berlin, alongside other prominent German spacemen.
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I assume without the Nazis, "Aryan" has less sinister connotations ITTL?
No debate here...
Huh. Apparently, in real life, Vittorio Emanuele IV killed a man's son and traumatized him so hard that he became a neo-Nazi pseudoscientist in the process.
Ryke Geerd Hamer - Wikipedia
Yeah... Vittorio Emanuele OTL looks like an awful human being, for this horrible affair and to the fact that he abused the hospitality of Juan Carlos by fighting with his cousin in the middle of an official reception. Looks like your average spoiled child to me. So I made him as a worse Juan Carlos mixed with Berlusconi's absolute worst.
More like "what would we change? At least the current one isn't as awful. And our politicians are shit."
Much worse, like a mini-Chernobyl, prevented but that costed the Progressive Party the 1980 election.
His fate was very different here. He immigrated, for once.