May 10, 2021

"Italy is a republic, having abolished the monarchy 75 years ago for its disastrous support of Mussolini, and Italians have approximately zero interest in a royal restoration."

"'Never say never,' said Vittoria’s father, Emanuele Filiberto, an Italian television personality who claims the title Prince of Venice, which is also the name of his Los Angeles restaurant and former food truck.... Emanuele Filiberto is currently creating a Crown-like series about his grandmother, Queen Marie-José. 'Totally antifascist,' he said. 'A great antifascist,' echoed Vittoria, who called her a role model. Emanuele Filiberto notes that many of Europe’s remaining monarchs are women, starting with Queen Elizabeth in Britain. Their royal houses have a much better track record of female empowerment than Italy’s Parliament, where women are notoriously underrepresented, he said. 'Monarchies,' he said, 'at least we give the power to the women.'... Like her great-grandfather’s great-grandfather, Vittorio Emanuele II, who united Italy, Vittoria is much more comfortable in French than Italian. When asked if she wanted to be Italy’s queen, she called the concept 'abstract' and said she is just trying to figure out what she wants to do in life. She spends her days studying for finals, modeling midriff shirts on Instagram, dancing with friends and gossiping about Prince Harry and Meghan at school."

From "Paris Teenager’s New Gig: Would-Be Queen of Italy. A Nation Shrugs. The son of Italy’s last king has tapped his teen granddaughter to eventually lead the House of Savoy, pretenders to Italy’s defunct throne. 'Totally illegitimate,' says a rival clan" (NYT).

2 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Mezzrow writes:

ummm… Have you ever eaten an unpickled olive? I haven’t and I actually like olives, unlike so many. I’d like to know how that got past the legion of NYT editors.

Lovely family, and a monarch with an entrepreneurial bent who looks good in media. Italy could do much worse. I wonder if Emanuele Filiberto is a fan of Nutella? Welcome to my slice of the “spectrum”. 😊
Alert Curtis Yarvin, as he could use a reason to smile these days. There’s hope for the monarchy yet.

Best to you and Meade.


Ann Althouse said...

DDB says "Of course she wants to re-establish the royal grift."