Italian prince launches fashion line
AFP
Italy's prince Emmanuel Filiberto of Savoy is entering the fashion business with a clothing line branded "Prince of Italy" and bearing the arms of his royal family, he told the gossip weekly, Di piu.
"I have always been very demanding about clothes and I told myself I would like to wear the clothing I created," he said.
His summer collection will be on sale in shops soon, he said, adding the clothes would be fashioned by designer Raimondo Ciofani, but "under my instructions and according to my style."
Grandson of Italy's last king, the prince ran in last April's legislative elections as head of the small "Values and Future" movement that captured only 0.4 of the vote.
The male heirs of the Italian royal family were sent into exile in 1946 for the collaboration of then-monarch Victor Emmanuel III and Benito Mussolini's fascist regime. The king had cosigned and promoted the regime's racial laws in 1938.
Male members of the family were barred from entering Italy until 2003.
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Image of Italy's prince Emmanuel Filiberto of Savoy, seen here in 1999, by Michel Gangne.