6 JANUARY 2003
Victor Emmanuel of Savoy has been relaxing at home in Switzerland after his first trip to Italy in 56 years. And the exiled Italian royal, who said arriving in Rome was "the best Christmas gift I could have received," has promised to make a more lengthy visit to his home country next month.

Whether the Italian people will greet the homecoming with enthusiasm remains to be seen, although the former royal family's right to return – albeit as laypeople – to their country is now widely accepted.

The family's reign came to an end after World War II when Italy voted for the formation of a republic and all male heirs of the house of Savoy were banned from Italian soil.

Victor's grandfather, King Victor Emmanuel III, had been condemned for collaborating with Benito Mussolini's anti-semitic race laws and the family went into exile in 1946. The parliament overturned the ban last year, though there is no possibility of the Savoys returning as a monarchy. Victor Emmanuel has renounced all claim to the throne and recognised the "incontrovertible reality" of the republic.

But though their titles may be gone, the family's celebrity endures, as Victor Emmanuel's son Emmanuel Filiberto will no doubt find out. The blond-haired financier is already a celebrity in Italy despite the fact that last month's visit was his first ever trip to the country. The 30-year-old, who is a passionate Juventas fan, has appeared on football discussion programmes and even popped up in an advertisement for olives in which he told consumers they could "feel like a king".