Italy:Italy's former royal family, the Savoys, have written to the Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, and prime minister, Romano Prodi, requesting €260 million compensation for properties confiscated and for their 56-year exile.
Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy (70), grandson of King Vittorio Emanuele III who sat on the Italian throne from 1900 until his abdication in 1946, has demanded €170 million compensation, while his son, Emanuele Filiberto (35) has asked for a further €90 million.
Following a 1946 referendum, the male heirs of the Savoy family were sent into exile, only being allowed to return to Italy in 2002.
The 1946 referendum abolishing the monarchy was passed by 12 million to 10 million votes. A majority of public opinion felt that King Vittorio Emanuele had done little or nothing to constrain dictator Benito Mussolini.
Not only did the king sign controversial Mussolini legislation such as the 1938 Nazi-style Racial Laws which deprived Jews of fundamental human rights and property, but he was also held responsible for having failed to keep Italy out of the second World War.
Later he was accused of cowardice, having abandoned Rome for southern Italy in the face of both Nazi and Allied offensives in September 1943.
In an open letter published yesterday, Emanuele Filiberto questioned the validity of that 1946 referendum while arguing that his family deserved better treatment.
"There's nothing more serious in a democracy than to deprive the citizen of his civil rights and freedom. That's what happened to my family."
The Savoys are seeking compensation not only for the "moral damages" of 56 years of enforced exile but they also want compensation for a variety of famous Savoy palaces expropriated in 1946, palaces such as Villa Margherita, currently the US embassy in Rome, and the Quirinale Palace, the official residence of the Italian president in Rome.