Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy — also known as Italy’s prince of Venice — has announced that he will forgo his claim to the country’s crown when he abdicates.
The royal, 50, will pass the baton to his 19-year-old daughter, Princess Vittoria of Savoy, in the near future.
“I will, with great pleasure, step down and let her take on the role, which I’m sure she will do better than me,” he humbly told the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday.
“It won’t be tomorrow or in one year, but when she is ready. It’s important that the younger generation have a chance to put new, modern ideas into practice,” Filiberto added.
He also noted that young people are “much more conscious” about the world’s problems.
“It is important that she doesn’t become the heir at too late a stage in her life,” he said of his oldest child, who apparently will not have to wait in the wings for decades until her father dies in order to claim the throne — unlike the new leader of another country.
Filiberto notably mentioned the monarch of the United Kingdom, King Charles III, declaring that it “would have been helpful if” he had been sovereign 20 years prior.
Charles, 74, instantly became king following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, last September.
The land of gelato and the Leaning Tower of Pisa’s monarchy has a relatively short history, with the House of Savoy ruling from 1861 to 1946 when the country was still known as the Kingdom of Italy.
As for Vittoria, she has lived quite a charmed life with her younger sister, Luisa, 16.
Vittoria has a large following on social media, taking in more than 79,800 followers on her Instagram page, and she currently lives in the UK, where she studies art history and political science while modeling on the side.
She has even been covered in high-profile publications, including the French edition of Vanity Fair.
When she becomes head of the Savoy House, she will be in charge of the family’s charities, which spent more than $1 million on projects last year.
Vittoria’s future ascension was made possible last year when the Salic Law was revoked.
The rule had stated that the Savoy’s line could only be given to male heirs. Vittoria’s grandfather Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, had amended it.
