A Duke Departs

For 22 years the House of Savoy has stood divided by a polite but firm family feud. Last week the faction headed by Crown Prince Umberto, Lieut. General of the Realm, was enjoying a temporary upper hand over the faction represented by his 45-year-old playboy cousin, Prince Aimone di Savoia, Duke of Aosta.

Careless Talk. Tall, dark, handsome Aimone, an admiral in the Italian Navy, made careless talk at a swanky, gold-braid dinner party in Taranto. Speaking of the recent trial of General Mario Roatta (TIME, March 12), the Duke said that all the judges should have been shot. Seated at the table was Sylvia Sprigge, veteran Rome correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. She was shocked by the Duke's remark. Later, at one of Rome's endless round of parties, she said so.

Avanti, the Socialist newspaper, heard the story, started a front-page ruckus. Into the fray jumped the Actionist, Communist and Republican papers, screaming for the Duke's royal hide. Royalist supporters, lukewarm or less in their affection for the middle-aged bon vivant--whose amorous escapades had the Lido and Newport agog a decade ago--sat tight.

Two poker-hot letters of protest, from President Lorenzo Maroni of Rome's High Court of Justice and Public Prosecutor Mario Berlinguer, finally forced official notice of the uproar. After a meeting of the Cabinet, Umberto, acting in his capacity as Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy, had the pleasure of proclaiming that his polo-playing cousin had got the sack.

Frolicking Fascist. The family feud began when Mussolini first threatened to supplant diminutive King Victor Emmanuel III with his cousin, Emmanuel Philibert. Mussolini later showered affection upon Emmanuel Philibert's two towering pro-Fascist sons, Amedeo and Aimone (who later married beautiful Princess Irene of Greece).

In 1941 Aimone was nominated to the throne of the new puppet kingdom of Croatia. But never did a mouse give a trap wider berth than the new Tomislav II gave his kingdom. He preferred to frolic in Florence. With the armistice Aimone joined the Italian Navy, but managed to maintain his heavy social schedule.

After his sacking, the Duke sneaked out of Rome, was reported heading "south."

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