A PRINCE from the disgraced Italian royal family is standing in today’s elections and predicting that he will eventually be prime minister of the country that exiled his forebears more than 60 years ago.

Prince Emmanuel Filiberto, 35, Prince of Venice and Piedmont and scion of the House of Savoy, which ruled much of Italy for centuries, is a candidate to represent overseas voters in the lower house of parliament.

Only two years ago political commentators predicted the end of the dynasty when his father, Victor Emmanuel, 71, son of the country’s last king, was jailed and briefly placed under house arrest, though never charged, after being linked to a corruption and prostitution investigation.

“I’m a fighter, a young man who suffered from living in exile for 31 years [in Switzerland] and who now wants to do something for his country,” said the blue-eyed prince. “I just laugh when people talk about the end of the Savoy dynasty.”

He made no secret, however, of his wish to rule over his countrymen. “I hope that in 10 or 15 years I will have enough support to reach the top of the Italian government.”

Does he want to be prime minister? “Why not? I’m only 35. I’ll take it step by step, like a bird making his nest.”

His great-grandfather Victor Emmanuel III, collaborated with the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini on race laws that allowed nearly 8,000 Jews to be deported by occupying German forces.

A referendum abolished the monarchy in 1946 and the Savoys’ male heirs were exiled until the ban was lifted in 2002.

Father and son then caused outrage among antifascist and Jewish groups when they filed a claim against the Italian state for £200m in damages for their time in exile. The claim was dropped earlier this month.

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