THE son of Italy’s last king has fallen so far from grace that the country’s most exclusive club is preparing to expel him.

It is only the latest humiliation for Prince Vittorio Emanuele, whose dealings with prostitutes and alleged corruption of state officials were paraded across the newspapers last month. On Saturday his cousin, Prince Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, was named to replace him as head of the House of Savoy; this week another club threw him out and in Sardinia local residents offended by derogatory remarks have removed his dynasty from street names.

Now Vittorio Emanuele has been asked to “suspend” his membership of the Circolo della Caccia (Hunting Club), which is housed in a splendid 16th-century palazzo overlooking the Tiber, opposite a bridge named after his great-grandfather, King Umberto I.

The courtyard has long lines of twin columns and colossal statues, and a garden beyond contains fountains and Roman sculpture. Waiters in the restaurant scurry about in breeches and long socks, looking like coachmen in Cinderella.

Vittorio Emanuele has long been an honorary member. Now, as he sits in a Rome apartment under house arrest, waiting for a judicial investigation to run its course, he is persona decidedly non grata.

The prince was arrested on June 16 and accused of recruiting prostitutes from Eastern Europe for a casino in Campione d’Italia, an Italian enclave in Switzerland. He is also suspected of corruption in connection with the obtaining of licences and supply contracts for rigged gambling machines.

Newspapers published conversations from the investigators’ wiretaps, including one in which he asked for directions to a prostitute’s home. Several august institutions have sought to distance themselves.

This week another exclusive Rome club, the Circolo degli Scacchi (Chess Club), threw him out. “We didn’t wait for the result of the judicial ruling because what we looked at was his ethical behaviour,” said its chairman, Don Giulio Patrizi di Ripacandida, Duke of Castel Garagnone Marchese.

The announcement that Prince Amadeo was now head of the family was made by one of two rival bodies calling themselves the Council of Senators of the Kingdom. The council was a group of senators that Vittorio Emanuele’s father gave the task of advising him during his exile after Italians voted to become a republic in 1946 and banished all male Savoys. It split in 2001, before Italy lifted that ban, and one part has decided that the Duke of Aosta should take over.

That there is neither kingdom nor crown to fight over has not prevented the rival factions pursuing their angry row through the newspapers. “In a hundred years Italy could become a monarchy again and, if so, the right heir must reign,” one member of the pro- Vittorio camp said.

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