Umberto and Maria José separated in exile; it was indeed an
arranged marriage, following a long tradition of royal families, even if some observers alleged that she was really fascinated by her husband, an elegant
tombeur de femmes. However, Umberto's sexual interests lay elsewhere, he was a playboy of 'peculiar tastes' (in the words of one royal website) or had an 'inability to distinguish between the sexes' (as another royal biographer put it - a reference to the former king's rumored
bisexuality). This knowledge was used by foreign governments hostile to the Savoyard monarchy's survival to ensure the Vatican's opposition to the monarchical cause in the 1946 referendum.
Pope Pius XII atoned for this 'failure' by refusing to meet the elected presidents of Italy during his lifetime.
Pope John XXIII reversed this policy on his election.
King Umberto lived for 37 years in exile, first in
Switzerland and later in
Portugal, a popular old gentleman, nicknamed 'Europe's grandfather', at many of Europe's royal weddings. While during Umberto's lifetime the 1947 constitution of the Italian Republic barred all male heirs to the defunct Italian throne from setting foot on Italian soil again, female members of the Savoy family were not barred, but out of respect for Umberto and his son, Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel, Maria José and her daughters declined to return to their native land, the exiled queen making her first return to her late husband's kingdom only in the 1980s. When it was revealed that the exiled king was terminally ill, President
Sandro Pertini, who as a young republican firebrand had played a leading role on the republican side in campaigning against the monarchy and Umberto, urged the Italian Parliament to amend the constitution to let the King return to die in his homeland. However, before this could happen, Umberto died. The funeral for the last King of Italy was held in Savoy, but no member of the Italian Government attended. Looking back later, former Prime Minister
Andreotti believed their absence a mistake and disrespectful to a decent and honourable man, who in different circumstances could have made a fine Italian king. But by the time he inherited the throne, the monarchy, through its association with Mussolini and fascism, had been fatally undermined. The 980-year reign of the Savoyards in various duchies and kingdoms, first in Northern Italy, then over the whole peninsula, had come to an end.
