Italy’s ex-royals want crown jewels back: ‘It’s ridiculous they’re in a safe’

However, Sala is in no doubt that the king returned the jewels to the state at the time. “From the time the jewelry was made until the last time it was seen in public, it was always state property,” he said after an investigation. “The royals had them on loan, but they weren’t their property.” According to him, it is therefore unfounded that the Savoia family now claims the jewels.

Resell crown jewels?

It’s unclear what the Savoia family wants to do with the Italian crown jewels. “I think it would be nice to show them to the Italians,” Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia told Corriere. However, he added that as a grandson he cannot decide that: “It depends on the direct heirs, my father and his sisters. Let’s take the jewelry first and then see what we will do with it.”

Royal family expert Alessandro Sala is not reassured about this. According to him, the Savoia family has regularly claimed assets from the state in the past, but they were eventually sold to private individuals. “Books, paintings, china, anything that makes the cash register ring.” According to him, that the Savoia family is now talking about displaying the jewels is for the stage: “It’s much more likely that once they have the crown jewels in their hands, they will also sell it.”