Series Review: "The King Who Never Was" ("Il Principe") (2023).

From Netflix comes The King Who Never Was (Il Principe). This crime documentary series directed by Beatrice Borromeo. In 1978, the last heir to the Italian throne Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia was accused and later acquitted of murdering a German teenager. Light is shed on the crime through the testimonies of the victim's sister and the royal family.

On February 12, 1937, the only son of Umberto II, the last King of Italy, Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Naples (Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria di Savoia was born. Vittorio Emanuele also uses the title Duke of Savoy and claims the headship of the House of Savoy. These claims were disputed by supporters of his third cousin, Prince Aimone, 6th Duke of Aosta. He has lived for most of his life in exile, following the constitutional referendum of 1946 which affirmed the abolition of the monarchy and the creation of the Italian Republic. On several occasions he has been the centre of controversy in Italy and abroad due to a series of incidents, including remarks that were seen by some as antisemitic. He was revealed to be a member of Propaganda Due (P2), the state within a state responsible for high-level corruption and political manipulation. In France he was tried on a murder charge, of which he was cleared of unlawful killing but convicted of a firearms offence. On the night of August 17 or the morning of August 18, 1978, on the island of Cavallo, Vittorio Emanuele discovered his yacht's rubber dinghy had been taken and attached to another nearby yacht. Arming himself with a rifle, he attempted to board the vessel. He shot at a passenger he had awakened; the shot missed the passenger but mortally wounded Dirk Hamer, a nineteen-year-old passenger sleeping on the deck of another adjacent yacht. The prince admitted civil liability for the death in a letter dated August 28, 1978. Hamer died of his wounds on December 7, 1978, and Vittorio Emanuele was arrested. On October 11, 1989, Vittorio Emanuele was indicted on charges of inflicting lethal injury and possession of a dangerous weapon. However, on November 18, 1991, after thirteen years of legal proceedings, the Paris Assize Court acquitted him of the fatal wounding and unintentional homicide charges, finding him guilty only of unauthorised possession of an M1 Carbine rifle. He received a six-month suspended prison sentence. On 16 June 2006, following an investigation started by John Woodcock of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Potenza, Italy, Vittorio Emanuele was arrested on charges of criminal association, racketeering, conspiracy, corruption and exploitation of prostitution. On December 21, 2009, a trial on these charges began in Potenza, Italy. In 2007 and 2010, Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia was acquitted of all charges.

The series stretches its story over a longer playing time than is really justified. But this show at least has exotic locations, genuine scandal, royalty, wealthy people behaving very badly -- and an unexpected sting in the tail that makes it all worthwhile.

Simon says The King Who Never Was (Il Principe) receives: