However, Sala has no doubt that the king returned the jewels to the state at the time. “From the time the jewels were made to the last time they were seen in public, they have always belonged to the state,” he said after an investigation. “The royal family had them on loan, but they were not their property.” According to him, it is therefore unfounded that the Savoia family is now claiming the jewels.
Resell crown jewels?
It is not entirely clear 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 the 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 get the jewels first and then see what we do with them.”
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 privately. “Books, paintings, porcelain, everything that makes the cash register ring.” According to him, the fact that the Savoia family is now talking about exhibiting the jewels is for the stage: “It is much more likely that once they have the crown jewels in their hands, they will also sell it.”
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