Speaking of the Italians

Today is a sad day for Italian monarchists as it was on this day in 1900 that King Umberto I "the Good" of Italy was assassinated by an anarchist. However, the House of Savoy is still going on and, rather fitting given their long shared history, are close friends with their Grimaldi neighbors. TRH Prince Emanuele Filiberto and Princess Clotilde of Venice (seen here at the recent Princely wedding) recently gave an interview to talk about the possibility of having a reality TV show in the United States and the subject of the media-induced scandal over the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Monaco came up. Prince Emanuele Filiberto is the grandson of the last King of Italy (King Umberto II) and his wife, Clotilde Courau, is a French actress quite famous in her own right. The two actually first met, in part at least, thanks to Prince Albert and the Sovereign Prince of Monaco was "Best Man" at Prince and Princess of Venice's wedding. So, suffice it to say, they are all pretty good friends and when asked about all the controversy surrounding the Monegasque marriage, the Prince of Venice said, well, you shouldn't believe everything you read. Knowing Prince Albert as he does he said he never had any doubt, seeing him and Charlene and listening to Albert talk about her that this was anything less than a genuine romance. Princess Clotilde also joined in to say that she had talked to Princess Stephanie about Charlene joining the family and she had nothing but kind words to say about her. Princess Clotilde also noted that this carried considerable weight with her since, as we all know, Princess Stephanie is a very authentic, honest, "what you see is what you get" sort of person and would not have said such things if she did not mean them. Now it only remains to be seen if Christophe Barbier will call for a French invasion of Italy in response to this...