Vittorio Emanuele says he does not seek to return to the throne

Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy said his decision was triggered after the government barred him from entering the country with a shipment of aid for the Italian Red Cross to distribute to Kosovo refugees.

In a letter published in the Italian press on Monday, he said he had been "profoundly saddened" by the ruling and had only wanted to spend a few hours in his home country.

The prince has not visited Italy since 1946 when a referendum narrowly approved the abolition of the monarchy sending the prince's father, King Umberto II, and his family into exile.

Constitutional bar

The family's role under the fasicst regime of Mussolini has proved controversial

The House of Savoy had held the Italian throne since it was created at unification in 1870, but Umberto II occupied the position for just 26 days.

Two years after the abolition a new constitution barred male members of the House of Savoy from setting foot on Italian soil.

The move was seen as a punishment for the family's support of the fascist dictatorship headed by Benito Mussolini.

King Vittorio Emanuele III was widely criticised after the war for signing the 1938 anti-Jewish race laws. The legislation barred Jews from becoming teachers, lawyers and journalists, banned them from attending state schools and universities, and forfeited much of their property.

Umberto II died in 1983 and Prince Vittorio Emanuele, now 62, currently lives in Geneva with his family.

No claim

The House of Savoy ruled Italy from unification in 1870 until the dissolution of the monarchy in 1946 but Vittorio Emanuele makes no claim to the Italian throne.

Umberto II held the throne for just 26 days

He says he simply wants to return to his homeland.

The prince's threat to take the Italian Government to court follows the slow progress of legislative moves that would pave the way for his return.

Last December the lower house of the Italian parliament voted to allow the prince to return but the bill to amend the constitution has since become bogged down in a senate committee.

Politicians have argued that he should swear allegiance to the Italian republic before he is allowed to return.

Courting controversy

The prince himself added to the controversy by refusing to apologise for his grandfather's signing of the anti-Jewish laws.

In an interview with Italian TV in 1997 he said that he had not been born when they were enacted adding that "those laws were not all that bad anyway".