Remains of Italy's last king not to be interred in Rome

Rome, Dec 18 (IANS/AKI) Italy's pro-fascist King Victor Emmanuel III, who died in exile in Egypt after abdicating in 1946, will not be buried at Rome's ancient Pantheon monument, upper house of parliament's Speaker Pietro Grasso said on Monday.

"The return of (Victor Emmanuel III)'s corpse to Italy is merely an act of human compassion without public honour," said Grasso.

"The possibility of burial at the Pantheon has been categorically ruled out....I hope the controversy that has been raging over this presents a serious opportunity for debate and historical reflection especially among Italy's younger generations," he said.

Italy's Jewish community and partisan association ANPI earlier expressed dismay that a state flight was used to bring back the body of the king, who signed the fascist racial laws targeting Jews, is accused of complicity with the regime of dictator Benito Mussolini and died in exile in 1947 in Egypt's northern port city of Alexandria.

Victor Emmanuel III's body was interred on Sunday in a family mausoleum at a chapel inside the Sanctuary of Vicoforte, a church in the north-west Piedmont region, which was the royal family's base. His wife Queen Elena's remains have also been buried with him in the mausoleum after they were transferred there last week from France.

--IANS/AKI

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