Invited by the royal family, the Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Fra’ John Dunlap, and the Grand Chancellor, Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo, will participate in the funeral of Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia to be celebrated in the Cathedral of Turin on Saturday 10 February at 3 o’clock.

The Grand Master has received the collar of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, the highest honour of the House of Savoy. The Grand Chancellor has received the Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, a chivalric order of the House of Savoy.

The last funeral of a head of the House of Savoy to take place in the Cathedral of Turin, the city of the Italian royal house, was in 1849 for the funeral of Carlo Alberto.

Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia, son of the last king of Italy Umberto II, died on Saturday 3 February in Geneva, just before turning 87. Admitted to the Order of Malta in 1950, he was made Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion in 1976.