01x01 - Episode 1

[bunniefuu]

[string music playing]

[man] I am Vittorio Emanuele.

Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy.

There!

They call me
"the prince."

[string music continues]

[crowd cheering]

"You'll be king,"
my mother told me.

My mother enjoyed playing card games
and reading tarot cards.

She gave me tarot card readings

and told me,
"Let's see if you'll be king."

Then, she said,
"Yes, you will."

I never believed
it, and I was right.

[laughing]

Sorry, but it makes me laugh.

[continues laughing]

- [suspenseful music playing]
- [siren wailing]

[reporter 1 in Italian] Vittorio
Emanuele of Savoy has been arrested.

[reporter 2] The
allegations are heavy.

[reporter 3] He basically
confessed to the m*rder of a young man…

[man 2 in English] Darkness,
the island, the shots…

- [suspenseful music continues]
- [camera clicking]

[in Italian] "Come quick, your brother
has been wounded. The prince did it."

[g*n fires]

[bell tolling]

[reporter 4] Dirk
Geerd Hamer has died.

The "sh**ting prince,"
as the French press has referred to him,

is looking at a
20-year sentence.

[intriguing music playing]

[Birgit] After
that, very weird things happened.

They said, with your money and power,
you managed to get the trial postponed.

No. I don't see how.

[tense music playing]

[dramatic whooshing]

[Vittorio] Somebody shot
that poor boy with a g*n.

It wasn't my r*fle.

- [cameras clicking]
- [tense music intensifies and stops]

How come he's suddenly innocent,
after obviously being guilty all along?

- [dramatic whoosh]
- [tense music playing]

[Birgit in English] My name
is Birgit Hamer, and I will seek justice.

That's a promise.

[suspenseful music playing]

For seventeen years I've had to defend
myself from all those who wanted

like in a bullring,
the death of the bull.

But the bull has horns.

[upbeat music playing]

THE KING WHO NEVER WAS

[crown rattling]

[plane whirring]

[g*n fires]

[upbeat music continues]

[handcuffs clicking]

[cameras clicking]

[music fades]

[solemn music playing]

[Emanuele Filiberto] When I was a kid,
I remember my grandfather came to see us.

After saying hi to
him, I turned around.

My father grabbed
me and said to me,

"Never turn your
back on the king."

[film projector rolling]

I consider my father to be
the last witness to a great story.

EMANUELE FILIBERTO OF SAVOY
VITTORIO EMANUELE'S SON

He's the king's son.

- [solemn music continues]
- [film projector continues rolling]

My great-grandfather made
the terrible mistake

of signing the racial laws.

At the end of the w*r, he was forced
to abdicate in favor of his son Umberto,

my grandfather.

The new king found himself managing
a wounded and troubled monarchy.

And that's when he decided to call
an institutional referendum.

[solemn music continues]

Before the referendum,
there was a huge rally in the square.

- [crowd cheering]
- I was on the balcony with my family.

And I was sure we were going to win,
because I thought,

"So many people,
that's the whole of Italy!"

I wasn't even nine at the time.

VOTE FOR THE MONARCHY

[reporter in Italian]
Wednesday, June 5th.

The Republic is leading
by two million votes.

Italy is a republic.

[in English] After the referendum
in '46 with the exile law,

the Savoy family wasn't immediately
allowed to return to Italy,

in order to
strengthen the republic,

which had won
by roughly two million votes,

even though still now,
no one knows where those votes came from.

- [film projector rolling]
- [solemn music continues]

[reporter in Italian] This
is the last image of King Umberto in Italy,

already on the plane.

[plane whirring]

[in English] When
we were exiled,

everyone turned on us.

They were criticizing
my father, me…

But there was little to criticize
about me because I hadn't done anything.

[film projector rolling]

They told us, "Don't worry,
the exile will be very short."

"You can leave
everything here."

[film projector
clicking and rolling]

30 YEARS LATER

[man in Italian] Emanuele Filiberto,
how do you picture Italy?

I picture it as a wonderful country,
even if I've never been.

Even if I've never seen it,
I've read many books about it.

[fanfare playing
in the distance]

[man] Princess,
what's your most fervent wish?

It would be for my whole family
to be able to return to Italy.

Especially my son,
who has never seen his home country.

[fanfare intensifies]

[Emanuele Filiberto in French]
This is our house.

CAVALLO ISLAND
CORSICA, FRANCE

[in English] The Savoy House.

[in French] Over there is
my mother's bedroom. Marina?

[fanfare continues]

[in English] The holidays I spent
in Cavallo were amazing.

[dramatic whoosh]

I did all sorts of things there.

[g*n fires]

[Emanuele Filiberto whispering in French]
We have to be very quiet.

[screaming]

[Emanuele Filiberto] Busted.

- [dramatic whoosh]
- [music fades]

I'll show you some
landscapes of Cavallo.

And some
beaches. Thank you.

That is our famous
dinghy, the Zodiac.

And that's Palma beach.
A very beautiful beach.

- [boat whirring]
- [intriguing music playing]

And now, the
"Corridor of Death."

You can't really see,
but the seabed is full of rocks.

Over there you can see many boats
that have lost their propellers.

Here they are, the propellers.

[intriguing music continues]

And in the distance,
you can see Sardinia.

[Vittorio in English] I've always wondered
why I wasn't allowed to go there.

[music stops]

Especially since…

[chuckles lightly]

…it was right there.

["Luglio" by Riccardo
Del Turco playing]

1978
PORTO ROTONDO, SARDINIA

Porto Rotondo was a microcosm.

["Luglio" continues]

I remember people
didn't even lock their homes.

[waves crashing]

We were a group of about 30 people
in our early twenties…

AURELIA CANTUTI
WITNESS

…on summer holiday in Sardinia,
and it was the late '70s.

["Luglio" continues]

I had met this boy, who
would then become my husband, in 1978.

OLIVIA CHAPPERON
WITNESS

It was my first holiday
in Porto Rotondo.

[man] Olivia!

[Chapperon] Nicky Pende was
a real playboy.

He was competing with Luca
to see who could get with me first.

We were on holiday in Sardinia
with a group of friends…

MASSIMO TOSATO
WITNESS

…and that day we'd been invited
by Giovanni Malagò to go on his boat.

We would often spend the night
out and sleep in one of the places…

GIOVANNI MALAGÒ
WITNESS

…that was considered the coolest
by our group of friends on vacation.

That is exactly what had happened
when we had made the decision,

with some other friends who had boats,
to travel to Cavallo.

[eerie music playing]

On August 17th, 1978.

[eerie music intensifies]

We were 25 or 30
people on three boats.

Everyone was
already at the harbor.

Most of them had girlfriends at the time,
but Gianfranco and I were single

and wanted to invite
a few girls to join us.

We bumped into this girl
we barely knew from Rome.

Her name was Birgit.

She was very pretty.

[Birgit] When I was 15, some photographers
discovered me in the street in Hamburg…

[eerie music continues]

…and immediately invited me to take
a lot of pictures and… and more and more.

- [camera clicks]
- To me it was just a new adventure.

It was nice and funny.

Life seemed to me a sequence
of wonderful, amazing adventures.

[announcer] One very lucky
girl is going to be crowned Miss Universe!

- [motivational music playing]
- Miss Germany!

- [celebratory music playing]
- [crowd applauding]

Good evening. My name's Birgit Hamer.
I'm from Heidelberg.

[Tosato] So I said,
"Join us for a boat ride."

"We'll be back
by seven tonight."

Of course, when you're young,
you don't worry about a thing. You think,

"Why not? Let's
go on this boat trip."

So we went to her father
to ask him if he'd let her come

on this trip to Cavallo.

MONICA MONTICELLI
WITNESS

At first he said
no. Then he agreed

but only if she brought
her brother with her.

He wouldn't let
her go by herself.

So, she happened to
come with her brother.

Nothing was planned.

DIRK HAMER
BIRGIT HAMER'S BROTHER

It seems incredible that,
of all of the group, he was

not only the least likely
to be there at that time on that day,

but in a way there was no logical reason
for him to be there at all.

[ominous musical playing]

[woman] We could have
either sailed north or south.

AMANDA SPOSITO
WITNESS

Sure, Cavallo was pretty much
the furthest point,

but it was the nicest trip.

The best one.

[man] It was essentially
an Italian enclave

in the French territory.

People would go to Cavallo
to talk to or visit the Savoy family.

UMBERTO ERCOLE
WITNESS

[water splashing]

CAVALLO ISLAND
CORSICA, FRANCE

We got there and dropped the anchor
in a little bay…

GIORGIO GUGLIELMI
WITNESS

…the only bay
that was there.

[Guglielmi in Italian] Here
we are, another day in Palma.

This wonderful bay in Palma.

[intriguing music playing]

[in English] We decided to play a bunch
of games, like volleyball in the water.

We quickly found out
this guy was the best out of everyone.

Dirk was an impressive guy,
because he was kind, polite, athletic.

He spoke four languages.

He was truly an amazing person.

[Chapperon] Everyone was vying
to get Dirk to join their team.

Dirk became one
of us at that point.

[indistinct shouting]

[relaxing music playing]

- [indistinct shouting]
- [happy screaming]

[Birgit] My brother
was incredibly happy.

He loved being in the water.

[relaxing music continues]

You can tell when there's an Italian
in a cove. They're loud.

MICHEL LEVAUFRE
FORMER WATCHMAN OF CAVALLO

Three boats with a lot of people
for such a quiet island.

[water splashing]

[in Italian] I'd rather drink
a bottle of beer

where 3,000
cigarettes were put out.

[man] How was
the beer? [chuckling]

[boat engine revving]

Suddenly, we saw this motorboat
heading straight towards us,

and as it got close to our boats,
it would turn, rocking us with the waves.

We realized it was Vittorio Emanuele,
who looked pretty angry with us

and probably thought to himself,
"How dare you invade my territory?"

[boat engine revving]

People had this
misconception about me.

They thought I was…

[dramatic music playing]

…a resentful person.

But…

the truth is

I wasn't always angry,
and I enjoyed being around people.

[dramatic music continues]

[waves crashing]

[man] In the afternoon, they told us
the sea was going to get very rough.

GIANFRANCO AMORUSO
WITNESS

The wind had gotten extremely strong
in the Bonifacio Strait.

[dramatic music continues]

They told us that we couldn't go back
today because it was too dangerous.

And I had nothing but my bikini.
I had nothing on me.

[eerie music playing]

We had no clue what to do and ended up
deciding to eat at the restaurant.

[Guglielmi] There were only
our three boats

and then the boat
of His Majesty Vittorio Emanuele

anchored in the bay,
without anyone onboard.

There was a small dinghy
tied behind the boat.

[eerie music continues]

So, to get from our
boats to the shore,

I suggested we just take the dinghy
that was right there.

[eerie music continues]

We had just taken

this tiny three-foot-long dinghy
that belonged to the prince's son.

[eerie music intensifies]

And everything was fine,
everyone was having fun.

There were no problems
till that night.

[engine revving]

RESTAURANT DES PECHEURS

[Marina in
Italian] Vittorio. Hi.

- Oh, it's you.
- [Marina laughing]

What are you
doing? [chuckles]

[in English] Vittorio Emanuele
was sitting at a table with his family.

[indistinct conversations]

[Marina] That night, we were
at a little restaurant on Cavallo Island,

and some young Italians came in.

They started saying,
"Oh, Vittorio Emanuele is here."

Long story short,
they were making fun of us.

[indistinct
conversations continue]

[Monticelli] The prince was there
with his wife, and they were almost done.

They gave us dirty looks
for making a lot of noise.

I understood because there was a lot of us
and we weren't exactly quiet.

They were already showing signs
of being annoyed.

"Bloody Italians,"
he was saying things like that.

"Shut up, this
is my island."

[suspenseful music playing]

Around 11, it was dark.
Nothing going on, no clubs, nothing.

We went to bed at 11:30,
midnight at the latest.

Three boats weren't big enough
for all of us.

We knew some of
the people there,

and we were able to stay
at our friends' empty house,

near Micangeli beach.

[suspenseful music continues]

And the others slept
on the three boats as best they could.

The dinghy was still
where we'd left it.

[suspenseful music intensifies]

We took the girls back with the dinghy,
and the others swam to the boats.

I went to bed, and
then, I think a couple of hours later,

Nicky Pende got
into the same boat.

But he went to sleep in another bed,
towards the front of the boat.

[woman] We
improvised that night.

Most of us squeezed
into the bow of the boat.

Dirk and Vittorio Guglielmi slept
in the dinette.

FABIANA BALESTRA
WITNESS

There were two berths,
staggered at different heights.

Vittorio slept on the lower one,
and Dirk slept on the other one in front,

which was a little higher.

[Guglielmi] My brother tried to wake
Dirk up, and Dirk was a very tall boy.

He was all huddled up
and looked uncomfortable.

But he didn't wake up.

[sad music playing]

And Vittorio just went to bed.

[water splashing]

[suspenseful music playing]

[in Italian] I went home, and I saw
that my little boat had disappeared.

So I took another boat,
and I went to get it back.

And since after all, in Corsica,

danger is almost always around the corner,
I took my r*fle with me.

[suspenseful music continues]

- [Birgit in English] Suddenly, I heard…
- [air hissing]

[Birgit hissing]

A noise like an oxygen
tank being opened.

And then someone
started yelling…

[in Italian] "You thieves!
You bunch of assholes! Shitty Italians!"

"Shitty Italians!
I'll k*ll you all!"

[in English] Eventually, Nicky Pende
went out to see who it was.

[in Italian] I ask, "Who is it?"
This person gets up.

I could only see his head and shoulders,
as he is standing on the dinghy.

NICKY PENDE
WITNESS

He starts mumbling
nonsensical, delirious things, threats…

He's holding a
r*fle. I am unarmed.

He's pointing it at me.
I see the r*fle raising in my direction.

I can see the eye of the r*fle
in line with my face.

So, I instinctively throw myself
to the ground.

- And…
- And you heard the two shots?

As I hit the ground,
I felt the burst of heat

and two g*nshots
passing over my head.

[r*fle fires twice]

[in English] So I did
the only logical thing to me.

[splashing]

I threw him and his r*fle
into the water to disarm him.

[tense music playing]

[flare sizzling]

Nicky Pende was shouting,
"Someone's sh**ting at us."

It was a huge mess,

shots and screams.

We saw boats around us
sh**ting flares in the air.

[tense music continues]

"Help! Someone is sh**ting!
g*nshots! g*nshots!"

"But who fired the shots?
Where from? Why?"

[tense music continues]

People were shouting from the beach,
"Someone's sh**ting!"

Those who were on the boat didn't know
whether to lie down, to hide, or jump.

[Guglielmi] My brother had a g*n,
a registered one.

It was legal.
Still, there was a g*n on his boat.

[dramatic synth music playing]

Vittorio Guglielmi shouted,
"I'll sh**t him!" "I'll sh**t him!"

At that point, I grabbed the g*n
and ran to hide downstairs.

[adventurous music playing]

I left the Micangeli house.
I walked around the beach,

and I saw a shadow
approaching in the water.

It was a dinghy.

I realized it was
Vittorio Emanuele

and asked, "Do you
know what happened?"

He started to mumble
some nonsense,

saying, "Ah, these Italian pigs!
I taught them a lesson."

[dramatic synth music playing]

I didn't know what had happened.

And then he pulls
a g*n out from the dinghy.

[dramatic synth
music intensifies]

[engine revving]

Less than two minutes later,

a car races onto the beach,
right on the sand,

and his wife Marina gets out.

It was a woman's voice.

- [ominous music playing]
- I can't recall her exact words.

"Victor, Victor.
What are you doing?"

And his wife's yelling,
"Victor, Victor, what have you done?"

[slamming]

- [air hissing]
- [man in Italian] What happened?

[Vittorio in English] I dropped anchor.
That's when that gentleman came out.

I was later informed his name was Pende.
I didn't know at that point.

We got into a fight.

My first shot
was fired in the air,

and the second was fired
when he fell on top of me.

- [r*fle fires twice]
- [suspenseful music playing]

[dramatic whoosh]

[low synth music playing]

At the first g*nsh*t,

we left the bow cabin.

And we saw Vittorio Guglielmi.

His legs were
covered in glass shards.

From the cabin window,
which had been shattered by the shot.

The glass had
broken over his legs,

but the b*llet had
gone past his head,

hitting Dirk in his stomach.

Dirk was yelling
and severely injured.

[somber piano playing]

Shouting for his mom.

Mmm.

[somber piano continues]

[in Italian] After a while,
someone came in and said,

"Come quick, your
brother's been wounded!"

"The prince did it." I
say, "What? Who?"

I immediately rushed there,
and I saw my brother

who was lying there,
and I could see his belly swelling,

as it was filling with blood.

So, I immediately held him in my arms,
and I started saying,

"Don't worry.
You'll be okay."

Meanwhile, I was making sure
he didn't see how worried I was.

I wanted to ask the others, "What now?
Shall we take him to the hospital?"

[dramatic music playing]

[Levaufre in English]
Prince Vittorio Emanuele and his wife

were devastated.

It was a real tragedy for them.

"Michel, what
have I done?"

"I don't understand.
I went there to scare them a little."

"I just wanted my dinghy back,
that's all."

He was worried
about the wounded boy.

"I hope it's not serious,
just a scratch."

[dramatic music continues]

There was a
doctor on the island,

so I went with the prince to see
if we could wake him up.

The doctor who was sent to the boat
to assess the seriousness of the situation

told them right away that the boy
had to be taken to the hospital.

I don't think anybody had
any arguments with that.

[Levaufre] Pende
insisted that we hurry.

"We can't wait.
We have to go to the hospital now."

But I waited a little.

[engine revving]

First I'm gonna get on the phone
and call the Bonifacio police for help.

[upbeat synth playing]

That's when the…

frantic search for help started.

We were looking for a helicopter,
anyone who could take him.

I kept telling everyone,
"When is the helicopter coming?"

"When is the helicopter coming?"
Please, when?"

We couldn't leave
without someone's help.

Or we would have to wait until sunrise,
so we could see the rocks.

There was no way to leave the island.
It wasn't possible.

We had to wait for someone
to help us get away.

And the person who was supposed
to watch over the island, the keeper,

was nowhere to be found.

And he was one of
their trusted personnel.

[dramatic music stops]

- [eerie music playing]
- [birds squawking]

[Levaufre] I went back to the boat
and told Pende, "Okay, let's go."

"But I don't speak Italian,
so you'll have to listen to me carefully

because around Cavallo it's full
of rocks beneath the surface."

[action music playing]

"I'll stand behind you."

"When I press left, you turn left.
If I push hard, you take a sharp left."

We started slowly,
but then he started to pick up speed.

I said, "Take it easy."

We slowed down, and once we passed
the rocks, I said, "Go."

[action music intensifies]

[sirens wailing]

[Birgit in Italian] It was already dawn
when we reached the hospital.

The doctor told us, "Fifteen minutes more,
and this boy would have been dead."

MEDICAL EMERGENCY SERVICE

[in English] I remember we were all
in this small waiting room,

and I was saying,
"I have to call Mom now."

"We have to
let her know."

"Mom."

"Something terrible
has happened."

"Dirk has been shot."

[sad music playing]

After a long silence, she said,

"I knew it."

[music fades]

[mysterious music playing]

[man] I'm Alberto Pederzani.

ALBERTO PEDERZANI
FRIEND OF VITTORIO EMANUELE DI SAVOIA

I'm a friend of
Vittorio Emanuele

since we were at school together
in Lausanne in 1954.

Since then, we've
been inseparable.

Well, I wasn't there that night

because I had gone back to Porto Rotondo
to fill up the boat's tank.

[mysterious music continues]

I got a call from
a friend of mine,

Colnaghi, who was staying
near the Hamer residence.

His mother and I
sailed over there.

It took us

less than half an hour
to reach the Porto Vecchio hospital.

- [waves crashing]
- [boat engine revving]

[gloomy music playing]

CAVALLO ISLAND
CORSICA, FRANCE

[man 2] I got to Cavallo Island

at around eight in the morning.

My name is Alain Monet.

ALAIN MONET
FORMER POLICE OFFICER

I was a police officer in Bonifacio
at the time of the incident.

[gloomy music continues]

Vittorio Emanuele
had a diplomatic passport.

So it was necessary to inform
the district attorney in Ajaccio

that he was
evacuated by helicopter.

[helicopter whirring]

He was taken into custody
and immediately questioned.

[reporter in Italian]
GR2. Breaking news.

[reporter 2] Vittorio
Emanuele said Mr. Pende

jumped on his
boat from the vessel.

That's when the prince allegedly fired
a warning shot in the air with his r*fle.

A second shot, the one that wounded
the German boy, was fired accidentally.

The prince is now
in prison in Ajaccio.

- [gloomy music playing]
- [keys rattling]

[door closing]

[somber music playing]

PORTO VECCHIO
CORSICA, FRANCE

[Birgit in English]
When my mother arrived…

SIGRID HAMER
DIRK HAMER'S MOTHER

…it was hard to describe
the expression on her face.

Since my mother was a doctor,

she spent the whole time
in the operating room

with the emergency surgeon.

[somber music continues]

Then, the boy's father, who happened to be
a very controversial doctor,

decided to have him transferred
from the hospital.

[Birgit] The following day,
he had to be transported to Marseille

because the small emergency room

in Porto Vecchio was
not sufficiently equipped.

- [dramatic music playing]
- [airplane engine whirring]

[airplane engine revving]

[dramatic music continues]

When we arrived at
the Conception Hospital in Marseille,

my mother ran straight
to the radiology ward.

Next thing I knew…

they were telling me

that his leg had
to be amputated.

[dramatic music playing]

[reporter in Italian]
GR 1 Flash.

[reporter 2] The German's
conditions remains critical.

Doctors had to amputate his leg.

[reporter 3] The request to be
released on parole submitted by the lawyers

of Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy
has been rejected.

He will remain in
custody in Ajaccio.

[in English] They didn't put me
with the other inmates.

"You never know", they said.

They didn't want to
be held accountable.

I was alone, and they put me

in the women's ward
that was unoccupied.

[tense music playing]

CAVALLO ISLAND
CORSICA, FRANCE

We decided to have a look
around the boat ourselves

to see if we could find
any sort of evidence.

[tense music continues]

We found a b*llet casing
that actually matched the g*n's caliber.

We found it right where Vittorio Emanuele
was supposedly sh**ting from.

They found two b*llet
casings underwater.

Both were mine.

[dramatic music playing]

Two security guards from
the island showed up the next morning.

I don't think they were
actual police officers.

They were just security guards
who patrolled the island.

And…

And they kept insisting

that they get on the boat.

They got on the boat
and started looking around,

trying to figure
out what happened.

Then one of them asks,
"Can we have a look downstairs?"

"Yes, yes, you can."

So they go down, look around
for two minutes, and then they leave.

[dramatic music continues]

As soon as they left, I realized
we still had our g*n onboard.

I went to get it, and
it had disappeared.

[dramatic music intensifies]

They had taken it from us.

[woman] I'm Stella Pende.

I'm Nicky Pende's first cousin.

We were at Porto Rotondo,
and suddenly, he rushed towards us.

He had dark circles around his eyes,
like a mask on his face.

STELLA PENDE
COUSIN OF NICKY PENDE

He looked so alarmed.

I'd never seen him like that.

Considering all the emotional chaos
going on, we tried not to panic,

and we decided to
draw up some sort of…

map of the incident to get
a sense of the whole thing.

Frankly, Nicky was
in the best position to do it.

[gloomy music playing]

[reporter] "He shot before I
had a chance to realize what was going on."

These are the words
from Nicola Pende's statement

on the incident
involving Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy…

AUGUST 22, 1978

…and Dirk Hamer,
who was critically wounded.

Vittorio Emanuele,
after meeting Nicky Pende…

GIANNI BARBACETTO
JOURNALIST

…took responsibility
for the incident

and even signed a
formal plea, which read,

"I, Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy,
acknowledge my legal liability

for the incident involving Mr. Hamer
that occurred on August 18th, 1978."

[gloomy music continues]

[in Italian] What I mean is that,
either way, a shot was fired in the air.

The other may have been fired accidentally
when we fell into the water.

But what's incredible,
it hit this poor boy who was inside,

perforating the bulkhead of the boat.
Two boats. This one and this one.

It just went through.
So it was all completely unintentional.

[reporter] Vittorio Emanuele of
Savoy risks the Assize Court.

He could be sentenced up to ten years,
should the wounded young German survive,

and 20 years in case he dies.

[intriguing music playing]

[in English] In prison,

I did some
bookkeeping every week.

With the warden.

[chuckling]

I would also cook.

We used to cook
a lot of veal stew.

The food in there
was quite nice.

I would sunbathe a lot.

[Marina] It was already hard knowing a
young man had been critically wounded.

Then my husband in
prison for two months.

Emanuele had to go to school
in Ajaccio during that time.

[sad music playing]

When things go well,
you're always surrounded with people.

But as soon as things start going awry,
they just abandon you.

This was one of those cases,
and we were suddenly alone.

It was a really tough time.

[sad music intensifies]

[Emanuele Filiberto] We moved to Ajaccio,
and so I had to take a break from school.

[music fades]

I don't think they ever told me the reason
we were leaving Geneva so quickly

and then going to Ajaccio.

I'm pretty sure no one told me
my dad was in prison.

[calm music playing]

I have a beautiful letter
that my father wrote me.

He asked me about school
and friends, stuff like that.

And then he says,
"I'm still in Ajaccio with the police,

but soon I'll be released,
and we'll go on a trip together by plane."

And he drew a little
plane in the corner.

He was a fantastic father
when I was a kid.

[calm music continues]

There's this thing
he'd always tell me as a child.

"I want to give you the love
I never got from my parents."

[Vittorio] It is hard…

to grow up alone.

You may get a good education,
among other things.

But something
fundamental is missing.

My father and love?

I think he never
received love as a kid.

He was never shown affection.

[calm music continues]

I was closer to my mother.

[whirring]

I will always remember
when my mother told me…

FROM THE BIOGRAPHY OF EMANUELE
OF SAVOY "LIGHTNINGS OF LIFE"

…"You know, I love you very much,
but I don't know how to express it."

"There's all this affection
that I cannot show you."

That's because she had
an extremely strict childhood.

They had been brought up
as royals, as princes, in palaces.

That's all they knew.

[somber music playing]

My mother came
to see me in prison.

She did.

She came to Ajaccio to visit me.

[somber music continues]

She said, "Don't worry.
You'll be out soon."

[music fades]

[breathing heavily]

Meanwhile, Dirk was fighting
for his life in the hospital.

[low action music playing]

I would tell him stories
from our childhood,

trying to comfort him
with nice memories.

In Rome, in the mornings, he would walk
to the German school on Savoy Street,

and he would spend the afternoon
working out and running at the Farnesina.

He had always
loved sports as a child,

and at the same time,
he had this passion for art.

[low dramatic music playing]

He loved painting,

and as a Christmas
or a birthday gift,

he would always surprise us
with a beautiful painting.

My favorite painting is the one
of him portrayed as an old man.

I remember once, when they were preparing
him for one of his 19 surgeries,

he did this gesture,

one of victory.

Then this girl arrived.

She was a wonderful girl
that I had met in Rome.

I liked her very much, and she had come
to see us in Heidelberg as well.

My mission was to distract her

from all this pain
and this constant sense of emergency.

PAOLA MARZOTTO
FRIEND OF BIRGIT HAMER

It was…

Her mother who once told me,

"Take her somewhere else.
She can't stay here anymore."

[somber music playing]

So, Paola took me
away from the hospital.

She then took me to Milan,
where she had a small house.

And I remember

I kept looking at
the phone, thinking,

"Please don't ring,
please don't ring, please don't ring."

OCTOBER 6, 1978
AJACCIO, FRANCE

[lock rattling]

[in French] Prince Vittorio Emanuele
of Savoy has been released.

Detained in Ajaccio for two months,
he has been granted provisional release.

[action music playing]

[reporter] Prince,
are you happy to be out?

- Yes, everything went really well.
- [reporter] Yes.

In any case, I will always come back
to your beautiful country,

despite such a
regrettable incident.

[indistinct conversations]

[alarm ringing]

[dramatic music
continues and fades]

[Birgit in English] I remember one night,
the seventh of December,

the phone actually rang.

It was my mother,
who said, "Birgit, come home."

"Should I come home?"

She said, "Yes."

"Yes."

That's all she said.

"Is it Dirk?" "Yes."

[bell tolling]

[mournful music playing]

DECEMBER 14, 1978
ROME, ITALY

I remember, I couldn't bring myself
to go near his grave.

It was too definitive.
"I can't go there."

"I can't. I
can't. I can't."

[mournful music continues]

[people speaking
Italian in background]

[bell tolling]

[mournful music intensifies]

[Ercole] As they
lowered the coffin…

I looked at the casket,
and I could only think,

"It's not fair."

The moment they close the coffin
is always devastating.

At every funeral.

But with a 19-year-old boy,

it's unbearable.
And for me…

[inhales deeply] …I saw Birgit
taking off her ring

and throwing it into the grave.

And it was horrible because

at the time I
didn't know…

that it was actually going to be
a wedding, a metaphorical one,

between Birgit
and the death of her brother.

[mournful music continues]

Instinctively, I threw the ring
into the open grave, as if to say,

"Listen, I will
fight for justice."

[suspenseful music playing]

[suspenseful music
crescendos and stops]

[man in Italian] If you had been given
the chance to talk

to Dirk Hamer's
father and mother,

what would you have told them?

I'm very sorry,
but I don't know if I did it.

[ominous music playing]

[dramatic whoosh]

[suspenseful music playing]

[suspenseful music continues]

[music ends]