Amedeo was born at Villa della Cisterna in Florence, the only child of Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta, formerly designated king of Croatia as Tomislav II,[1] and of Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark through whom he was a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria.

He was an Honorary Companion of the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, assigned insignia number 21015, as a great-grandson of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris.

[citation needed] On 22 July 1964, at the Igreja Paroquial De São Pedro in Sintra, Portugal, Amedeo married his second cousin, Princess Claude of Orléans (born 11 December 1943).

[12] When Umberto II died in 1983, however, Amedeo recognised Vittorio Emanuele as Head of the House of Savoy, even accepting the award of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus from him.

[citation needed] However, the verdict was overturned on appeal, with the court of second resort allowing Amedeo the use of the short surname, in the form of di Savoia, and additionally revoking the financial penalty originally imposed on him.

Sergio Pellecchi, President of the Giunta of the Chivalric Orders of the House of Savoy, has stated that the Council of the Senators of the Kingdom was dissolved in 2002 and that it never had any authority in matters of the succession.

Eugenio Armando Dondero, spokesman for the Coordinamento Monarchico Italiano, has asked why Amedeo did not claim to be head of the House of Savoy in 1983 when Umberto II died.

But others, including constitutional jurist Guido Locatello, declared the marriage of Vittorio Emanuele to be in violation of Savoy dynastic law years before scandal evoked any clamor for Amedeo to replace him.