It is a high drama that could be torn from an Italian opera: Her Royal Highness Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi had just 30 minutes to leave her art-filled palace in Rome last month amid an ugly feud with her stepsons — all of them princes.

As she gathered her possessions, rattled and sleep-deprived, she rushed to a back entrance of the Casino dell’Aurora and tripped on a flight of marble stairs, breaking two ribs and her clavicle.