She is 20 years old, beautiful, smart, with a delicate narrow face and spirited green-brown eyes. He is 33 – very wise for his age, a man in every sense of the word. She captivates him not only with her charm, but with her sense of humor and the great audacity she has for a princess. He makes her fall in love with him with his masculine radiance and balanced look.
She is Joanna of Savoy – the daughter of the Italian King Victor Emmanuel III (of the Savoy dynasty) and the Montenegrin Princess Elena Petrovich Nagos, born in Rome between gilded pots and satin ribbons. He is Tsar Boris III – the respected son of Tsar Ferdinand I. Their love – pure and true, not dictated by political or personal interests.
And this is what shocks the society and provokes the drama, but also the beauty in their relationship.
On September 25, 1927, the fateful meeting between Tsar Boris III and the Italian beauty took place. Boris was invited to lunch at the royal mansion of San Rossore near Pisa by her parents. There is also “Joe”, as she is called at home – light brown, fragile, with a white face, fine features and a keen eye. She has a solid education – literature, history, Latin, art. He also speaks French and English, paints, sings, plays piano, cello and harmony.
However, this is not what impressed the then 33-year-old Boris. He falls in love with Joe because of the sunny Italian woman’s sense of humor and because of her free discussion of secular topics, which in modern translation means that the princess has not been ashamed to talk peppery and without detours about what is in her heart.
Everyone notices the sparks that pass between the two, but fate does not meet them again soon. They see each other again after a 3-year break, which is enough time to forget, but not … In January 1930, at their second meeting, where Boris and Joanna were at the home of her beloved sister Mafalda , he personally uttered the marriage proposal. The answer is yes, but not everything is arranged by notes.
During this two-year period, there have been many talks and debates over whether marriage between a Catholic and an Eastern Orthodox is possible, with discussions involving both the Vatican and the Italian and Bulgarian governments, as well as foreign diplomats.
Archbishop Angelo Roncali, the apostolic visitor to Bulgaria, comes to the rescue. According to the provisions of Roman canon law, Tsar Boris must give written consent for the children of this marriage to be baptized and brought up as Catholics.
The initial opinion of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is that the male heirs should be baptized Orthodox and the girls – Catholics. Later, the Holy Synod agreed that only the heir to the throne would be Orthodox.
Desperate from all this, the king ordered the Bulgarian Minister Plenipotentiary in Italy Gen. Ivan Valkov to stop the preparations for the marriage. Even in an emotional outburst, he declares that he is ready to remain single if he does not marry Princess Giovanna. For his part, he also declared his readiness to retire to a monastery if he did not have a permit. She sent two letters to the pope.
In early September 1930, Boris finally arrived in San Rosore again. He brings the good news that he has managed to receive the blessing of the head of St. Synod, Metropolitan Neophyte, and Metropolitan Stephen of Sofia. And the Vatican is finally blessing the wedding.
Boris returns to Sofia to clarify the latest details. The saga “royal wedding” is coming to an end. The official response of the Italian royal family to the announcement of the engagement was received on October 4, 1930.
And then follows the spectacular wedding, a display of true, strong and great love. On October 25, 1930, the day of the wedding, government men and the color of European monarchical dynasties arrived in Assisi, and the streets were literally congested with thousands of people wanting to see the newlyweds. 10,000 cars came to the small town.
This forced the municipality to expand the station with several tracks so that it could meet all train compositions. Due to the royal wedding, the schools in Assisi were closed for ten days. The mayor had to set up an additional telephone line so that all foreign journalists who came to cover the event could perform their duties.
Joanna impresses guests by violating conservative etiquette and adding veils to her wedding attire. At her explicit request, the ladies wear dresses without a neckline, with long sleeves and a white veil, and their hairstyles are without jewelry. The men are in tailcoats or uniforms of the military rank to which they belong. All this is written in the wedding invitation that the guests received.
Joanna herself is in a dress of fine white velvet with a train, 15 m long, with a veil of antique lace and a small bouquet of orange flowers from Sicily. Tsar Boris is in the uniform of a general of the Bulgarian Army, on his chest shines the order “St. St. Cyril and Methodius ”. His sword has a golden hilt.
In the municipality of the town Boris and Joanna sign a civil marriage certificate. Witnesses were the then Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, in his capacity as state notary, and Andrey Lyapchev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
After the wedding, American publicist Markham will write: “One of the best things Tsar Boris has done for his people is to bring Italian Princess Joanna as queen to Sofia, one of the most charming princesses in Europe.”
Boris and Giovanna board a special royal train to Sofia. The young royal family enters the capital in front of a crowd of many thousands through a specially built triumphal arch on the Lion Bridge. An Orthodox wedding ceremony follows in the Sofia Cathedral “St. Alexander Nevsky”. At this sacred moment, Giovanna, Princess of Savoy, becomes Joanna, Queen of Bulgaria.
And although much later, after the appearance of the daughter Maria-Louise and the son Simeon and after a happy and peaceful life, the tragic circumstances around the death of Tsar Boris III at the age of 49, the Bulgarians truly love their queen Joanna and in their hearts she remains as the Queen of Mercy.
In 1946, during the communist regime, Joanna and her children were extradited from Bulgaria, but her enormous charitable work, her courageous behavior during the bombing of Sofia, and her absolute courage in many ways made Prime Minister Konstantin Muraviev sigh. :
“A woman, a mother had to show Bulgarian politicians what manhood means – the queen.”
On the other hand, the American publicist Markham writes: “One of the best things Tsar Boris has done for his people is to bring the Italian Princess Joanna as queen in Sofia, one of the most charming princesses in Europe.”
Joanna Bulgarska died at the respectable age of 92. She was buried where she made a vow as a young woman – in the church “St. Francis ”in Assisi, where she was married. They say that until her last day she did not regret for a moment that she was devoted as an Italian and that she loved as a Bulgarian. More masculine. To the very end.
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