Giovanna of Italy

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Giovanna of Italy
Queen of Bulgaria
Titles	HM Tsaritsa Ioasnna of Bulgaria (1943-2000) HM The Tsaritsa of Bulgaria (1930-1943) HRH Princess Giovanna of Savoy {1907-1930)
Born	November 13, 1907
	Rome, Italy
Died	February 26, 2000
Consort	October, 1930 - August 18, 1943
Consort to	Boris III
Issue	Marie-Louise, Simeon II
Royal House	House of Savoy
Father	Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Mother	Elena of Montenegro

Tsaritsa Ioanna of Bulgaria, (13 November 1907 - 26 February 2000) was born Princess Giovanna of Savoy and was the last Tsaritsa of Bulgaria.

Born in Rome, the third daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Queen Elena of Montenegro, former Princess of Montenegro, Giovanna was raised in the Villa Savoia and from a young age was aware her aim in life was to further the House of Savoy's dynastic aspirations through marriage. Although it would eventually prove to be of no assistance to Italy, Giovanna duly married Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria in Assisi in October 1930, at a wedding by Roman catholic rite, attended by Benito Mussolini. Bulgarians deemed her a good match, partly because of her mother's native Slavic ethnicity. At a second ceremony in Sofia, Bulgaria, Giovanna (who herself was daughter of a roman-catholic father and a born orthodox mother) was married in a Eastern Orthodox Church ceremony, bringing her into conflict with the Catholic church. Giovanna knew the papal nuncio Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII who was able to help her. She then got on with the task of producing an heir to the Bulgarian throne, first giving birth to Marie-Louise in January 1933 and then successfully producing a male heir, the future Simeon II of Bulgaria in 1937.

In the years prior to World War II, Giovanna became heavily involved in charities, including the financing of a children's hospital. During the war she counterbalanced her husband consigning Bulgaria to the Axis by obtaining transit visas to enable a number of Jews to escape to Argentina. Tsar Boris also proved less malleable than Hitler had hoped, and following a meeting in Berlin in August 1943, the Tsar became seriously ill and died, aged 49. While stress and a heart condition were the official reasons for his death, rumours that he had been poisoned were voiced at the time and have since grown. Giovanna's son Simeon became the new Tsar and a regency was established led by his uncle Prince Kyril, who was considered more pliable by the Germans.

In the dying days of World War II, Bulgaria was invaded by the Soviet Union. Prince Kyril was tried by a People's Court and subsequently executed. Giovanna and Simeon remained in Bulgaria until 1946, when the new Communist government gave them 48 hours to leave the country. After initially fleeing to Egypt, they moved to Estoril, Portugal, where she lived the rest of her life, except for a brief return to Bulgaria in 1993 when she visited Boris's grave.

She is buried in Italy.

[edit] References

Boris III of Bulgaria 1894-1943, by Pashanko Dimitroff, London, 1986, ISBN 0-86332-140-2
Crown of Thorns by Stephane Groueff, Lanham MD., and London, 1987, ISBN 0-8191-5778-3
The Daily Telegraph, Obituary for "HM Queen Ioanna of the Bulgarians", London, 28 February 2000.