site.btaOctober 31, 1930: King Boris III Weds Princess Giovanna of Savoy in Sofia's St Alexander Nevsky Memorial Cathedral

On October 31, 1930, Bulgaria's King Boris III wedded Princess Giovanna of Savoy in a Eastern Orthodox ceremony at Sofia's St Alexander Nevsky Memorial Cathedral.

The following paragraphs are based on information by the Bulgarian National History Museum and a report in Time Magazine.

Boris and Giovanna Elisabetta Antonia Romana Maria first met on September 25, 1927, while Boris was traveling through Europe with his brother, Kiril. They fell in love, and three years later, they agreed to marry. According to Catholic Church requirements, Giovanna and Boris could only marry if their children were baptized as Catholics. However, the Bulgarian heir to the throne could not belong to any faith other than Orthodox Christianity. Boris was initially baptized Catholic but later also baptized Orthodox. A compromise was reached, and the engagement was announced on October 4, 1930. A Catholic wedding ceremony followed soon after in the Italian town of Assisi on October 25. 

Tsar Boris III and Giovanna of Savoy departed on the steamship Tsar Ferdinand from the port of Brindisi shorty after the wedding. Accompanied by a squadron of Turkish torpedo boats, Tsar Ferdinand finally dropped anchor off the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas. With a cross in one hand and an icon in the other, the Burgas Metropolitan Hilarion was the first to welcome them home. On the wharf, a group of beautiful Bulgarian maidens poured water on the feet of Tsar Boris, and a group of young men sprinkled water on his bride, now Queen Joanna, hoping that their lives would be as smooth as water. 

On October 31, they arrived by train in Sofia at 10 a.m., where they were greeted by Prime Minister Andrei Lyapchev, members of parliament, diplomats and the mayor of Sofia, General Vladimir Vazov, who welcomed the newlyweds with bread and salt.  A triple line of soldiers guarded the route from the railway station to the Alexander Nevski Cathedral with police ordered the windows of all the houses along the way to be closed. Young girls threw white flowers, and planes circled over the city. One hundred and one cannon salutes were fired. Then, at St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the couple held an Orthodox Christian wedding ceremony and were blessed by Metropolitan Neofit. A prayer service was held after the ceremony, and three days of wedding celebrations began in the capital.

Here is what Time Magazine wrote: "After the ceremony Sofia erupted with Bulgar abandon. Public buildings were strung with electric bulbs. Men, women, children clambered like monkeys up the high iron grille of the palace gate, danced in the streets till dawn. Police did not allow the playing of the Fascist hymn “Giovinezza,” but revelers sang themselves hoarse with “0 Sole Mio” in Bulgarian. At the palace it was announced, next day, that Their Majesties had slipped out a back door and danced unrecognized in the streets with their subjects."