site.btaFebruary 26, 2000: Queen Ioanna Dies at 92

Bulgarian Queen Mother Ioanna passed away in Estoril, Portugal, on February 26, 2000. She was 92.

She was born Giovanna of Savoy Elizabeta Antonia Romana Maria on November 13, 1907 in Rome at the Quirinalle Palace. Her great grandfather Vittorio Emanuele II together with Italy's national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, unified Italy in 1861. Her father was Vittorio Emanuele II and her mother Queen Elena, daughter of Montenegrin Prince Nikola Petrovic. In 1930 Giovanna married Bulgarian King Boris II and became Queen of Bulgaria. After a referendum of September 8, 1946 that toppled the monarchy and pronounced Bulgaria a people's republic (on September 15, 1946), she left Bulgaria with her two children, Simeon and Marie-Louse. 

On the occasion of her passing, BTA's English language service ran a profile of the Queen Mother.

Queen Ioanna - Always Optimistic Despite Vicissitudes of Life

Sofia, February 27 (BTA) - "I am optimistic by nature and I always focus on the good side of things," Bulgarian Queen Mother Ioanna once said.

Queen Ioanna, who died on Saturday at the age of 92, experienced many happy, as well as many dramatic moments in her lifetime. The above words, which according to her relatives, characterize her best, she said in 1946. At that time, after a referendum organized by the Communists abolishing the monarchy, Ioanna was forced into exile with her two children, to return 47 years later.

Queen Ioanna was born Giovanna of Savoy Elizabeta Antonia Romana Maria on November 13, 1907 in Rome at the Quirinalle Palace.

Her great grandfather Vittorio Emanuele II together with Italy's national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, unified Italy in 1861. Her father is Vittorio Emanuele II and her mother Queen Elena, daughter of Montenegrin Prince Nikola Petrovic. Giovanna spent her childhood in Rome in the royal estate of San Rosore. Witty and talented, interested in music and drawing - this is how her contemporaries describe her. 

In 1930 Giovanna married Bulgarian King Boris II and became Queen of Bulgaria. She started studying Bulgarian and in a year already spoke fluently with her Bulgarian friends. "The Bulgarian royal couple may fascinate any European," the French press writes in 1937. By that time Queen Ioanna has already given birth to two children - Princess Marie Louise (1933) and the heir to the throne - Simeon (1937). 

Bulgarians remember Queen Ioanna with her active charity work - she used to visit hospitals and sanatoriums, help orphanages, at her initiative the foundations of a new hospital are laid in Sofia and a sanatorium was built in Tryavna (Northern Bulgaria) bearing her name. 

"Not a week could pass without her visiting some hospital or orphanage, and she always gave presents," her personal chamber maid recalls. During the war Queen Ioanna used to knit socks and sweaters for the soldiers. 

Queen Ioanna's happy years in Bulgaria are not many. In 1943 King Boris III died and Ioanna became widow at the age of 36. Her sister Mafalda died in a Nazi concentration camp. After the referendum organized by the Communists in 1946 Ioanna is forced to leave Bulgaria together with her children Marie-Louise and Simeon.

"We never saw her panic or despair," her children King Simeon and daughter Princess Marie-Louise say of her. 

"In the course of all these long years in exile I had the hope, and later, I was sure, that one day I will return to Bulgaria, where I spent the best years of my life," Queen Ioanna used to say. Her visitors in Estoril, Portugal, where she lived for many years, say that she grew Bulgarian wild geranium in the garden.

After 47 years in exile Queen Ioanna visited Bulgaria in 1993 for a memorial service on the 50th anniversary of the death of her husband. She receives a rapturous welcome. "It couldn't have been nicer. I would even say it was hundred times better than I expected," says Ioanna about her meetings in Bulgaria and with Bulgarians. 

"Our compatriots will remember her with her humaneness and dedication to the need of the people, with her love for Bulgaria and the Bulgarian people," President Peter Stoyanov says in his letter of condolences on Queen Ioanna's death. Prime Minister van Kostov and National Assembly Chairperson Yordan Sokolov cabled their condolences, as well.