Thursday, December 1, 2011

Boris' wedding canceled

December 1, 1927

King Boris of Bulgaria's engagement plans are on hold, according to an exclusive dispatch from Coburg to the Los Angeles Times.  The household of the former King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Boris' father, has learned that Pope Pius has made it impossible for the Bulgarian king to marry Princess Giovanna of Italy.

Although Italian Premier Mussolini favors the match because he "wants to draw Bulgaria into Italy's Balkan orbit," the Pope refuses to allow Princess Giovanna to be married in the Orthodox Church.  King Boris is Orthodox.

The Pope also will not allow any children born of "such a marriage" to be raised in any faith but Roman Catholicism.  Bulgaria's constitution requires that the heir to the throne be raised in the Orthodox faith.

King Boris is now back in Sofia and explaining to his ministers why he has failed to "find a queen."  

The heads of three former ruling houses in Germany have "reminded King Boris that they have marriageable daughters," but the king is not interested in marrying a German princess.

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