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WI Bulgarian Monarchy restored after Fall of Communism?

Polyphemus

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Upon return from exile in Spain in 1996, Simeon II of Bulgaria entered politics and served a stint as Prime Minister. However there were (and still are) some calls to restore the Bulgarian monarchy after it was abolished by the Communist government. With a clear continuity, it is more plausible than suggestions in some other states.

Assuming Simeon continues his duties as Tsar in 1996, how are European politics affected? I assume his duties would be largely ceremonial, but I am no expert on Bulgarian royalty so please correct me if it's a field you're familiar with.
 
Simeon would probably have been a model head of State and Constitutional monarch and Bulgaria's politics would have been little affected barring a few Presidential elections/appointments not happening. And obviously he wouldn't have been his own Prime Minister. If Southpaw was translated to that TL, he would probably still recognise his country, it's politics and the wider global world.
A more interesting question is what would have happened if Leka had been restored as King of Albania. Apparently he actually won the referendum but the (ex) Communist government tampered with the results.
 
The presence of a monarchy is only going to have limited impact if it's a constitutional monarchy in a democracy, which it would be, so the big difference is what happens when Simeon's not the PM but someone else is (and I'll defer to @Southpaw on that)
 
I am not an expert in post-1989 Bulgarian politics, but this really seems very unlikely. The Bulgarian monarchs had been utterly discredited earlier in the century by Ferdinand I's megalomania leading to defeats and multiple national catastrophes, and Boris III's caudillismo and entry into the Axis.

In the 1990s many people still remembered, either personally or through family recollection, the failures of the Bulgarian monarchy. For that matter, attitudes towards the legacy of the communist regime that had abolished it* were far from as negative as elsewhere in the ex-Pact.** The monarchy wasn't coming back.

* Incidentally, my grandfather remembers handing out leaflets for the monarchy abolition referendum in 1946 which the communists organized. While it was rigged, he recollects that there was genuine popular enthusiasm for getting rid of the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas.

** Bulgaria was definitely the non-Soviet Eastern Bloc country most content with its lot, for a multitude of reasons.
 
I am not an expert in post-1989 Bulgarian politics, but this really seems very unlikely. The Bulgarian monarchs had been utterly discredited earlier in the century by Ferdinand I's megalomania leading to defeats and multiple national catastrophes, and Boris III's caudillismo and entry into the Axis.

In the 1990s many people still remembered, either personally or through family recollection, the failures of the Bulgarian monarchy. For that matter, attitudes towards the legacy of the communist regime that had abolished it* were far from as negative as elsewhere in the ex-Pact.** The monarchy wasn't coming back.

* Incidentally, my grandfather remembers handing out leaflets for the monarchy abolition referendum in 1946 which the communists organized. While it was rigged, he recollects that there was genuine popular enthusiasm for getting rid of the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas.

** Bulgaria was definitely the non-Soviet Eastern Bloc country most content with its lot, for a multitude of reasons.

And if you're wondering why Simeon II was elected PM despite this - he was elected because was a well-known outsider to politics who promised to fix the country's many problems (he failed). Nothing follows from there that the country would want him on the throne again.
 
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