Challenge: From hammers and sickles to crowns

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to have monarchical restorations in Serbia, Montenegro (or just Yugoslavia), Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia by the present day with a POD after 1989.
 
You beat me. I was going to post a what if dealing with this. IINW Simeon II of Bulgaria was very popular in his country when the Iron Curt fell and was received by masses chanting "We want our king back!". Don't know if he was really offered it (I suppose not) but a big reason why it was not stablished a big restorationist party in the country at that time is that Simeon himself clearly stated that he didn't want it. Anyway, he remained popular enough to be elected prime minister in 2001.

My though is that, if Simeon had made statements in favour of a restoration or at least a referendum about the future regime the way Alexander has been doing recently in Serbia, it's possible that the restoration might had been voted and approved in Bulgaria in the early 90s. Once there is this precedent, it might insuflate life to similar projects in Serbia and Romania, especially if the restored Kingdom of Bulgaria is preceived to enjoy better foreign relations and/or a lesser degree of gov. corruption than its neighbours. Unlikely, but that's how I take it.

Georgia, I must admit, it's the most difficult fish. There is a monarchist movement there but it's weird as hell. There is not even a proper claimant collecting it behind.
 
I would agree with Tocomocho that Bulgaria is the easiest case and Georgia is least likely. Even in Bulgaria it would not be easy. "Royalist" undercurrent did exist, but school of thought directly or indirectly linking "Tsardom" with "backward past" was strong too. I guess Simeon owns his premiership in no small part to his refusal to consider being crowned. He was an ideal figure otherwise: not linked to corrupt elites, educated, wealthy, recognized internationally. Ideal "constitutional monarch", so to speak. Georgia's chances to get a king are seriously undermined by sheer numbers of Bagrationi descendant who could claim royal rights, especially after 2 centuries of intermarrying nobility without king and half-century of Soviet egalitarism (which resulted in mind-boggling number of cadet Bagrationis married to commoners). However, I suspect that, would Gamsakhurdia be a bit more sane, he could start a dynasty. After all, "father of nation" was his (almost) official title in 1991 and he had a heir.
 
Top