On September 22, 1908, Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg-Gotha accepted the title of king, and our country embarked on an independent path of development, rejecting the vassal status of the Ottoman Empire. Today in Bulgaria it is celebrated as the Independence Day of the country.
This independent path was not smooth and only within a decade led to a national catastrophe, and the main blame was borne by the king, who abdicated in 1918. The disappointment was great and the ousted monarch was not allowed to return to Bulgaria.
To this day, the prevailing assessments of him inevitably contain the definition of a “controversial person.” But from a distance, historians offer a new perspective on the events of a century ago and on the personality of Ferdinand himself.
Ferdinand, the first king of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom and the longest reigning, was born into a family with deep dynastic traditions. Fate takes him east, in the middle of the rebellious Balkan Peninsula.
Prince Ferdinand is a throne descendant in three lines of the most famous monarch, the most flourishing expression of absolutism – the French monarch in the person of Louis XIV.
“Bulgaria has never had such a brilliant and 100 percent representative of its European identity.”
“In a very special way, he is French in spirit. He was conceived differently. From an early age he was somehow the pearl in the non-existent, rather unrealized crown of his mother Clementine of Orleans, the king’s daughter. Hence the huge and unbreakable bond between this mother and this son, not with the other children, but with the youngest. That child, which in the Bulgarian Revival families is called a jerk and is a favorite of the whole family. “
What do we not know about Ferdinand? Do we know enough about his personality? For example, what kind of parent he was:
“From the point of view of the more liberal idea of the Balkans, in our case, knowing how we look after our children and grandchildren, the last thing we can say is that he was severely, affectionately emotionally connected to them. This does not diminish the extent to which he has prepared these people for their future public activities. Until the end, what the children felt for him was respect, admiration and horror.
The ruler’s relationship with his two wives was also complicated.
But all this was preceded by the great rivalry – between the expectations of the Bulgarians after the Liberation, the diplomatic skills of the native rulers, the geostrategic interests of Russia and the terror of the candidates to lead a country in an undeclared civil war.
Prince Ferdinand was greeted with enthusiasm. Suddenly, against the background of this true oriental pastoral, a man appears who shines in a different way and is demonstratively different from this environment.
“And even his later political opponents exclaim – Ashkolsun, this is a king! These are the words of Dragan Tsankov. “
Life in Sofia is extremely simple, boring, without any opportunities for social events and entertainment, continues Petar Stojanovic. He describes the new monarch as an egocentric, selfish man, filled with great self-confidence, to a large extent justified.
Still, this “marriage at the expense” proved successful, at least until the first of the Balkan wars, because “it became an incarnation, a transformation of Bulgaria from an Ottoman province into a European state.”
“I would not like to say that Tsar Ferdinand built the European houses of Sofia with two hands, brick by brick, or built the railways, but Bulgaria has had the locomotive in his face for these 25 years.”
According to the data at the time, Bulgaria was far ahead of its Balkan neighbors and competed with established European countries.
Ferdinand also has a scientific contribution to our history. His interest in botany and ornithology began in childhood. “As a Bulgarian ruler, he turned both Bulgaria and Sofia into one of the European centers of science and practice – both in his palaces, primarily Vrana and Euxinograd, but also for the general public, turning, say, the Sofia zoological park in one of the most attractive places in Europe. In his person, Bulgaria gives the world its most famous scientist, a naturalist who has ever existed. “
Ferdinand’s most indisputable merit is the country’s declared independence. his personal ambition to be equal among European and world rulers and to cease to be a vassal of the Turkish sultan should not be underestimated.
The fact is the two great national defeats after 1913 and 1918, for which he took the blame and abdicated.
“It is not possible to blame for the participation in a world conflict, in a financial affair, etc. to be loaded only on one person. This is absurd. There must come a time when we, the historians, will calmly and objectively sift the grain from the chaff and reward the Caesar and the God of God according to the biblical Caesar”, tells the doctor of historical sciences, professor at the University of Shumen “Konstantin Preslavski”, journalist and former Bulgarian Minister of Culture Petar Stojanovic.
Ferdinand’s fate is severe, in no small part and tragic, he admits.
“Imagine surviving the murder of your two sons, surviving the occupation and erasure of your second homeland, and dying in poverty far from it, unburied yet. This, even as people, leave as historians and politicians, should excite us.
Ferdinand’s last will was to be buried in Bulgaria. Therefore, his coffin was temporarily – from 1948 until today, placed in the crypt of the Catholic Church of St. Augustine in Coburg – the German city that sheltered him, after his cousin – the Austrian Emperor Charles I, did not allow him to his estates in Today’s last attempt to return King Ferdinand’s remains was made 10 years ago.
Former NMSS MP Mincho Spasov is one of the members of the Initiative Committee dedicated to this cause. According to him, the royal family has set conditions that have not yet been met. “The condition to transfer the remains is to reach a consensus in Bulgarian society. A formal expression of such consent would be, for example, the signing of a memorandum between the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the three greats in the country. “
Illustration: Portrait of Tsar Ferdinand, 1914 and his children Boris, Kiril, Evdokia and Nadezhda (artist Nikola Mihailov, 1878–1960).
