Tsar Ferdinand (1861 - 1948)

Ferdinand of Bulgaria (Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) is born on the 26th of February in Vienna in the family of Austrian General prince August Von Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Princess Clementine of Bourbon Orleans, daughter of the last French King Louis-Philip. On the 7th of July 1887 The Great national Assembly elected Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as Prince of Bulgaria. On the 22nd of September 1908 together with inauguration of Bulgaria's independence Ferdinand I is announced for tsar of Bulgarian, with which the title of Bulgarian kings of the First and Second Kingdom is restored. After the outbreak of the World War I under the influence of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria our foreign policy is oriented towards the Central Powers - the Austrian-German bloc which Bulgaria joined officially on September 6, 1915. Despite the military successes - the defeat of Serbia (November-December 1915) and victory over Romania (September to October 1916), Bulgaria underwent a national catastrophe at the end of WWI. King Ferdinand abdicated on October 3, 1918 in favour of his son - Prince Boris of Turnovo (King Boris III) and left the country. He died in the city of Coburg, Germany in 1948. His last wish was to be buried in Bulgaria, where he reigned. Currently wooden coffin with the remains of the king is laid in the crypt of the church St. Augustine in Coburg. (Photo: bg.wikipedia.org)