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Bulgaria
Ferdinand I
– Tsar of Bulgaria: 5 October 1908 – 3 October 1918
Silver 50 Stotinki 18mm (2.52 grams) 0.835 silver (0.0667 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 30
ФЕРДИНАНДЪ I ЦАРЬ НА БЪЛГАИТѢ, his head
right.
50 CTOTИHKИ 1913 within wreath.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
Ferdinand
I (26 February 1861 – 10 September 1948), born Ferdinand Maximilian Karl
Leopold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha,
was the ruler of
Bulgaria
from 1887 to 1918, first as knyaz
(prince
regnant, 1887–1908) and later as
tsar (1908–1918). He was also an author,
botanist
,
entomologist
and
philatelist
.
Family background
Ferdinand was born in
Vienna
, a prince of the
Koháry
branch of the ducal family of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
. He was baptised in
St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna
on the 27th of
February, having as God-parents
Emperor Maximilian of Mexico
and his wife
Empress Carlota of Mexico
. He grew up in the
cosmopolitan environment of
Austro-Hungarian
high nobility and also in
their ancestral lands in
Slovakia
and in Germany. The Koháry descended
from an immensely wealthy Upper Hungarian (now Slovakian) noble family, who held
the princely lands of
Čabraď
and
Sitno
in
Slovakia
, among others. The family’s property
was augmented by
Clémentine of Orléans
‘ remarkable dowry.
The son of
Prince August of Saxe-Coburg
and his wife
Clémentine of Orléans
, daughter of king
Louis Philippe I of the French
, Ferdinand was a
grandnephew of
Ernest I
, Duke of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
and of
Leopold I
, first king of the Belgians. His
father Augustus was a brother of
Ferdinand II of Portugal
, and also a first
cousin to
Queen Victoria
, her husband
Albert, Prince Consort
,
Empress Carlota of Mexico
and her brother
Leopold II of Belgium
. These last two, Leopold
and Carlota, were also first cousins of Ferdinand I’s through his mother, a
princess of Orléans. This made the Belgian siblings his first cousins, as well
as his first cousins once removed (his father’s first cousins). Indeed, the
ducal family of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
had contrived to occupy,
either by marriage or by direct election, several European thrones in the course
of the 19th century. Following the family trend, Ferdinand was himself to found
the royal dynasty
of
Bulgaria
.
Prince of Bulgaria
The nine European Monarchs who attended the funeral of
Edward VII
in 1910; Ferdinand is
second from left to right among the standing.
The first Knyaz (Prince
Regnant) of the
Third Bulgarian State
,
Alexander of Battenberg
, abdicated in 1886,
only seven years after he was elected. Ferdinand, who was an officer in the
Austro-Hungarian army was elected Knyaz of autonomous
Bulgaria
by its Grand National Assembly on 7
July 1887 in the
Gregorian calendar
(the "New Style" used
hereinafter). In desperate attempts to prevent Russian occupation of Bulgaria,
the throne had been previously offered, before Ferdinand’s acceptance, to
princes from Denmark to the Caucasus and even to the King of Romania. His
accession was greeted with disbelief in many of the royal houses of Europe.
Queen Victoria
, his father’s first cousin,
stated to her Prime Minister, "He is totally unfit … delicate, eccentric and
effeminate … Should be stopped at once." To the amazement of his initial
detractors, Ferdinand generally made a success during the first two decades of
his reign.
Bulgaria’s domestic political life was dominated during the early years of
Ferdinand’s reign by liberal party leader
Stefan Stambolov
, whose foreign policy saw a
marked cooling in relations with
Russia
, formerly seen as Bulgaria’s protector.
Stambolov’s fall (May 1894) and subsequent assassination (July 1895) paved
the way for a reconciliation of Bulgaria with Russia, effected in February 1896
with the conversion of the infant Prince Boris from
Roman Catholicism
to
Eastern Orthodox
Christianity. However, this
move earned him the animosity of his Catholic Austrian relatives, particularly
that of his uncle, Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria
.
Tsar of Bulgaria
Royal Monogram of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria
On 5 October 1908 (celebrated on 22 September), Ferdinand proclaimed
Bulgaria’s de jure independence from the Ottoman Empire (though the
country had been basically independent since 1878). He also elevated Bulgaria to
the status of a kingdom, and proclaimed himself tsar, or king. The
Bulgarian Declaration of Independence
was
proclaimed by him at the
Saint Forty Martyrs Church
in
Turnovo
. It was accepted by Turkey and the
other European powers.
Ferdinand was known for being quite a character. On a visit to
German Emperor
Wilhelm II
, his second cousin once removed, in
1909, Ferdinand was leaning out of a window of the
New Palace in Potsdam
when the Emperor came up
behind him and slapped him on the bottom. Ferdinand was affronted by the gesture
and the Emperor apologised. Ferdinand however exacted his revenge by awarding a
valuable arms contract he had intended to give to the
Krupp
‘s factory in
Essen
to French arms manufacturer
Schneider-Creusot
. Another incident occurred on
his journey to the funeral of his second cousin, British King
Edward VII
in 1910. A tussle broke out over
where his private railway carriage would be positioned in relation to the heir
to the Austro-Hungarian throne,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
. The Archduke won out,
having his carriage positioned directly behind the engine. Ferdinand’s was
placed directly behind. Realising the dining car of the train was behind his own
carriage, Ferdinand obtained his revenge on the Archduke by refusing him entry
through his own carriage to the dining car. On 15 July the same year during a
visit to Belgium
Ferdinand also became the first head of
state to fly in an airplane.
Balkan Wars
Main article:
Balkan Wars
Like many other rulers before him, Ferdinand desired the creation of a "new
Byzantium". In 1912, Ferdinand joined the other Balkan states in an assault on
the Ottoman Empire to free occupied territories. He saw this war as a new
crusade declaring it, "a just, great and sacred struggle of the Cross against
the Crescent." Bulgaria contributed the most and also lost the greatest number
of soldiers. The great powers insisted on the creation of an independent
Albania. Soon after, Bulgaria invaded its recent allies Serbia and Greece,
before being attacked itself by Romania and the Ottoman Empire. Although
Bulgaria was defeated, the 1913
Treaty of Bucharest
granted the Kingdom some
territorial gains. A tiny area of land giving access to the Aegean Sea was
secured.
First World
War and abdication
Main article:
Bulgaria during World War I
Emperor
Wilhelm
and Tsar Ferdinand in
Sofia, 1916
On 11 October 1915, the Bulgarian army
attacked Serbia
after signing a treaty with
Austria-Hungary
and Germany stating that
Bulgaria would gain the territory it sought at the expense of Serbia. Ferdinand
was not an admirer of German Emperor Wilhelm II (his second cousin once removed)
or
Austrian Emperor
Franz Josef I
whom he described as "that idiot,
that old dotard of a Francis Joseph". However, Ferdinand wanted additional
territorial gains after the humiliation of the Balkan Wars. This also entailed
forming an alliance with his former enemy, the
Ottoman Empire
.
During the initial phase of World War I, the Kingdom of Bulgaria achieved
several decisive victories over its enemies and laid claim to the disputed
territories of Macedonia after Serbia’s defeat. For the next two years, the
Bulgarian army shifted its focus towards repelling Allied advances from nearby
Greece. They were also partially involved in the 1916 conquest of neighboring
Romania, now ruled by another
Ferdinand I
, who was also Ferdinand’s second
cousin once removed.
To save the Bulgarian throne, Tsar Ferdinand
abdicated
in favour of his eldest son who
became Tsar
Boris III
on 3 October 1918. Under new
leadership, Bulgaria surrendered to the Allies and as a consequence, lost not
only the additional territory it had fought for in the major conflict, but also
the territory it had won after the Balkan Wars giving access to the Aegean Sea.
Personal life
WWI-era portrait of Ferdinand I
Ferdinand entered a marriage of convenience with Princess
Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma
, daughter of
Robert I, Duke of Parma
and
Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
, on
20 April 1893 at the Villa Pianore in
Lucca
. The marriage produced four children:
-
Boris III
(1894–1943)
-
Kyril
(1895–1945)
-
Eudoxia
(1898–1985)
-
Nadezhda
(1899–1958).
Marie Louise died on 31 January 1899 after giving birth to her youngest
daughter. Ferdinand did not think again about marriage until his mother,
Princess Clémentine died in 1907. To satisfy dynastic obligations and to provide
his children with a mother figure, Ferdinand married
Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz
, on 28 February
1908. Neither romantic love or physical attraction played any role, and
Ferdinand treated her as no more than a member of the household, and showed
scant regard.
In his private relations, Ferdinand was a somewhat hedonistic individual. He
was thought to be
bisexual
throughout his life, but up to middle
age, his inclination was more towards women, and he enjoyed affairs with a
number of women of humble position, siring a number of illegitimate children
whom he then supported financially.
But rumours abounded of
homosexual
trysts with blue-eyed lieutenants
and valets. Ferdinand’s regular holidays on
Capri
, then a famous haunt for wealthy
gay
men, were common knowledge in royal courts throughout Europe. In 1895 an
interview given by the embittered former Prime Minister,
Stefan Stambolov
to the Frankfurter Zeitung
created a nine day scandal across Europe, when he focused strongly on his
personal witness of Ferdinand’s alleged homosexual interests.
Exile and death
After his abdication, Ferdinand returned to live in
Coburg
, Germany. He had managed to salvage much
of his fortune and was able to live in some style. He saw his being in exile
simply as one of the hazards of kingship. He commented, "Kings in exile are more
philosophic under reverses than ordinary individuals; but our philosophy is
primarily the result of tradition and breeding, and do not forget that pride is
an important item in the making of a monarch. We are disciplined from the day of
our birth and taught the avoidance of all outward signs of emotion. The skeleton
sits forever with us at the feast. It may mean murder, it may mean abdication,
but it serves always to remind us of the unexpected. Therefore we are prepared
and nothing comes in the nature of a catastrophe. The main thing in life is to
support any condition of bodily or spiritual exile with dignity. If one sups
with sorrow, one need not invite the world to see you eat." He was pleased that
the throne could pass to his son. Ferdinand was not displeased with exile and
spent most of his time devoted to artistic endeavors, gardening, travel and
natural history. However, he would live to see the collapse of everything he had
held to be precious in life. His eldest son and successor,
Boris III
, died under mysterious circumstances
after returning from a visit to Hitler in Germany in 1943. Boris III’s son,
Simeon II
, succeeded him only to be deposed in
1946, ending the Bulgarian monarchy. The Kingdom of Bulgaria was succeeded by
the
People’s Republic of Bulgaria
, under which his
sole surviving son,
Kyril
, was executed. On hearing of his son’s
death he said, "Everything is collapsing around me." He died a broken man in
Bürglaß-Schlösschen on 10 September 1948 in
Coburg
, Germany, cradle of the
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty. His final wish was to be buried in Bulgaria, and for
this reason his coffin was temporarily placed in the crypt of
St. Augustin, Coburg
, next to his parents’
coffins. It can still be found there today.
Ancestors
[show]Ancestors
of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria |
Decorations and awards
- This article incorporates information from
the equivalent article
on the
Italian Wikipedia
.
Grand Master of the following Bulgarian Orders:
-
Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius
-
Order of Bravery
-
Order of St. Alexander
-
Order of Civil Merit
-
Order of Military Merit
Also a member of the following foreign orders:
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