25 years ago, former Bulgarian king, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, (1943–1946), returned to live in Bulgaria and became involved in politics. At 3.15 pm on April 4, 2001, he landed at Sofia Airport on a flight from Zurich, Switzerland, and announced that he would live in the country. Two days later, he declared that he would enter Bulgarian politics.
After the sudden death of his father, Tsar Boris III, on August 28, 1943, Simeon was proclaimed Tsar of the Bulgarians. However, as he was underage, a three-member Regency Council was appointed. After the end of World War II and the establishment of a communist regime in the country, a referendum on the form of government in Bulgaria was held on September 8, 1946. In it, 92.72% of participants voted for a republic and 4.37% for a monarchy. On September 16, 1946, Simeon II, who never officially abdicated the throne, his sister Princess Maria Luisa, and his mother Queen Giovanna were forced to leave Bulgaria, after the National Assembly declared Bulgaria a people’s republic on September 15, 1946.
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha visited the country he had left as a child 50 years later for the first time from May 25 to June 16,1996.
/PP/
