Republican Attire of the Emperor
Bulgaria:Have you ever heard of a republican monarch? It would be the same as if you saw a wooden stone. And however incredible it may sound, a republican monarch exists or is about to appear. Emperor Simeon II has returned to the Republic of Bulgaria in order to rule the country and decide about its destiny.
Although he still has not pledged allegiance to the Constitution nowadays in force and thus recognised it unconditionally, His Majesty has accepted the challenge to play according to the rules of a republic. And for the time being he is successful - Simeon II has won his first victory by winning the votes of the electorate and in parliamentary elections on June 17 got the majority of 120 deputies in the People's Assembly which has the total of 240 seats. His next battle will be that with time - will he manage to put the economy of the country on its feet and raise the standard of living of the Bulgarians. If he manages to do that, there will be more games he will need to win. Who knows, maybe one of them is connected to the amendment of the Constitution in the direction of monarchy.
Although he was the emperor of Bugaria for three years, Simeon II has never ruled Bulgaria. The reason was his youth - in 1943 when his father Emperor Boris III died, Simeon was just 6 years old. Pursuant Trnovo Constitution, the state was ruled by regents. His return to the country and victory in parliamentary elections with National Movement of Simeon II gives him a chance to directly decide on the future of Bulgaria for the first time.
Simeon is the son of Emperor Boris III and Empress Joana, sister of Italian King Umberto. He was born on June 16, 1937 as a second child in the empirial family after Maria Louise. He was proclaimed emperor on August 28, 1943. After Bulgaria had capitulated in the Second World War and the communist party had come to power, the empirial family moved >from official residence in Vrana near Sofia to Ril monastery. Simeon's uncle Kiril was executed on February 1, 1945 as the former regent. The referendum on the abolishment of monarchy had the decisive significance for the following 50 years of the emperor's life. On July 26, 1946, the People's Assembly passed the Law on People's Referendum on the Abolishment of Monarchy and Proclamation of the People's Republic and Convening of the Grand People's Assembly. At the referendum held on September 8 that year 92.72 per cent of the voters voted in favour of the republic and 4.37 per cent were in favour of preservation of the monarchy.
According to many modern Bulgarian politicians the referendum in 1946 was manipulated and unobjective. There are justified arguments in favour of such a thesis because at the time of the referendum Bulgaria had already been under communist rule for two years. Powerful propaganda had been preaching against monarchy and in favour of proclamation of the republic. Almost 92 per cent of the electorate were brought to the polls.
There is no doubt, however, that in the past half a century the republican system got a firm foothold in Bulgaria. The dark side of the 1946 referendum still gives cause to some pro-monarchists among the politicians to demand a new referendum which would finally put a stop to speculations on this topic.
On September 9, 1946 the empirial family was forced to leave Bulgaria. A week later, Simeon, his mother Empress Joana, his sister Maria Louise and countess Evdokia (Simeon's aunt) crossed the Turkish border. Simeon was not deprived of Bulgarian citizenship. As of that moment his life abroad began.
For five years he lived in Alexandria, Egypt, and then, having been invited by the Spanish government the family arrived in Madrid. Simeon has never requested another citizenship, although he has no Bulgarian personal papers. "I don't have a dual citizenship, but only Bulgarian. For fifty years I have traveled with various travelling documents which has created me many problems and obstacles on borders, but I have never had a wish to get a foreign citizenship. That is how my mother brought me up", said Simeon II in an interview several years ago.
In the first years in exile the family was helped by relatives with aristocratic titles from all over Europe. Simeon served as a cadet in military academy in the USA and graduated law and economy. He worked as a consultant of various banks and companies, he was a manager of a manufacturer of household appliances in Spain; he was also in the management board of one of the biggest food companies.
After the fall of the communist regime the question of monarchy and the emperor has become topical again, but not to the extent that would bring him back to the throne. In a few interviews to Bulgarian media Simeon II made the impression of an educated person who has followed the situation in the country and who despite the years spent abroad speaks Bulgarian perfectly although slightly archaic. Regardless of his good reputation monarchist political forces have never enjoyed serious support of the voters and they have never managed to win more than four per cent needed to enter the parliament. The question "monarchy or republic" has never been on the agenda, since most of sociological investigations point out to insignificant support to changes of the form of state administration. This phenomenon of "anti-monarchism" still persists nowadays when Simeon II has won the support of almost half of the Bulgarians.
The authorities have issued him a Bulgarian passport in which he is registered as Simeon Saksoburgotski, and in 1996, the moment came for him to return to the country for the first time after fifty years of exile. Thousands of Bulgarians welcomed the emperor although majority of them had come out into the streets out of curiosity. Hardly anyone had believed at the time that only five years later Simeon would become a real political force and live in his homeland again.
Pursuant the Law on Restitution a great deal of the real estate confiscated during the communist regime was returned to the empirial family. By a decision of the Constitutional Court reached in 1998, the remaining part of their real estate was also given back to the Emperor's family. The part of residential mansions that used to be national property during the reign of Boris III remained that. In April 2001 Simeon II gave a large part of Vrana park as a gift to Sofia municipalities with the only wish that it be named after his grandfather Ferdinand.
While he paid short visits to Bulgaria in previous years Simeon II managed to establish good relations with central political figures - President Petar Stojanov, Prime Minister Ivan Kostov, mayor of Sofia Stefan Sofijanski. His son Kiril, Prince Preslavski, who is the founder of the Bulgarian Club in London City, even became the advisor of President Stojanov for economic issues.
However, in April 2001, something happened that noone had expected. His Majesty Simeon II, or as politicians already call him Mr. Simeon Saksoburgotski, announced his intention to go into politics of the Republic of Bulgaria with the party called Simeon II National Movement he himself had founded. He asked for strong support of the Bulgarians and he won it in the elections. Simeon himself did not put his name on the list of deputies and chose a different role for himself. It still is not clear whether he intends to be the prime minister of the president. In an interview to Spanish El Mundo he declared that he would probably become the prime minister in order to meet the expectations of the voters, especially because "Bulgaria has a president who the people respect and who will have a second term in office". Later Simeon II said that he had not expected this statement to be published, but he did not deny the fact that he will take the post at the head of Bulgarian government.
When he pledges allegiance to Bulgarian Republican Constitution he will practically renounce his monarchist status. Is not that, after all, a more honest and more practical position? It is most important to work for the benefit of one's country regardless of the position one is in.
Georgi Filipov (AIM Sofia)