Ferdinand of Bulgaria
| Ferdinand I | |
|---|---|
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| Tsar of Bulgaria | |
| Reign | 5 October 1908 – 3 October 1918 |
| Successor | Boris III |
| Prince of Bulgaria | |
| Reign | 7 July 1887 – 5 October 1908 |
| Predecessor | Alexander |
| Born | 26 February 1861 Vienna, Austrian Empire |
| Died | 10 September 1948 (aged 87) Coburg, Allied-occupied Germany |
| Burial | St. Augustin, Coburg |
| Consort |
Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz |
| Issue |
Tsar Boris III Kiril, Prince of Preslav Princess Eudoxia Princess Nadezhda |
| House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry |
| Father | Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
| Mother | Princess Clémentine of Orléans |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Signature |  |
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Styles of King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria |
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|---|---|
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| Reference style | His Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Sir |
Ferdinand I (Bulgarian: Фердинанд I Български, 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; firstly as knyaz (ruling prince, 1887–1908) and later as tsar (king, 1908–18). He was also an author, botanist, entomologist and philatelist.
Ferdinand was born on 26 February 1861 in Vienna, a prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. He was baptised in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna on 27 February, having as godparents 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 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.
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